Massimo Franco

L`IMMORTALE. Ora riposa altrove.

La lettura di questo libro non puo`non suscitare ricordi e riflessioni in chi ha vissuto gran parte degli anni del "divo Giulio". Non che io abbia la`stessa eta`di questo gigante della storia politica italiana del secolo e millennio scorsi, ma posso ricordare molte cose della vita del nostro Belpaese che ruotano intorno alla sua "gobba".

Una gobba originale ed una voce unica nello scenario della vita italiana. Ricordo che negli anni sessanta avevamo fondato un circolo culturale tra noi studenti di provincia meridionale e lo avevamo chiamato "Europa" seguendo il titolo di una bella rivista che Giulio Andreotti aveva fondato e sulla quale convergevano illustre firme del giornalismo europeo come della politica.

Ci appassionavamo a quei contenuti che avevano una risonanza europea, un`Europa ancora da venire e che si chiamava solo M.E.C. A dire il vero ci capivamo ben poco, la nostra era solo un`aspirazione ad evadere dal grigiore, ed anche dalla miseria, della provincia. Ma c`era anche chi si industriava a trovare un modo per farsi notare nella sede della sezione D.C. e fare qualche viaggetto nella capitale al seguito dell`onorevole locale che spesso andava a Roma a vederlo e sentirlo.

Cosi`sono iniziate tante carriere politiche locali provinciali e regionali sulla gobba e sulla voce del Silvio immortale. Quanto tempo è passato? Trenta, quaranta, cinquanta, sessanta anni? Silvio e`sempre la`e che Dio ce lo conservi a lungo. Leggetevi questa biografia e leggerete una parte della vostra vita.… (meer)

Vatican Beltway

All pretense of infallibility is put aside, and religion hardly plays a role. This Vatican is a hornets’ nest of greed, ambition, theft, backstabbing, and incompetence that keeps it reeling from crisis to crisis. And although insiders take the events seriously, giving the crises the imputed ability to destroy the seat of power, the outside world rarely even takes notice. It’s an Alice in Wonderland whirlwind of intrigue that has precious little effect on the real world. The insular self-importance keeps the machine ticking over.

In The Crisis in the Vatican Empire, the inmates are very introspective, very worried about the image of the institution but continually making the wrong moves. At the center is the Apartment, the Vatican equivalent of the Oval Office. It is populated by civil servants of various rank and purview, all appointed and almost none of them qualified for their positions. Priests, bishops and cardinals make the decisions in banking, foreign affairs and politics. The result is uncoordinated moves, inconsistent policies and major gaffes at all levels, seemingly all the time.

In 2012, Catholic priests across the USA made a nationwide effort to defeat the Democrats. The Democrats swept to power and the Vatican was humiliated (if anyone noticed). The Vatican also chose (and chooses) to support Arab dictators in their struggle to keep power, on the theory that if they fell, their countries would convert to Islam, which is unacceptable. Brutal irreligious dictators are better. In Italy, high ranking Roman Catholics as well as the Vatican itself got involved in the Berlusconi government, which paid very poor dividends for all concerned. Even when it hired a highly regarded technocrat to straighten out its bank, the Vatican ended up firing him and simply had him escorted out of the building one day. He had expected to be killed. The actions on pedophilia are inexplicable.

The corruption, the politics and the intransigence were such that Pope Benedict XVI took the (almost) unprecedented step of resigning. He couldn’t handle the backstabbing in his own Apartment, not to mention the theft and publication of confidential and state secret documents by his own butler. He realized he could make no change in the culture, so there was no point in continuing. Advancing age was a nice cover story. Meanwhile, the machinery is more worried about “dealing” with a retired pope on the premises, with implications it thinks matter more than the disease that put him there.

It’s not that they all have their heads in the sand. In 2012, the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Martini said before his death: “We are 200 years behind the times. The Church is tired, our culture has gotten old, our churches are big, our religious houses are empty and the bureaucratic apparatus increase(s), our rites and our clothes are pompous.” His successor denied that vision, and the church just trundled on.

This is a powerful little book, written by a long-time journalist right on the scene. It speaks truth to power.

David Wineberg… (meer)