Vatican denies swirling rumors as pope prepares to step down
updated 11:58 AM EST, Sat February 23, 2013
Pope Benedict XVI waves in St.
Peter's Square in the Vatican in December 2012. Benedict, 85, announced
on Monday, February 11, that he will resign at the end of February
"because of advanced age." The last pope to resign was Gregory XII in
1415.
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Pope Benedict XVI
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Top Vatican official condemns "often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories"
- Rumors are intended to put pressure on cardinals, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone says
- Italy's La Reppublica has published allegations involving a shadowy network of gay clergy
- Pope Benedict XVI is to stand down from office on Thursday
The strongly-worded
denial came on the eve of the pope's last Angelus blessing, expected to
draw huge crowds of the faithful, before he stands down on Thursday.
Vatican Secretary of
State Tarcisio Bertone said it was "deplorable" that as the time for the
Roman Catholic cardinals to elect a new pope approaches, a rash of
"often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories" has
appeared.
Such unfounded stories
"cause serious damage to persons and institutions," he said, and are an
attempt to influence the cardinals' free will in the election "through
public opinion."
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Bertone did not address
the specific claims that were first published in La Repubblica, the
country's largest circulation daily newspaper, on Thursday and Friday.
The newspaper stories center on an investigation last year by three cardinals into a scandal involving leaks from the Vatican.
La Repubblica, citing
unnamed sources familiar with the investigation, alleged that the
investigation revealed a series of scandals involving sex, money and
power that touch cardinals, priests and lay people that work in the
Vatican.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi declined to comment on La Repubblica's article in a media briefing on Thursday.
CNN Senior Vatican Analyst John Allen, also a correspondent with the National Catholic Reporter, suggested in a piece written Friday that unsourced speculation about a shadowy "gay lobby" within the Vatican should be taken with a grain of salt.
But, he said, while he
doesn't know for sure if the three cardinals did investigate networks
based on sexual preference, "frankly, it would be a little surprising if
they hadn't" -- given past scandals that have become public concerning
clergy involved in homosexual activities.
The pope may well have been worn down by the "cumulative impact of the various meltdowns over the last eight years," Allen said.
"However," he added,
"it's probably a stretch to draw a straight line between all of this and
Benedict's resignation. For the most part, one has to take the pope at
his word: He's stepping aside because he's old and tired, not because of
any particular crisis."
The pontiff will leave
office at 8 p.m. on February 28, two-and-a-half weeks after he shocked
the Roman Catholic world by announcing his resignation.
The Vatican has said a new pope will be in place for the Church's Easter celebrations on March 31.
Benedict on Saturday concluded a week-long spiritual retreat, held to mark the Lenten period.
Addressing the clergy
who had joined him, he thanked them "not only for this week, but for
these past eight years that you have carried with me -- with great
skill, affection, love and faith -- the weight of the Petrine ministry,"
referring to the papacy.
Benedict also met with
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday, an encounter described
by the Vatican as "particularly warm and cordial."
The pontiff is
considering changing the Vatican constitution to allow a vote for his
successor to begin before March 15, Lombardi said Wednesday.
Existing rules say the
Roman Catholic Church's cardinals should start voting on a replacement
from 15 to 20 days after the papal throne becomes vacant. With Benedict
due to depart on February 28, the cardinals' conclave ordinarily would
start no sooner than March 15.
But Lombardi has said
that because Benedict was leaving the papacy through resignation rather
than death, the Vatican would explore the possibility of selecting a new
pope sooner than normally prescribed.
The so-called
"Vatileaks" scandal last year led to the pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele,
being convicted on charges of leaking private papers from the Vatican in
a high-profile trial and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Although Gabriele was
pardoned weeks later by the pope, the whole affair -- which revealed
claims of corruption in the church's hierarchy -- was damaging to the
Vatican's reputation.
The latest media allegations, despite the strenuous Vatican denials, may add to the pressure for reform.
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