THE CRISIS IN THE VATICAN EMPIRE

THE CRISIS IN THE VATICAN EMPIRE     MASSIMO FRANCO
Posted:  March 13, 2-14

  Scandals, internal power struggles, whistleblowers, and the challenge of a quickly changing world. This book helps readers understand one of the most tormented periods of transition in the history of the Catholic Church. Benedict XVI’s epochal decision to resign as pope not only ended his pontificate, but has revealed a new identity crisis within the Catholic Church—the paragon of virtue—forcing it into the awkward position of having to explain and to confess its own “sins” and convince the public that it is reforming and will change its behavior. The church is perceived by adversaries as the “second Kremlin,” doomed to the same ruin that marked the fall of the Soviet empire. Massimo Franco analyzes the deep-seated causes and implications of the Catholic Church’s disintegration.


HUBBY'S REVIEW:
Crisis in the Vatican is the look into John Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI April 19 2005 to Feb 28 2013. Two of the Popes trusted inner circle his secretary and his personal butler had leaked documents to the press. This was called the Vati leaks and his butler Paolo Gabriele was tried but then was pardoned. This by the way was not a surprise by anyone in Rome. Still the most damaging documents were the ones stating that the Vatican Bank had been missed handle and that when he took over as Pope he aligned most of the money in the bank with a bank in Germany. Not that there was a problem with that at first but this all took place before the banking crisis. That crisis effected all of the major banks and some of the oldest banks in the world. Before anything could be done to correct the problem he was forced to fire the bank President Ettore Gotti Tedeschi. In Italy and the European banking markets when this news came out it was not taken well. Mr. Tedeschi was a much respected man in the banking community and it was felt that with him in charge that he would be able to turn things around. Still there was the problem with the pedophile priest scandal that not only affected the U.S. but also many other countries as well. He was still feeling the pressure of keeping it secret by some in the Vatican. One little back story he was the Perfect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: 1981- 2005. This is really where he defended and reaffirmed Catholic doctrine that he felt had gotten to western. These also would be constantly spoken of during his time as Pope. His time as the Perfect he was also accused of covering up the molestations cases when they first started to appear. He is also the one who told Pops John Paul II what he thought he should do, not that the Pope had to follow his guidance. He did as Pope change the investigations of abuse is conducted using American and other ways, so when Ireland started having accusations investigations started immediately and Priests were moved away from all children until the end of investigation and if guilty turned over to the authorities, this is a huge change to bad it did not happen sooner. A few years later siting health reasons he was going to step down being the first Pope since Gregory XII in 1415 to retire. Still it left the church in a state of what to do for there were Cardinals that still needed to be replaced before the vote could happen. I found this to be more interesting of a book than I thought I thought it might have been. I got this book from net galley.