Marco Simeon
Posted on 02/22/2013 2:36:21 PM PST by NYer
“Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.” –Psalm 143:4
The Secret Report Given to the Pope on December 17
Today a veil of secrecy was shredded in this eternal city.
Today therefore marked the beginning of a difficult, important struggle for the purification of the government of the Church desired for so many years by Joseph Ratzinger.
We were given a glimpse today into some of the reasons, previously unknown, that prompted Pope Benedict XVI to announce his resignation on February 11, to take effect February 28, in seven days, reasons that apparently “overwhelmed his spirit within him” and “made his heart desolate.”
It is a story that in many ways seems the plot of a novel.
It is a story of blackmail and betrayal at the highest levels of the Church, and, allegedly, of a homosexual lobby organized within the Vatican to influence and obtain important decisions.
To recount this story, I will simply set forth how I learned about it, in the course of an ordinary day in Rome.
=======================
“What Can You Tell Me About the American Cardinals?”
I began my day at 6 a.m., editing a book I am preparing on one of the cardinals whom I admire greatly. (I had not expected the conclave to come so soon, and had expected to prepare the book at a more leisurely pace for publication later this year.)
At 9:45 a.m., I went to the Vatican and shortly after 10 a.m. met for 30 minutes with a European cardinal who will be going into the Conclave in a few days, a good and wise man who might himself be a candidate to be the next Pope.
He asked me a number of questions about the American cardinals. I answered as cautiously and as truthfully as I could.
The cardinal’s questions, and his interest in my remarks, made clear to me that the cardinals themselves may be trying to understand each other, in order to understand who among them may have the qualities of a strong, effective, global leader for the Church in this unprecedented time.
At 10:50 a.m., I walked into the press office, greeted Salvatore Izzo as he sat typing in the first booth (I regard him as one of the leading Vaticanisti), greeted Ania Artymiak, who writes for Inside the Vatican, and then greeted Paddy Agnew from Dublin, Ireland, correspondent for the Irish Times, whom I have known since the 1980s.
Paddy was busily typing away. Next to his computer, spread out on the large table in the center of the press office, was an Italian newspaper opened to p. 17.
It was a full-page story about something related to the Vatican. There was a large picture of Pope Benedict and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and three smaller photos.
The striking thing was that Paddy had marked almost every single paragraph of the story with colored markers, some in yellow, some in red, some in blue.
“What’s that?” I asked. “Something important?”
“Read it,” he said, typing away. “It’s from this morning’s La Repubblica. Someone has leaked the results of the cardinals’ commission investigation…”
(Note: La Repubblica of Rome is a sort of center-left paper founded in the mid-1970s along with three other papers of a similar outlook: El Pais in Madrid, Spain; Liberation in Paris, France; and The Independent in London, England. I’m not saying there was a relationship between the papers, or that the same people were behind all of them, just making the observation that they were all founded at nearly the same time, and all have more or less the same, secular humanist, line, and all in some way helped prepare the way for the development of the European Union as it exists today.)
I looked at the headline: “Non fornicare, non rubare” – i due commandamenti violati nel dossier che sconvolge il Papa (“Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal” — the two commandments violated in the dossier that shocked the Pope”).
I looked at the sub-title: “Lotte di potere e denaro. E l’ipotesi di una lobby gay.” (“Fights for power and money. And the hypothesis of a gay lobby.”)
And I saw a sentence, highlighted in yellow, at the center of the article: “La Relazione e esplicita. Alcuni alti prelati subiscono ‘l’influenza esterna’ — noi diremmo il ricatto — di laici a cui sono legati da vincoli di ‘natura mondana.’” (“The Report is explicit. A number of high-ranking prelates are being subjected to ‘external influence’ — we would say blackmail — from laypeople to whom they are linked by ties of a ‘worldly nature.’”)
“Blackmail?” I said.
“That’s what they are saying,” Paddy replied.
I looked at the three smaller photos in the article:
Marco Simeon
“Marco Simeon, 33 anni, ex direttore delle relazioni istituzionali e internazionali della Rai” (Marco Simeon, 33, director of institutional and internationals relations at RAI, the Italian national television network);
“Ettore Balestrero, 47 anni, sotto-segretario ai Rapporti con gli stati della segretaria del Vaticano” (Ettore Balestrero, 47, under-secretary of Relations with States of the Vatican Secretariat of State);
“Rene Bruelhart, 40 anni, direttore dell’Autorita di informazione finanziaria della Santa Sede” (Rene Bruelhart (photo, bottom), 40, director of the Authority of Financial Information of the Holy See).
The essence of the article was this. Pope Benedict last year had asked three cardinals to investigate the “Vatileaks” affair. He had chosen three cardinals older than age 80 — Julian Herranz, Josef Tomko, and Salvatore De Giorgi — to conduct the investigation. They had begun their work last April, even before the Vatileaks scandal really “broke” in May. They were given the authority to summon any Vatican official, including other cardinals, to be questioned.
Monsignor Ettore Balestero
The three, evidently with a small but dedicated staff to help them, worked all year, interviewing dozens of officials. Their investigation paralleled the investigation of the Vatican police, but was of an even higher level, since the three cardinals could also interview other cardinals.
Each session began with the same set of questions, and then additional questions were asked related to the specific work of each official. (So, these sessions were very well prepared.)
Each session was recorded and then transcribed.
Eventually, the cardinals were able to compare testimony, see patterns, find connections, drawn flow charts.
The members of the Curia were charted according to their region of origin, their religious orders, and also identified as part of (or not part of) “a network across all groups based on sexual orientation” (“una rete trasversale accomunata dall’orientamento sessuale“).
On December 17, the three cardinals submitted their report to Pope Benedict. The report was some 300 pages long, and there was only one copy. And that copy is in the possession of the Pope.
Rene Bruelhart
Eight weeks later, the Pope resigned his office, saying there was a need for a younger, stronger man to carry out the needed work of the papacy…
“Ok,” I said to Paddy. “I’ll go out and buy my own copy of the paper.”
I walked out of the press office and ran immediately into Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins (he is now 81, so he will not vote in the Conclave). I have known him for many years. Since he is from Portugal, and knew Sister Lucy personally, we have spoken on occasion about the apparitions at Fatima in 1917, about the “Third Secret” of Fatima, and about the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
It was Saraiva Martins who, as Prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, announced in Coimbra, Portugal (where Sister Lucy lived and died), in February 2008 that Pope Benedict had authorized the opening of Lucy’s cause of beatification, revealing at the same time that she left a series of important unpublished writings.
“Since the death of Sister Lucia, it has been obvious how much the reputation of holiness of this humble nun has spread throughout Portugal and the rest of the world,” the cardinal said, explaining Benedict’s decision to suspend the five-year waiting period before beginning the process of beatification. (She died in 2005, just a few weeks before Pope John Paul II.)
“Your eminence,” I said. “Bella giornata” (“beautiful day”).
“Yes, it is,” he said.
We spoke for several minutes. Then I recalled the reason I had left the press office.
“There is news today in the Italian press,” I said. “Evidently something has been leaked regarding the results of the Vatileaks investigation carried out by the three cardinals.”
“Oh?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, we don’t yet know the accuracy of the report, but there is a full page today in La Repubblica. Apparently there is even talk of some curial officials being blackmailed… I’m going over to the kiosk now to buy a copy of the paper. If you would like, I’ll buy a second copy for you.”
“Please do,” he said.
While we were speaking, Italian journalist Iacopo Scaramuzzi, another excellent Vaticanist, came up. He waited respectfully a few steps away, and came up when I nodded to him and stepped away toward the kiosk. I bought the two copies of La Repubblica. When I returned, Scaramuzzi was asking Saraiva Martins questions about the Pope’s resignation, about the Pope’s mood during these days of Spiritual Exercises, and about the qualities of spirit and character that the next Pope will need.
As the two spoke, a reporter and cameraman from Associated Press walked up. “May we?” they asked, with the camera already rolling. For a while they filmed the conversation, and then the AP journalist broke in, asking if Saraiva Martins had read the news that had broken that morning in La Repubblica, about the alleged blackmail of Vatican officials. Saraiva Martins glanced at me, holding the two copies of the paper, then said, “No, I cannot make any comment on that. I haven’t yet read the article.”
A moment later, the interview was over, and Saraiva Martins and I began to walk away toward his residence nearby. I waited until we were under the colonnade opposite the press office, in front of the Ancora bookstore, then handed him the second copy of La Repubblica. He thanked me and he said we could speak again after the end of the Spiritual Exercises on Saturday.
Back in the press office, Paddy Agnew was already completing his story. This is what he wrote — clearly, succinctly, without extraneous detail:
Irish Times
Pope’s decision ‘partly prompted’ by claims over influence of gay lobby
PADDY AGNEW, in Rome
Italian daily La Repubblica this morning sensationally claims that Pope Benedict’s resignation was at least partly prompted by an internal report prepared by three senior cardinals, alleging that various lobbies, including a gay lobby, exercise an “inappropriate influence” in internal Holy See affairs.
The newspaper suggests that such was Benedict’s dismay when presented with the details of the report on December 17th that it hardened his long-meditated decision to resign. The internal report prepared by Cardinals Julian Herranz, Josef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi had been commissioned by Benedict himself.
He had ordered it in response to the so-called Vatileaks scandal which culminated with the arrest and subsequent conviction last autumn of the Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, found guilty of having stolen confidential documents from the papal apartment.
In this morning’s article, it is claimed that the cardinals reported that various lobbies within the Holy See were consistently breaking the sixth and seventh commandments, namely “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not commit adultery”.
The “stealing” was in particular related to the Vatican Bank, IOR, whilst the sexual offences were related to the influence of an active gay lobby within the Vatican.
Last week, when presiding over the Ash Wednesday celebrations in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Benedict spoke of “divisions” which “besmirch” the face of the church. In a famous homily at the 2005 Via Crucis Easter celebrations in Rome, just days before the death of John Paul II, the then Cardinal Ratzinger had spoken of the “filth” in the church, a comment interpreted by many as a reference to the worldwide clerical abuse scandal.
However, La Repubblica claims the cardinals’ 300 page report speaks of “Impropriam Influentiam” on the part of various lobbies, some of them of a “worldly nature”, reflecting an “outside influence”. The Rome daily recalls the figure of papal gentleman, Angelo Balducci, accused three years ago of being a member of a gay ring active within the Vatican and involving choristers and seminarians.
The paper does not explain the source of its information on the cardinals report nor does it provide a direct quotation from any part of the report. Rather it claims that its findings are based on information received from an unnamed Vatican source.
A Vatican spokesman this morning had no comment to make on the allegations.
The Leak
I realized I needed to sit down and read the article through still more carefully. With no sources cited, there was a risk that it was inaccurate, or wildly exaggerated. And I wondered who had gotten the story.
I looked at the author’s name: Concita De Gregorio.
“Who’s that?” I asked Izzo.
“She’s not a Vaticanist,” he said. “But that is one of the best pieces she’s ever written.” He gave a thumbs up signal. “However, it’s actually based on a piece by Ignazio Ingrao which appeared yesterday in Panorama.”
“Ah!” I said.
Now I was getting the genealogy of the story.
So, I needed to read the Panorama article and then… talk to Ingrao.
(to be continued)
Before this story is picked up and dissected by a multitude of sources, here are the facts from Inside the Vatican.
Unnamed sources say Simeon and Bruelhart’s are both are employed by an Islamic propaganda operation.
This kind of story plays right into the hands of politicians like B.O. who are trying to stifle vocal Catholic dissent on issues such as so-called "homosexual marriage", and these current news stories are possibly being partially engineered and manipulated by those same anti-Catholic politicians around the world and their lackeys in the "mainstream" press.
I suspect there is at least some grain of truth to this. Pope Benedict obviously realized that a very thorough, difficult, perhaps nasty and bloody housecleaning operation was in order. And at 85 in failing health, he determined he simply was not up to the job at this time.
There were undoubtedly some homosexuals in the Church who deliberately undermined it, and in some cases used their positions of power to push more homosexual priests into the ministry by loading up the seminaries in their areas.
Rembert Weakland was a well-known example. But there appear to have been others, who formed a network with the deliberate intention of undermining the Church.
God promised to watch over His Church and to prevent the Popes and Councils from propagating heresy. But He never promised that bad people wouldn’t worm their way into positions of power from time to time, and this clearly has been such a time.
Regretably, although John Paul II was a great pope, he did little or nothing to fix the mess, despite his great popularity and power and his long term. Mostly, he let the offenders get old and retire, which in some cases has taken a very long time. And he trusted some advisers who probably misled him.
Pope Benedict has done more, but it’s not surprising that it’s getting to be too much for him.
As for the pederast priest scandal, most of that is hypocritical. The same folks—such as the NY Times—who argue for equal rights for homosexuals are the ones who pretend it is Benedict’s fault, and the Church’s fault, for not dealing with these priests—whom they never admit are almost entirely homosexuals. So they have it both ways, and make it very difficult to fix. Still, there is nothing to do but fix it, however painful and difficult that may be for the Pope.
Let’s hope the next Pope is faithful and STRONG.
There were undoubtedly some homosexuals in the Church who deliberately undermined it, and in some cases used their positions of power to push more homosexual priests into the ministry by loading up the seminaries in their areas.
Rembert Weakland was a well-known example. But there appear to have been others, who formed a network with the deliberate intention of undermining the Church.
God promised to watch over His Church and to prevent the Popes and Councils from propagating heresy. But He never promised that bad people wouldn’t worm their way into positions of power from time to time, and this clearly has been such a time.
Regretably, although John Paul II was a great pope, he did little or nothing to fix the mess, despite his great popularity and power and his long term. Mostly, he let the offenders get old and retire, which in some cases has taken a very long time. And he trusted some advisers who probably misled him.
Pope Benedict has done more, but it’s not surprising that it’s getting to be too much for him.
As for the pederast priest scandal, most of that is hypocritical. The same folks—such as the NY Times—who argue for equal rights for homosexuals are the ones who pretend it is Benedict’s fault, and the Church’s fault, for not dealing with these priests—whom they never admit are almost entirely homosexuals. So they have it both ways, and make it very difficult to fix. Still, there is nothing to do but fix it, however painful and difficult that may be for the Pope.
Let’s hope the next Pope is faithful and STRONG.
The “Kill God” group has been around for hundreds of years. Postmodernists are sodomites-—who hated the restriction on sex—and demonization of their chosen “lifestyles”. The Freemasons-—the Illuminati—are Luciferians-—they use sodomy in all their “rites”-—to defile God, to basically condition man into dehumanizing acts to remove God’s Design of Man.
The Church was infiltrated by Postmodernists (or modernists as Pope Pius X stated in 1907). They have done it by intrigue (killing) and bribing and lying. No one really knows the infiltration numbers-—but it is like every Marxist infiltration-—it probably goes to the top.
Postmodernists/Marxists gives “Man” the status of god-—to create Right and Wrong and an artificial society which disregards all Truth and Natural Laws (which is embedded into US Constitution-—that is why the US is so vilified and targeted along with the Catholic Church). Natural Law Theory—one of the oldest ethical systems in Western Civilization was embedded into Christianity by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th Century (Father of Catholic Theology)-—which united Reason and Faith in a way to create the Age of Reason and Newton and the Renaissance. The Common Sense of Aquinas-—led to people whose worldview even affected Thomas Paine.
Common Sense and Truth is eliminated by the irrational Postmodernists (Hegel, Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, James, Dewey, etc). That is why “Liberalism is a mental disease”-—they can not use Logic and Reason. They refuse basic concepts of St. Thomas-—like “an egg is an egg”. If you can’t agree on fundamental ideas-—there is no way to relate in meaningful language to anyone—you get total chaos. Unity because of Christian Ethics formed the greatest countries in the world-—the most free, creative and prosperous—because people could Trust and understand worldview of one another. It was not just Revelation they had faith in-—it was that Truth and Reason had to agree with the Laws of Nature. This is the profound difference between Christians and non-Christians who have no “Common Sense” or regards for the Laws of Nature. No tyrant wants to obey laws which give individuals “Rights” because all history proves man wants to control others.
If you haven’t noticed-—the elite sodomites have been banding together to normalize sodomy to young children in our schools and on TV and in all Europe and Hillary is forcing 3rd world countries to give special rights to sodomites-—just like it was for thousands of years in all ancient cultures-—UNTIL Christianity became dominant.
If sodomy is promoted to little children as “good” and a “right”, it will eliminate the possibility of believing in Natural Laws and God’s Design—they will think like the little Afghani boys and act like the pagans/occultists/atheists of older ages.
The Christian ideals of individualism and selflessness and dignity and worth of every human beings and the idea that you can NEVER use human beings as a “Means to and End”-—is what eliminated slavery, homosexuality, and pederasty as “Goods”. To kill God—you have to eliminate this Truth-—that human beings are “means to an end” which is why Marxism is extremely evil. All collective societies destroy individualism-—dignity and worth of individuals, so anyone can be killed or eliminated for the good of the “collective” or for any reason the elites who desire control all activity of man-—decides.
If you read “Sugar Keynes”-—he was an evil sodomite who molested thousands of boys and even castrated some (and bragged about it) and directed his orgy pals where to go to find vulnerable boys. The elites at Harvard adopted his philosophy which destroyed the economy of England and forced them into socialism so they could be slaves of the state.
There is a power-grab in the Catholic Church and it was written about in “Pascendi” by Pope Pius X—and it culminated in the Vatican II Council (nose of the camel under the tent) infiltration of the Vatican by Freemasons/sodomites—those who used to be condemned loudly by the Catholic Church. It ended with Vatican II. New “approach” to “evil”.
This forced “quiet” of the Catholic Church on sin and evil-—is what led us to the collapse of Catholicism and schools around the developed world-—confusion of the members—where they now have nuns advocating “women priests” and Lesbianism. It is sick, evil philosophy which originates from the radical egalitarianism of Marx. This destroying of the very Nature of Man and the Nature of Woman thows out Thomism and replaces the most sound Theology in all of time-—with the irrational Postmodernism where “Up is Down” —there is no Right and Wrong in Nature-—which will only lead to Chaos and collapse of all civil societies.
The Catholic Church needs to reclaim its Theology and eliminate all the Marxist/Freemasons/sodomites from their midsts-—who are trying to collapse the Christian religion-—that which led to Freedom because of the combination of Reason and Truth.
Reason has to rule man. “Rule of Law” (Higher Power than man)-—only exists because of Reason and Natural Laws (Design by God)-—not Marx’s “feelings”.
Catholics have to promote Truth and Reason and Natural Laws again. Pope Benedict XVI has been doing this somewhat-—but the previous pope ignored it for decades. They have been skirting these Truths in the pews by many bishops, so they could be “popular” and “tolerant” of evil. They look the other way while children are sodomized and they refuse to label “homosexuality” as the “elephant in the room”-—because of the actually sodomy-promoters who have infiltrated every aspect of Western Culture and trying to make the “lifestyle” good-—which will collapse Christian Ethics and “kill God” and destroy Natural Law Theory-—the foundation of Catholic Theology and the USA.
Catholic Church has to wise up and get back in control or they will implode as they should. Hopefully, the “new” pope will be a “true Catholic” and not one of the pseudo-ones. Haven’t figured out if the present pope was one of the “good” guys or an anti-pope......lots of intrigue in the Vatican right now.
The Truth will come out eventually, but until then we will know them by their “fruits”. The “fruits” of the Catholic Church since Vatican II has been pathetic. Even the “views” of Cardinal Dolen lack the deep Theological understanding of Thomism. His message on “contraception” shows ignorance and gives Catholics no deep theological understandings of the evil worldview which adopts such nihilism and misuse of the body and Natural Law. The destruction of the family unit remains the victim, because of the lack of courage in the hierarchy of the Church to be “unpopular”. The Church needs to Lead again....like in the days of bishop Fulton Sheen. They need to be “clear” and start educating young children again and the people in their parishes which are some of the most ignorant masses I have ever encountered. “Catholics” elected our Marxist-in-Chief and killer of babies and promoter of sodomy to destroy the Christian worldview of their very children. Such stupidity is unbelievable to me—since I have raised five children and understand philosophy and how it effects worldview of every single child. The ideas you put into your young child’s head is crucial to their worldview later in life and their “feelings”.
It is extremely troubling to such as me-—since I absolutely LOVE Catholic Theology and love the Truth and God.
Sorry for such a long post—but then, it is hard to change one’s habits once they are formed. It is why childhood is so crucial.
The Catholic Church used to understand the necessity of early formation of a child’s mind and habits and character. Now they have closed so many elementary schools or adopted pagan curricula to allow public schools to indoctrinate the young into their paganism/Satanism/atheism to destroy Truth and ideas of Natural Law. This importance of formation of good habits and character in children was known since before Aristotle.
I have to say that I had some suspicions about some priests in my diocese and was then thrust into a position where I found out much more than I wanted to know. And yes, many of them are working from within to remake the Church to fit them rather than change themselves.
I have been rather disheartened and feel like I have no one to talk to because I’m not going scandalize other Catholics in my diocese and keep it to myself.
I have a few theories one is that they have tried to bankrupt the church. The other is that they were so careless that they had to do favors and give high paying jobs to hide their indescretions.
Oh yeah, and they are so far into their sin that can’t see that they can’t see that they are doing anything wrong.
Double, oh yeah, they’re all liberals and they hide behind social justice.
Stand strong. The Church is still the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, despite the sins and failings of some of its priests and bishops.
Thanks S-Susie! A great and important post. Few people understand this well presented context for what is going on and why.
Maybe you could run this by a priest who is not diocesan— from an order.
I will if I am ever given the chance. we have been gifted a wonderful, faithful priest but English is not his first language and it us hard to have an indepth conversation with him He knows to a degree but not all and I also don:t want to dishearten him. It would be great to find a good, older priest.
We are also getting a new bishop this week and I pray he will start putting things in order.
I just told my husband tonight, it just makes me a stronger Catholic because Satan is working hard to destroy the Church but I know it won’t happen.
Sorry, I don't buy the story. Why? Easy, at the Pope's age, history, health, etc., he couldn't care less. For example, someone publishes that I've had a homosexual relationship with x. I'd laugh, and say, go reproduce asexually.
Maybe I'm missing something?
5.56mm
Epic comment which goes into my bookmarks.
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