Sympathy for the devil
by digby
I suppose I expect this sort of rationalization from the more fundamentalist religious types but I have to confess (no pun intended)that this surprised me:
In a rare interview with the Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, accused the media of "intentionally ignoring" the good things the Church does while dwelling on scandals.
"Many journalists are playing the game of trying to imitate Dan Brown," said Bertone, referring to the best-selling author of novels such as "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons".
"They (journalists) continue to invent fairytales and repeat legends," he said.
The scandal involves the leak of sensitive documents, including letters written to Pope Benedict whose butler, Paolo Gabriel, was arrested last month after a large number of stolen documents were found in his home.
Bertone said the media were full of "pettiness and lies spread in these days," adding that "outside Italy people have a hard time trying to understand the vehemence of some Italian newspapers".
He said the Church was "an unequivocal reference point for countless people and institutions around the world" and added: "This is why there is an attempt to destabilize it".
Bertone branded as false the image of the Vatican as a place of intrigue and power struggles, saying: "The truth is that there is an attempt to sow division that comes from the Devil".
The Vatican as a place of intrigue and power struggles? Where in the world would anyone come up with something like that? It's all fiction, written by ... Satan. There's no other possible explanation.
I've never followed this sort of thing all that closely, but I guess I thought the Catholic hierarchy was more ... worldly? I honestly didn't realize they were still flogging the Devil as the cause of all their woes. My bad. It does explain a lot though, I must admit.
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