Conspiracies Swirl as Vatican Scandal Engulfs Rome/ NPR

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/02/154093529/conspiracies-swirl-as-vatican-scandal-engulfs-rome

The scandal over leaked documents that has been engulfing the Vatican is the biggest breach of confidence and security at the Holy See in recent memory.
Known as Vatileaks, the crisis has shed light on a Vatican gripped by intrigue and power struggles like a Renaissance court.
Vatileaks erupted into a full-blown scandal with the publication two weeks ago of a book of Vatican documents alleging corruption and conspiracies among cardinals.
Within days, the Vatican bank president was abruptly dismissed and the pope's own butler was arrested on charges of stealing the pope's correspondence.
The Vatican denounced the leaking of papal letters as a brutal attack and launched a three-pronged investigation to find the moles.
This week, Pope Benedict XVI broke his silence and denounced what he called false media coverage.
"There has been increasing conjecture, amplified by the communications media, which is entirely gratuitous, goes beyond the facts and presents a completely unrealistic image of the Holy See," the pope said...


Gianluigi Nuzzi, the Italian journalist who published the leaked letters, will not reveal his sources. And he's is not at all convinced about Gabriele's guilt.
"It's the Vatican press office that announced that many documents were found in the butler's home," Nuzzi says. "Now, if he is the whistle-blower he must be really stupid to hold on to all stuff. And it's very disturbing that the trial will be held in secret."
But even if Vatican trials are closed to the public, analyst Politi says, news of the proceedings will leak out and provide further embarrassment for Benedict.
"The pope in the last six to seven months has let happen so many scandals about money and [transparency], that now the Roman Curia and Catholic public opinion is in great disarray, everybody asking, 'What's going on?' " Politi says.
Mickens, the reporter, says the Vatican is in dire need of structural reforms.
"It's a courtlike situation that is staffed and run by people who have no experience growing up in a court," says Mickens. "They're all from democratic societies; it's just not suited for the 21st century; and it is nowhere to be found in the Gospels, or Scriptures — it's a cultural anachronism"