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A plurality of voices

John Thavis | Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY – The Roman Curia’s headline-grabbing defense of
Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of the clerical sex abuse
scandal has demonstrated that when it comes to Vatican
communications, the pope is not a micromanager.

Twice during Holy Week liturgies, the pope was caught
unawares when his aides spoke passionately about the barrage
of criticism the pontiff and other church leaders have faced
in recent weeks on the sex abuse issue.

One official compared the attacks on the church and the pope
to “the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism,” while
another said the church would survive the “current petty
gossip.”

What Pope Benedict thought of these interventions was not
clear. But in both cases, the remarks had the unintended
effect of upstaging his own spiritual message about the
meaning of Christ’s Passion and Easter.

From the outside, the Vatican’s verbal rallying around the
pope was viewed as an orchestrated campaign to counter his
critics. If there was orchestration, however, it wasn’t
directed by the pope.

Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the
papal household, basically has an open mike every time he
steps up to sermonize for the pope and the Roman Curia. He
also has a penchant for weaving in current events, so it was
probably not a complete surprise when he began talking about
the priestly sex abuse scandal at the pope’s Good Friday
liturgy April 2.

But when, quoting a Jewish friend, he likened criticism of
church leaders to past efforts to pin “collective guilt” on
Jews, he sparked an outcry heard around the world.

Amazingly, Pope Benedict and other Vatican officials had no
inkling that Father Cantalamessa would put forward such a
comparison.

“No one at the Vatican has ever demanded to read the texts of
my homilies in advance, which is something I consider a great
act of trust in me and in the media,” Father Cantalamessa
said afterward.

As usual, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican
spokesman, was assigned clean-up duty. Hours after the
liturgy, he issued a statement saying the Capuchin’s analysis
“was not the position of the Holy See.”

On Easter Sunday, at the beginning of the papal Mass in St.
Peter’s Square, another salvo came from Cardinal Angelo
Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals.

In an unprecedented salutation to Pope Benedict, Cardinal
Sodano extolled the pontiff as the “unfailing rock” of the
church, praised the 400,000 priests who serve generously
around the world and then said: “Holy Father, the people of
God are with you, and they do not allow themselves to be
impressed by the current petty gossip, or by the ordeals that
occasionally strike the community of believers.”

The pope rose and embraced Cardinal Sodano. But in this
instance, too, the pope was not informed ahead of time about
a text that soon would be making headlines.

“I can exclude that the pope requested or saw in advance the
text of Cardinal Sodano’s greeting,” Father Lombardi told
Catholic News Service.

Whether in Rome or abroad, the pope simply doesn’t have time
to personally preview the many speeches or brief greetings
that are addressed to him, Father Lombardi explained.
Considering that this one came from the dean of the College
of Cardinals, it was probably not subject to revisions by
anyone else, either, he said.

Cardinal Sodano’s remarks got more news coverage than the
pope’s own words, leading some to complain that the Vatican
couldn’t manage to stay on-message even at Easter. But that
didn’t bother Vatican officials, who said it was important to
let the pope and the world know that his church supported him
at this moment.

One source said the decision to add the greeting to the pope
was reached the evening before, based on a growing sense that
to say nothing might leave the impression that the pope was
isolated in the face of criticism.

Critics of the Vatican’s communications apparatus have long
argued that not enough attention has been paid to the way
comments by individual cardinals or other Vatican officials
will play in the media.

But to date there have been no serious efforts to muzzle
these officials or vet their public remarks. Indeed, for such
a hierarchical organization, the Vatican has an amazing
plurality of voices.

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