Walt is looking forward to an eyeball-to-eyeball with Agent 9, who is enroute from the northwest frontier. They will have many things to talk about, including the resignation from his position as Vatican Secretary of State of the despised Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone.
Just today, the Catholic News Agency passes on the revelation of an unnamed Vatican insider that The Man Who Would Be Pope resigned earlier than expected, because he resented the fact that other Vatican officials did not defend him against the criticism of (among others) Francesca Cahouqui, the hottie recently appointed by Pope Francis to a top Vatican PR job.
Further reading: "The new face of the Vatican -- mulier iucunda intellegensque" and "Sandro Magister on the Pope's two super-embarrassing appointments"
Cardinal Bertone was expected to resign in September or even October. But over lunch with the Pope at Castel Gondolfo on August 15th, he told the Holy Father he was quitting immediately. His resignation was formally announced on August 31st, and will take effect on October 15th.
Why the hurry? According to the anonymous source cited by CNA, Cardinal Bertone was miffed that Fruity Francesca said on her Twitter account that he was corrupt. Imagine that! Actually she said a great deal more, not just about Bertone but the whole rotten Vatican power structure. Her account has since been, errr, closed.
What burned Bertone's episcopal ring, apparently, was that none of his colleagues at the Vatican -- not even his old friend and mentor Cardinal Sodano (who was also lunching with the Pope) responded to the charges of corruption and incompetence. Shortly after his resignation was announced, Bertone denounced the “mix of crows and vipers” who generated critical stories about his leadership.
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