The new face of the Vatican -- mulier iucunda intellegensque

Thought you might like to see a pic of the Vatican's new PR (= Public Relations) girl, hired personally by Pope Francis. Vero! (= Really!) Her name is Francesca Chaouqui, and she's said to have "connections" with seven -- count `em, 7! -- cardinals.

Len's guess is that the man with whom Francesca is "connecting" in the picture is not one of the prelates. After all, he does seem to be enjoying the company of a mulier iucunda, not a vir iucundus.

Getting back to Ms Chaouqui... She's the director of PR (= Chief Fart-catcher) for the Pope's new "Privy Council" -- the eight cardinals Pope Francis appointed basically to run the Church because, as he has admitted publicly, he himself doesn't have the "organizational skills" to do so.

Iucunda Francesca may be, but whether she's intelligens is a matter of debate within the walls of the Holy See. She's already made several powerful enemies by daring to speak the truth (as she sees it) on her Twitter account, which has just mysteriously been closed.

Chief among her detractors is our old friend Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, whom Ms Chaouqui accused of being "corrupt". His Eminence is now suing her. If there's ever a trial [In your dreams! Ed.] both Walt and Agent 3 will be going to Rome for the pleasure of seeing Bertone cross-examined under oath.

Ms. Chaouqui also reported that Pope Benedict XVI resigned because he has leukaemia, and that his butler, Paolo Gabriele, was not the one who leaked sensitive Vatican documents showing corruption in the highest offices of the Church, and implicating... you guessed it... Bertone. In reality, she said, Gabriele took the fall for a "certain high Vatican official", who was the real leaker.

All three of Ms. Chaouqui's stories, which "certain high Vatican officials" find so scandalous, sound quite plausible to me. If she's right, she may indeed have the makings of a fine investigative reporter. How on earth Pope Francis determined to appoint her to a sensitive PR position is a mystery -- one of the famous mysteries of the Church. Perhaps he just liked her name. (Geddit?!)

Recommended reading: Information for this post was drawn from a report in "Clerical Whispers", a blog with which was have no connection!

If I remember my catechism rightly, "making known the hidden faults of your neighbour" is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. All the same, we need to be told the truth about what's going on in the Church, so plaudits to the bloggers and Francesca and all those who dare to speak out.