Longtime Vatican reporter John Thavis\u2019 new book is full of revelations about the last papal conclave, on the pope\u2019s jet, and the sex scandals under Benedict\u2019s reign.<\/i><\/p>\n
Vatican insider John Thavis always had a hunch Pope Benedict XVI would retire.\u00a0 But he had no idea it would coincide with the release of his book Vatican Diaries<\/a>,<\/i> which was published on February 21 [2013]. \u201cI\u2019d like to say I had planned it that way,\u201d he told The Daily Beast in the Vatican\u2019s press office days after the papal resignation. \u201cBut it was just a happy coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Thavis\u2019s book is a notebook dump of sorts gathered from 30 years working as a Catholic News Service Vaticanista\u2014the official term used for Rome journalists who have personal cellphone numbers for cardinals and high-ranking Roman Curia prelates. While his book would have been interesting for Church watchers before Benedict\u2019s resignation, it will surely become a veritable handbook on all things Vatican now that the world is watching who the cardinal electors choose as a new pope.<\/p>\n The book begins with a bit of behind-the scenes gossip about the last conclave eight years ago, when Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI. As is the practice, the cardinals vote in secrecy in the Sistine Chapel and burn their ballots after each vote. When they have not reached a conclusion, the smoke that comes from the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel is black; when they have elected a new pope, Thavis describes how a chemical substance is added to turn the smoke white. That signal, in conjunction with the ringing of St. Peter\u2019s bells is how the cardinals announce \u201cHabemus papam.\u201d But, as Thavis describes, not only did the cardinals have a difficult time lighting the stove, making the scene akin to a bunch of men around a barbeque, but at one point the back draft filled the ancient chapel with thick smoke, no doubt a secret they were hoping to keep from the art historians who monitor Michelangelo\u2019s ceiling masterpiece. Then, once they got it lit, the white smoke did not coincide with the ringing of the bells, which sent mixed signals to the masses who were expecting the chimes to confirm that the smoke was white.<\/p>\n Thavis went to the bell ringer in Vatican City to find out just why there had been a long delay. Turns out, the jamming devices in the Sistine Chapel to prohibit electronic eavesdropping on the cardinals had actually made it impossible for anyone to call the bell ringer to tell him the smoke was white. Thavis writes how there was a moment of panic while Archbishop Piero Marini, the head of the liturgical ceremonies, tried to find a landline to call the bell ringer: \u201cFind a telephone!\u201d he ordered the guard. \u201cTell them to ring the campa\u00adnone! Habemus papam!<\/i>\u201d But when they finally did reach the bell ringer, he wouldn\u2019t ring the bells unless Marini himself told him to, according to Thavis. That meant an even longer delay until the bell ringer could trust that indeed they had a pope. All the while clerics were working to vest the new pope and there was a growing concern that Ratzinger would come out on the balcony to greet the world before the bells had rung. The explanation of the bell-lapse fiasco is a little-known detail that was certainly on the minds of those waiting in St. Peter\u2019s Square that day and watching it on television, but now it means so much more in the context of the impending conclave that is starting soon.<\/p>\n Thavis also takes his readers on the papal plane, describing in rarely heard detail what it\u2019s like to fly on the Vatican chartered flight with the pontiff. But rather than focusing on the pope\u2019s public appearances, he gives details about the very unglamorous life of a Vaticanista and the often contemptuous relationship between the media and the Vatican warden, who Thavis describes as sardonic in his control over the press, effectively getting them up at the crack of dawn and herding them like cattle to waiting pens and shuttle buses. He also spotlights the pressure the Vatican press corps is often under to walk the fine line between interpreting the pope\u2019s message without becoming a true bullhorn for the church.<\/p>\n He gives context to the miscommunication that has dogged Benedict\u2019s papacy by explaining how this pope\u2019s handlers spent more time correcting \u201cwhat the pope meant\u201d than previous popes. On one papal trip, the Vatican press spokesman actually reworded a statement Benedict made on abortion and excommunication that Thavis felt crossed the line. \u201cEditing Pope Benedict\u2019s extemporaneous comments had been a com\u00admon practice from the very first day of his pontificate,\u201d Thavis writes. \u201cVatican officials jus\u00adtified it on the grounds that the pope\u2019s Italian might need cleaning up, and an imprecise or inelegant phrase should be quickly amended. The idea of a midlevel bureaucrat fine-tuning Pope Benedict\u2019s language may sound strange, but it reflects a deeply entrenched conviction that the actual words a pope pronounces are not definitive until the \u2018official version\u2019 is published. Usually the editing was merely annoying, but in this case it was an attempt to rewrite reality.\u201d<\/p>\n Thavis wastes no words on his condemnation of the Vatican\u2019s handling of the various sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the church in the 30 years he has been covering the Vatican beat. He dedicates several chapters to the unsavory sex-abuse cases the Catholic Church has been involved in, and manages to explain in laymen\u2019s terms the very complicated Legions of Christ scandal by walking through a series of investigations and interviews by high-ranking church officials including the Vatican\u2019s promoter of justice. He focuses on the lurid life of Legions founder Father Marcial Ma\u00adciel Degollado and paints as vivid a character profile of the disturbingly strange man as has been written to date. Father Marcial, as he is referred to, was a favorite of Benedict\u2019s predecessor Pope John Paul II, despite a myriad of allegations of sexual improprieties and financial corruption. Benedict, as pope, finally put an end to Marcial\u2019s reign amid his apologies to seminarians he sexually abused and his admission that he had fathered several children with different women. \u201cNowhere was there any hint that the order itself bore any responsibility for a cover-up; on the contrary, the Legion\u2019s highest officials were portraying themselves as victims of Maciel\u2019s duplicity,\u201d Thavis writes. \u201cAnd while the Legion was admitting to the founder\u2019s extramural heterosexual affair\u2014he was human, after all\u2014it re\u00adfused to touch the more serious allegations that Maciel had turned his own seminary into a pedophilia camp.\u201d<\/p>\n Thavis may not have known that his book would coincide with Benedict\u2019s sensational resignation and a historical conclave when there is still a living pope, but he certainly was prophetic in his last chapter, which is a succinct and unapologetic tribute to the former pope. He wades through the various incarnations of Benedict\u2019s papacy, from his gaffes to his more meaningful moments, painting a human portrait of a man who shocked the world with his resignation. \u201cWhen an organ is tuned and well played, he said, it produces wonderful music,\u201d Thavis recalls of Benedict\u2019s trip to Regensburg. \u201cDissonant notes are a sign of problems. In both cases, he explained, \u201can expert hand must con\u00adstantly bring disharmony back to consonance.\u201d This was the real Benedict. A man who saw himself as maestro. Faith was the music that never disappointed. He knew this music well, and he knew the consolation and satisfaction it offered.\u201d<\/p>\n _________________________<\/p>\n Barbie Latza Nadeau, author of the Beast Book Angel Face<\/a>, about Amanda Knox, has reported from Italy for Newsweek since 1997 and for The Daily Beast since 2009. She is a frequent contributor to CNN Traveller, Departures, Discovery, and Grazia. She appears regularly on CNN, the BBC, and NPR.<\/i><\/p>\n