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Subscribe to RSSScotland's Cardinal Keith O'Brien will not attend the conclave to elect a new pope – on Monday he resigned after being accused of "inappropriate acts," the same day that Pope Benedict decided an internal report on the leak of papal documents by the Pope's butler would remain secret. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
A potentially explosive report into embarrassing leaks from the Vatican will be seen by only two people — Pope Benedict XVI and the man who succeeds him.
Italian newspapers have already angered the Vatican by suggesting that the report found evidence of corruption, blackmail and a gay sex ring, and that it triggered Benedict’s decision earlier this month to give up the papacy.
The Vatican said in a statement Monday that Benedict, who commissioned the report on leaks from three cardinals, is the only person who knows its contents and will make them available only to the next pope.
The pontiff also praised the cardinals for showing "the generosity, honesty and dedication of those who work in the Holy See," considering "the limitations and imperfections of the human component of each institution."
Over the weekend, the Vatican took the unusual step of lashing out at the Italian press — accusing it of "unverifiable or completely false news stories" designed to influence the conclave that will pick the next pope.
Father Thomas Reese, author of "Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church," said that Benedict’s decision to keep the report secret was not a surprise.
"The Vatican doesn’t like to do its laundry in public," he said.
In any event, he added, the new pope could always decide to make the report public. Benedict’s decision simply gives him cover in case he wants to keep it private, Reese said.
Javier Barbancho / AFP - Getty Images
Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Look back at his life from childhood through his papacy.
The pope ordered the report on what has become known as the Vatileaks scandal last year after documents became public that deeply embarrassed the church, including some of Benedict’s own correspondence and letters alleging corruption.
Benedict pardoned the ex-butler, Paolo Gabriele, just before Christmas.
The pope, 85, announced earlier this month that he would abdicate, the first leader of the Catholic Church to do so since the Middle Ages. His last day is Thursday. A conclave to pick successor begins next month.
The decision to keep the leaks report secret adds a layer of intrigue to what has already been a tumultuous papal transition.
Just Monday, the most senior cleric in Britain, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, resigned after The Observer newspaper reported that three priests and a former priest had accused him of inappropriate behavior going back 30 years.
Also Monday, the pope changed Vatican law to allow his successor to be picked sooner — as soon as all the voting cardinals are in place in Rome. Under previous law, the conclave could not have begun before March 15.
Related:
Britain’s top cardinal quits amid priests’ allegations
This story was originally published on Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:59 AM EST
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That's gotta be a pretty big rug in the Vatican to cover all the stuff they're sweeping under it.
So if the Pope and his successor are the only two that "know" what's in the report, What happened to the people that wrote it? were they dispatch to meet their maker so they couldn't tell? Just asking.
No. The next pope can do what he wants with the report. When the current pope leaves office, he is not pope-emeritus. He's just a bishop who is required under law to submit his resignation to the current pope.
Kind of like an ex-president. You might consult with him, send him on errands of mercy, but he has no real authority of office.
Yes, yes. Send the whistle blower to the church controlled prison and keep the details secret. More cover up by the pope himself and his successor. This is nothing but keeping the skeletons in the closet, sweeping the dirt under the rug. Time for this scandalous private club wanna be ministers to come clean and stop hiding their corruption. Peter must be turning over in his crypt!! And God is hurt by the deceit of his so-called ministers.
with secret comes lies nothing new here.
Amazing to me that a few bad men doing horrible things and most of you say 1 billion people are wrong. Think about this:
1. 1 in 5 people in the hospital right now are in a Catholic hospital
2. 6,400 people in Chicago will be fed today by the Catholic church.
3. For 1500 years the only people protecting the Bible was the Catholic church.
4. Unless you were born of noble blood there was no education until the Catholic church changed that.
5. Millions of Catholic's have given their life for their and your religion. You wouldn't even know about Jesus if the Catholics weren't here.
Every person involved with harming a child should be in JAIL priest, or any others. It will be the job of our new Pope to clear this up and help prosecute anyone involved.
A million attaboys get wiped out with one ah sh*t...
1 -Catholic hospitals play god every day.
2-Considerably more than 6400 people will be fed by other sources.
3-The bible is not worth protecting. It is a book that perpetrates hatred throughout the world.
4-The education you speak of was nothing more than brainwashing and indoctrination.
5-Billions of people have died (murdered, tortured and shunned) because of religion.
Based upon your last statement, you would have to agree that el popo should be prison, because he is guilty of harming many children, among others.
Maybe the Catholic Church should consider closing all of the Catholic schools, hospitals and charitable institutions and let the government take on the burden. This would make sequestration look like child's play.
None of that makes their claims true. Don't you get that? And to insinuate there would be no people of good will doing good things unless Holy Mother Church existed is a childish way to think about reality.
By my count there are atleast 4 people that should currently know what is in the report, 1- The Pope and 3 Cardinals that did the invesigation and possible a scribe to write it all up. So maybe 5 people before a new Pope sees it.
The Pope had the other 4 killed off...
Where's the dam butler. He can be bought! Actually, all of them can.
They caught the Pope with a young boy...now they are making him transfer religions.
In other words, The Accidental Pope is gay and he's being forced out.
Yup outed from his cloakset ..
the Pope is wrong....God will also see the results........
Evidently the Pope doesn't believe in god...
He is probably hiding the fact the church found absolute proof that Jesus was NOT the son of God, because there is no god, and that their entire religion is based upon fraud. El popo seems to be at the helm of the biggest fraud in history. Besides, he is a Nazi scumbag, who should be in jail for rape, murder and other assorted crimes, but, alas, he has dipolmatic immunity.
"probe " seems to be a revelant term in this case ..
Hopefully, this demonic cult called the catholic church will come unraveled!!!! I am wondering why the catholics aren't fleeing in droves.......oh, wait, do they think that a priest abusing their child is their duty to God??? Their child being chosen to serve the sick, perverted priest is an honor??? Who are these catholics that look the other way and send money to this demonic cult to continue this habit???? Where is the outrage??? WHO WILL STAND UP FOR THESE LITTLE CHILDREN???? When does this end??? Is this the beginning of the end to this cult of liars, perverts, money hungry thieves??? AND WHY DOESN'T THE NUN GROUP...WHICH ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE SOME FORM OF MOTHER INSTINCT.........DO SOMETHING???????? Are they as bad?? WHY DOES EVERYONE IN THE CATHOLIC CULT LOOK THE OTHER WAY??? Don't YOU know YOU will answer for this sin of non action??????????? This whole cult from the RCC down to the small town rectory needs to be dismantled and put out with Friday's garbage. They have brainwashed people for thousands of years and are still at it.......because they can....and the idiots that are brainwashed can no longer think for themselves!!!!!!!!!!!! Again.......WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE FOR THESE SICK, PERVERTED, SINFUL ACTS???????????????? Who will stop this tyrant of a cult????????????
A woman who knows.
Can someone change the papal state into a county? Can't hide no criminals in counties, can you? I declare the Vatican State or Papal State or Vatican City--wait, I'm getting confused; it's supposed to be a state, maybe it's not called Vatican City. Anyway, back to my declaration: whatever the heck kind of state or country (more confusion) it is, I hereby declare it a county. Amen. Let us pray...
It's not a state according to the UN. It's only an observer. The Vatican doesn't meet the requirements for statehood. There are four recognized attributes of statehood.
Mussolini set up the Vatican. What a wonderful historical record that is to be proud of.
What ya hiding girls? Why won't you be truthful and tell us? You make your "sheep" pay through the nose for a nonexistent salvation and can't even offer them the TRUTH?!? . . . well of course not. The TRUTH would be the end of all of you now, wouldn't it?
The Vatican is a cesspool of sex, lies, back-stabbing politics . . . thanks not to "god" that people are beginning to see what those robed rip-off artists are truly about. I hope I live long enough to watch the whole sordid conglomeration implode!! . . . kind of like the holy Enron.
Sounds like much of the same. "We will do our own investigating and tell the people nothing". That's what I'm hearing. Shame on them. I dont go to church. I dont even believe for that matter. But what i DO believe is these people are the most detestable human beings. And they'll pay. To their God, they'll pay. I think it just goes to show that they don't even believe what they preach. Because if they did, they would know that they're going to "hell". And since they're still doing it, that says they dont believe their own religion. It's just sickening, the whole thing.
Crimes, secrecy, lies......it almost sounds republican.
According to one source there are 400,000 priests worldwide. By some estimates, one in particular that was mentioned on MSNBC this evening, at approximately 7:30, about half who enter the seminary are homosexual..does that mean they are all pediphiles? Just thinking this is a bit extreme. There are hetrosexual pediphiles...so how does this play.
Yeah yeah , try to pin it on the heterosexual ones . Newsflash- if you like dick of ANY age you are a homo .When's the last time you heard of a catholic priest molesting a girl ?If the "Hetero" Pedo is going for dick , that automatically makes him gay .
Seminaries and convents were notorious as safe and secure havens for homosexuals to hide from the world, to avoid having to explain why they weren't married at age 30 or 40. They also harbored mis-fits and other people who couldn't take the pressures of the outside world. And they housed the truly dedicated as well.
In times past, single men who never married were referred to as "committed bachelors" and their female counterparts were labeled "spinsters". When in fact, the great percentage of them were homosexual.
But to put pedophilia and homosexuality in the same context is just plain ignorant and wrong, period. Statistics show time and time again that most pedophiles are heterosexual males and females. Can't change the numbers no matter how you try.
If the pedophile likes penises and gets excited by a boys butt he definately isn't heterosexual, and if he claims to be then he just "hasn't come out " yet as you PCers like to say .
hmmmm, after reading comments about no God......
24 hours before dad died in 1981, there was a spirit in the doorway of the house. Young man, wavy hair, light blue shirt. Sister did not recognize the spirit. She only knew her uncle as elderly man age 64. The spirit of John took the appearance of a young man. Later she recognized the spirit from photo of John in his younger years.
In 2000, after open heart surgery, another uncle died. The picture slanted on dining room wall, and for several years, clocks were stopping at 1:20, time of his death. It was common occurence in his house in Czech Republic, and it happened in mother's house. I saw it happen in both homes. I need no signs from other side. There is life after death.
I am Roman Catholic. The reason I attend mass is not because of the priest.
What is the connection between these strange happenings and the catholic church? Even if the dead DID talk to you it would not necessarily be because your religion was the right one.
Andrew, even Roman Catholics don't believe that mumbo-jumbo.
There's no doubt that the Catholic Church not only tolerates pedophiles but actively and eagerly protects them and perpetuates their crimes.
I think the only person in the church that tells the truth is the Butler...!
To Many secrets for anybody trusting any of their cover up reports..
Looks like a coup for that Fox news personality hired by the Vatican, gaining votes by any means.
One pope telling another pope whom you've neatly arranged to name yourself may be on the up and up?
The design of shield for the holy trinity (lower case out of respect) makes for good story line, and precedes man's discovery of quantum mechanics, is not a bad thing, but is ahead of its time, and maybe the as close to knowing divine as shall ever come between my ears.
But if the Pope understands his own power play, he will have created a mystery, one intended to vanish sort of, if the next Pope agrees to it.
If the mystery never comes to light then well fine, but that alone makes a potentially huge problem, best described as the Anti-Pope. With a living ex-pope having chosen his own successor, via a preponderance of number of cardinals appointed by this Pope, there is the possibility that another Pope can be chosen by the wiser of the clergy seeking salvation from this 'man' made crisis. Even the recent monetary evaluation of $8 billion, suggests that a price has been offered to save the church, $8 billion after all is no longer a lot of money.
As the church struggles to save itself by rolling back, small progress, over recent decades, we are struck not only of the rug size, but the larger size of what needs to be swept under it. Why the church proceeds as it does is amply predicted by all that has accumulated over the centuries. The long view from the mountain of history might yield to a modern analogy with the media. The media might have started with the print presses improvement over the scrolls; the scholars would have spilled ink while transcribing the latest inside bit of humor. The church has been the central entertainment for hundreds of not thousands of years. The crowds surely would have left it were not for the choirs, the chanting, the processionals and all the wonderful ceremonies awarding significance to every event common to us all. Over these same years the church has diversified and updated and added to its entertainment forms.
The mystery made today, will be irresistibly sought after in the future, and will grow larger with each passing event that causes more questions.
The power of the College of Cardinals prevents these 'men' from doing the right thing, that is to give up that Power and preside over the election of a Pope as a wider conduit from the deeply held love of the church by its followers to make a choice. It will be a creative Pope who can plainly admit all of the wrong doings, just as those who wish to be saved must maintain in their own lives. Can the church be saved if its leaders are unwilling by any excuse to yield up that power? The cardinals would be sooner willing to give up their red garments for plain gray that yield their life long climb to power. It is not a hill that they climb easily, knowing what sacrifice they might see at the top.
References to be Read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_of_the_Trinity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Durant#On_the_decline_and_rebuilding_of_civilizations
The Church is so very lost.
I feel bad for Benedict if he's gay. I couldn't imagine the unnecessary mental anguish someone of faith could inflict upon themselves.
But, that's just a super duper side story. The real story is the cover up of innocence violated and he should not have the luxury of retreating to an Italian villa while rear ends are still sore from pedophiles.
When god made man, he made him out of string. He had too much so he left that little thing. When god made women, he made her out of lace. He didn’t have enough so he left that little space.
"The Vatican said in a statement Monday that Benedict, who commissioned the report on leaks from three cardinals, is the only person who knows its contents and will make them available only to the next pope."
Obviously, for anyone who can read, Benedict is not the ONLY person who knows its contents. The three cardinals who put together the report also surely know its contents. That makes at least four. And where there are four who know, it's only a matter of time before thousands, then millions, also know.
Choke the living sh*t out of those Cardinals until they give it up!
Mayaculpa, you forget that the other persons who also know the contents of the report also carry with them a fanatical devotion to the Pope (CEO), the corporation (RCC) and not the flock!
Me thinks the ole Popie de Pope is doing what he does best and taking the James Bond attitude: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY = A/k/a "COVER-UP"
How is it news that the Vatican is keeping yet another secret? That's all the organization knows how to do. I mean, we're talking about an institution that thought it was a good idea it's clergy to deliver religious messages in a language that their congregation didn't speak and even keep their text in a language that most people couldn't read.
It's addicted to the idea that they, as an organization, can define what reality is by keeping hidden anything that would challenge their version of it. The only thing the catholic church fears more than God is the truth, or least being confronted by the truth by those outside their organization.
got to wonder why "probe will be kept secret" hope it wasn't another alterboy getting"probed" up there by some clergy !!!!