Leaks and power plays in Vatican City

Pope Benedict XVI

A book reproducing the private correspondence of Pope Benedict XVI has angered the Vatican and forms part of a series of leaks revealing allegations of corruption and internal conflicts.
Pope Benedict complained bitterly at his latest general audience about the international media. He said they had unfairly latched on to the admittedly very unusual story of the arrest of his butler, to distort the truth about recent goings-on at the Catholic Church's power centre here in Rome.
Yet he looked saddened and understandably angry about this invasion of his privacy in his own home on the top floor of the Apostolic Palace.
Experts say the flood of secret Vatican documents leaked to the press, enraging the Holy See, aims to oust the Church's powerful number two and maybe to replace the pope himself.
The so-called "Vatileaks" scandal is a plot within the intrigue-filled Vatican City to unseat Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, seen by some as wielding too much power and not acting in the Church's interests, they say.
"The documents that have been leaked all concern Bertone in one way or another," Marco Politi, Vatican expert for Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, told AFP.
"This is all about damaging him to get a new secretary of state," he added.
As the Vatican moves to root out whistle blowers who have been copying and leaking private documents straight from Pope Benedict XVI's desk, rumours have been circulating in the Italian media over whether the plot may run deeper.
Frustration over the management of Church scandals in recent years -- from allegations of money-laundering to clerical sex abuse -- has apparently led some to begin preparing the way for their chosen candidate to become future pope.
"A group of cardinals has begun to act on a very ambitious aim: to take the secretary of state, and then, conquer the conclave (the assembly which elects a new pope) with a chosen pope among them," said La Repubblica newspaper.
Bertone, a close ally of Benedict, has sparked controversy in some quarters, in particular over his management of the Vatican bank, which has come to symbolise the opacity and scandal gripping the Holy See's administration.
The leaked documents have shed light on many Vatican secrets, including the Church's tax problems, child sex scandals and negotiations with hardline traditionalist rebels.