Vatileaks

                                       Clip is from the footage: Vatican’s Secret Archives                                                             http://www.romereports.com/

          
Within the new cardinals' traditional oath of loyalty taken today, each one pledges to remain faithful to the church and to "not to make known to anyone matters entrusted to me in confidence, the disclosure of which could bring damage or dishonour to Holy Church." 

In the light of the sexual abuse, financial and other scandals within the church and the necessity for transparency and accountability I wonder whether the Vatican has got a whistleblowing policy...

This article from Reuters begins with this:



"Call it Conspiracy City. Call it Scandal City. Call it Leak City. These days the holy city has been in the news for anything but holy reasons.
"It is a total mess," said one high-ranking Vatican official who spoke, like all others, on the condition of anonymity.
The Machiavellian maneuvering and machinations that have come to light in the Vatican recently are worthy of a novel about a sinister power struggle at a medieval court.
Senior church officials interviewed this month said almost daily embarrassments that have put the Vatican on the defensive could force Pope Benedict to act to clean up the image of its administration - at a time when the church faces a deeper crisis of authority and relevance in the wider world.
Some of those sources said the outcome of a power struggle inside the Holy See may even have a longer-term effect, on the choice of the man to succeed Benedict when he dies."
Read the rest here


 Interesting article from The Wall Street Journal here which points out:
"The Vatican Secret Archives holds documents that it says date back 12 centuries and take up 85 kilometers (more than 50 miles) of shelf space, partly housed in an underground bunker.

Documents surrounding historical events, from the conviction of Galileo Galilei for heresy to Henry VIII's break from the Catholic Church, can now be consulted by scholars. But the section of the archive dating from the papacy of Pius XII, the World War II-era pope, remains off-limits, Bishop Pagano said. ( I am not sure if this last part is accurate/up to date - see related article at bottom)


The Vatican's code of silence is often upheld to protect the confidences of churchmen around the world, especially in regions hostile to the Catholic Church.


In China, which doesn't have diplomatic ties with the Holy See or recognize the pope's authority over his flock, a large swath of the church's flock practices underground to avoid state persecution. At least one Chinese bishop was secretly appointed a cardinal in pectore, Latin for "in the breast" of the pope, and unknown to the outside world for many years. 

"The church is different, because it's not a political structure like other states," Bishop Pagano said. "There are always situations that require prudence, and the church has always been hyper-prudent."

The past few weeks have revealed that, in a media age fueled by Internet gossip, not even the Holy See can keep a lid on its internal machinations."
Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments: