Oh, Hell

[fpb]

An enormous scandal is breaking out in the port city of Genoa, which is being compared for size and criminality to the celebrated Clean Hands affair of 1992, which brought down the Christian Democrats and nearly every other party. It is not likely to do as much political damage this time, since those involved all belong to the old Left (Genoa has always been a Communist stronghold, like many port cities) whose successors have already lost the elections and are now in the opposition. However, beside the city government in both its old and new shapes (one of the accused is a former anti-globalization activist who was among those responsible for the notorious violence at a G8 meeting in Genoa a few years ago), Catholic groups are also deeply involved. And unfortunately, the trail reaches right up to the gates of the Vatican. In the recorded conversations of two of the chief accused, the name of Genoa's former Archbishop, Tarcisio Bertone, is said to recur some forty times. And if Cardinal Bertone's name sounds familiar, it is because he is now the Secretary of State of the Vatican.

Cardinal Bertone is too high up to be investigated and charged, and besides, as one of the world's top diplomats, he has immunity to the hilt. And this is what makes it even worse for the Church. If the Cardinal could have met his accusers in court and prove his innocence, that wouldhave been best. Even if he had been convicted, that would not have been so bad: most people would realize that there are rotten apples in every barrel, and let it go at that. But not to be tried for a possible involvement in crimes worth dozens of years in jail is just the worst conclusion of all. The accusations against Cardinal Bertone will lead a ghostly life across newspaper pages and the Internet, and accompany him wherever he goes. And as there are already at least two Cardinals (Law and Mahoney) who have left the public with the impression that the got away with murder, this is the last thing the Catholic Church needed. Of course, if he is guilty, let him pay. But even if he is innocent, this is a disaster.

Comments

[djmahon.livejournal.com]

What exactly is the Cardinal accused of doing? A Google News search doesn't turn up anything.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

At this point, he only seems to have brought people around him together, who then proceeded to make a lot of very bad deals with each other. But even that makes his position rather questionable - over decades, pending his ascent from bishop to archbishop to cardinal to Secretary of State, did he never realize that these friends of his were crooks?

[starshipcat.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, if he never realized his friends were crooks, he has plenty of company. Several of the greatest scandals in US history (before Watergate, which actually involved attempts to subvert Constitutional government) involved Presidents who seemed to not realize that their friends were crooks, and were using their connections with the President to help themselves to millions. Ulysses S. Grant was a very good military commander, but a very poor President for just that reason, several times over. The Teapot Dome Scandal was in a large part the result of Warren G. Harding not realizing just how rotten his friends were.

There seems to be a certain kind of person who just can't seem to believe that people might have ulterior motives for friendship, and who don't understand that holding a position of power is a magnet for just those kinds of people. And they often can be very intelligent in terms of abstract intellectual skills. It's just in this one area of social intelligence that they don't seem to have a clue.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I deleted my last comment because I am pretty sure that I misread your comment.