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| The Bogias - Pope Alexander VI, his mistresses and bastard children |
Life imitates Art. The Borgias (Alexander VI)
against the Della Roveres (Julius II) are two camps fighting for power in the
current Showtime Historic Drama (Soap Opera).
It is hard to identify which groups or how many exist in the present
struggle vying for power and the power to sign checks as Benedict XVI’s reign
wanes into extreme old age and senility.
The
microcosm of America with siblings struggling to get hold of mom or dad’s unearned
equity before the parent croaks is being mirrored on the macrocosm of the world
stage and the struggle for power and wealth within the present leaderless Vatican.
The scandal
exploded last week when within a few days the pope's butler was arrested for
leaking documents, the head of the Vatican's own bank was abruptly dismissed
and a book was published alleging conspiracies among the cardinals or
"princes of the Church".
Newspapers,
quoting insiders who had themselves leaked documents, said the arrested butler
was merely a scapegoat doing the bidding of more powerful figures in the
scandal, which has been dubbed "Vatileaks".
Documents
passed to Italian journalists accuse Vatican insiders of cronyism and
corruption in contracts with Italian companies. La Stampa daily quoted one of
the alleged leakers as saying the goal was to help the pope root out
corruption.
On Saturday,
Paolo Gabriele, 46, Pope Benedict's personal butler, was formally charged with
stealing confidential papal documents. But leakers quoted by La Stampa, La
Repubblica and other media said the leaking plot went much wider.
"There
are leakers among the cardinals but the Secretariat of State could not say
that, so they arrested the servant, Paolo, who was only delivering letters on
behalf of others," La Repubblica quoted one alleged whistleblower as
saying.
The
Secretariat of State is run by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the pope's powerful
right-hand man, and the scandal appears to involve a power struggle between his
allies and enemies, reminiscent of Renaissance conspiracies in the Vatican.
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