Hi °C | Lo °C Veteran Vatican watchers this week commented that Pope Benedict's send-off was somewhat muted, for all the crowds and pageantry.
He may have departed, but the sulphurous smell of conspiracy still lingers.
Italian newspaper 'La Repubblica' transfixed the public last month with its claims that Benedict made his decision to step down on December 17, a day after he received an explosive dossier from a trio of elderly cardinals who had been looking into the Vatileaks crisis since last year.
It alleged that an aghast Benedict discovered there was a faction within the Vatican "united by sexual orientation" (in tabloid speak "a gay cabal") that had been subject to "external influence" (Vatican-speak for blackmail).
The hope that Benedict's successor will publish the dossier is slim. The Vatican does openness and transparency like Anglo did frugality and prudence.
Irish Independent
