By Sergio Mora
ROME, JUNE 19, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI efforts to cleanse and clarify, since his tenure as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and now as Pope, have certainly caused and cause annoyance, according to his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The cardinal makes that assertion in an interview with the weekly Famiglia Cristiana, which will be in the newsstands this Thursday
“His action to put a stop to incidents of pedophilia in the clergy has shown that the Church has the capacity to regenerate herself, which other institutions and persons don’t have,” explained the cardinal.
In regard to the way that some of the media have engaged in aggression against the Pope and some Vatican officials, the secretary of state said: “Many journalists play at imitating Dan Brown. They continue to invent fables and re-propose legends.”
Cardinal Bertone called for a greater sense of balance, weighing the real facts, and not letting imaginations running wild regarding the content of the documents allegedly taken from the Pope by Paolo Gabrieli.
And he assured that there is no “involvement of cardinals or of fights between ecclesiastical personalities for the conquest of an imaginary power.”
As regards the responsibilities of the Pontiff’s butler, who allegedly stole the documents, Cardinal Bertone recalled that the investigations are under way.
“The Pope himself has asked us many times, in a broken-hearted way, for an explanation of the reasons for Paolo Gabriele’s gesture, who he loves as a son,” he revealed.
“I am also at the center of the fray. I am living these events with sorrow but also seeing the real Church constantly at my side,” the cardinal explained.
Create divisions
According to the secretary of state there is a “relentless and repeated attempt to separate, to create divisions between the Holy Father and his collaborators, and between the collaborators themselves.”
There is a desire to “strike those who are dedicated with greater passion and also greater personal toil for the good of the Church.”
The Secretary of State confirmed the gravity of the “publication of a multiplicity of letters and documents sent to the Holy Father, by persons who have the right to privacy,” which constitutes, as we have confirmed many times, an immoral act of unheard of gravity.”
With regard to the resignation of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, director of the Institute of Religious Works (IOR), the cardinal asserted that “the publication of the interventions of the Council of Superintendence shows that his moving away is not due to internal doubts regarding the desire for transparency, but rather to a deterioration in relations between advisers, because of positions taken that are not shared, which has led to the decision for a change.”
“What’s more, beyond past scandals — which are greatly emphasized and periodically re-proposed to cast mistrust on this Vatican institution — the IOR gave itself specific rules well before the anti-money laundering law,” he added.
“The present Council of Superintendence, made up of top personalities of the economic and financial world, has continued and reinforced this line of clarity and transparency and is working to recover the esteem that this institution merits at the international level,” said Cardinal Bertone.
About the times and procedures regarding the state of precautionary custody of Paolo Gabrieli, the cardinal explained that “the magistrate had not yet given a favorable answer to the request” for his release from prison, and that the magistrate’s interrogations will begin again soon.
Father Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said that the three cardinals who make up the Investigation Commission – Jozef Tomko, Salvatore De Giorgi and Julian Herranz — have interviewed 23 persons and that on Saturday evening they reported to Pope Benedict XVI.
