Repubblica names Bertone in Vatileaks scandal

On May 28th Walt told you "Bertone... it's Bertone!" who's at the centre of the Vatileaks scandal which is the talk of Rome and the whole Catholic Church. Either he's the target of a campaign by his many enemies in the Curia, or he's the mastermind behind dirty tricks aimed at Pope Benedict XVI, to whom Bertone thinks he's heir apparent.

Paolo Gabriele, the pope's butler, who was caught in possession of confidential documents which he should not have had, is only a small fry. But the name of the big friar [oh please! Ed.] has not been spoken in Rome, until now.

In its Sunday edition, the influential Rome newspaper La Repubblica published documents it says it received anonymously after Gabriele's arrest on May 23rd. That means that Gabriele could not be the only person in possession of confidential correspondence. There are others!

And there are not just a few documents but, according to a note received by the newspaper, "hundreds more". Gabriele, it confided, was just a scapegoat. But for whom?

One letter, dated January 16th, concerning a liturgical matter, was sent by Raymond Cardinal Burke -- the American sometimes called "Bully Burke" -- to Pope Benedict's secretary of state. That would be... wait for it... Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone.

Whoever sent the documents to La Repubblica also provided two letters signed by the pope's private secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein. (He's the one standing behind the pope. No knife is visible in the picture.) The newspaper said those letters had everything but the letterhead and the signature whited out "so as not to offend the Holy Father," according to the note accompanying the documents.

The person who sent the documents to La Repubblica said Cardinal Bertone and Monsignor Gaenswein were "those really responsible for this scandal". The writer threatened to reveal the contents of Gaenswein's letters, and possibly other embarrassing details, soon. Stay tuned.