Forget the thousands of cases involving pedophilia and other abuses at the hands of Catholic priests, the Vatican’s No. 2 on Monday accused news reporters and Satan for attempting to undermine the Vatican and destroy it by covering the “VatiLeaks” and other stories that show the church in a negative light.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone accused members of the media for trying “to imitate Dan Brown” author of “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons.” In his interview with Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, Bertone said the media was “intentionally ignoring” the good things the Church does while focusing on its numerous scandals.
According to Bertone:
“They (journalists) continue to invent fairytales and repeat legends.”
The Cardinal continues by calling members of the media full of “pettiness and lies spread in these days.”
Bertone continued by noting that the Church is “an unequivocal reference point for countless people and institutions around the world. This is why there is an attempt to destabilize it”.
The Vatican is not placing all of the blame directly on media reporters, according to Bertone:
“The truth is that there is an attempt to sow division that comes from the Devil”.
Among the Vatileaks were documents showing corrupt business dealings between the Vatican and local Italian companies. In at least several cases Italian companies were paid inflated prices for work in the Vatican. The documents also contained alleged clashes over managements of the Vatican bank and rivalries among cardinals.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone stopped short of blaming all of the churches problems on the media.