Vatican City — There’s something of a whodunit going on in the Vatican to discover who leaked Pope Francis’ environment encyclical to an Italian newsweekly, deflating the release of the most anticipated and feared papal document in recent times.
The Detroit News
I’ve been scouring the web trying to find the first “serious” comment on the Pope’s story and finally I found it – and from the sound of the article, they’ve got a very different take than I had thought.
I’ve called it “Pope-gate” … (it’s a parody on a parody! Every sensational news is a gate these days!). But clearly the Vatican is not happy:-
On Tuesday, the Vatican indefinitely suspended the press credentials of L’Espresso’s veteran Vatican correspondent, Sandro Magister, saying the publication had been “incorrect.” A letter from the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, to Magister advising him of the sanction was posted on the bulletin board of the Vatican press office.
This could turn out to be very interesting. It seems that this fiasco has exposed the very different cultures of environmentalist correspondents and those who normally cover the Vatican:
Vatican commentator John Allen, writing for the Boston Globe’s Crux site, said the leak highlighted the clash of cultures at play at the Vatican over different understandings of embargoes.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if many Vatican staff are beginning to twig that environmental coverage doesn’t work to anything near the same standards they are used to. If so, they might already be regretting so enthusiastically endorsing the rantings of environmentalist correspondents.
I’ll leave the last word to Detroit news:
“As a final observation, the frenzy probably will boost interest in Thursday’s official presentation, if for no other reason than to see whether there are actually any substantial changes between the leak and the real deal,” he said.
Also:
Who Leaked Pope’s Paper? Vatican Scrambles After Environment Encyclical Leaked Before Launch
