Vatican Struggle for Power Amidst Benedict’s Growing Senility

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.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/28/us-vatican-butler-idUSBRE84R0B520120528

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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No Transparency – Carl A. Anderson – Vatican Bank IOR Scandal – Knights of Columbus

Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson of the Knights of Columbus (rumored to be the Catholic Masons), banker to mere popes, has spoken so eloquently on the current Vatican Bank scandal.
(Certainly no bloviating ignoramus like Donald Trump or any other sleazebag GOP operative types.)

No transparency. That’s why we fired Gotti Tedeschi

Carl Anderson measures his words carefully, following years of dealings with the Vatican and prior to that, following his time spent working at the White House with Ronald Reagan. Of the four board members of the IOR, who on Thursday chose to oust their president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi with a no-confidence vote, Anderson, an American with placid manners, was the one who had to break to the volatile economist that his “progressively erratic personal behaviour” was not longer tolerated. Anderson could not even show Gotti Tedeschi the door, because the former president stormed out from the IOR building while his colleagues of IOR governing council were still deliberating  whether to dismiss him.  Thus the reasons for his dismissal, including the “odd behaviour” were written down in a harsh memorandum drafted by Anderson, listing Gotti Tedeschi’s many “failures”…. 

Anderson put the charge into context. He is one of the most famous personalities in the American Catholic world. As Supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, he is the chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the world’s largest Catholic family fraternal service organization, which has more than 1.8 million members and which in the US is a true financial power in the life-insurance field, in 2010 the insurance companies of the Knights earned 7 billion dollars in life-insurance policies.

The Black Tower, K of C HQ, New Haven Connecticut

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