On this day in December 2012, Pope Benedict XVI is tormented. He is awaiting an investigative report on Vatican finances. The Vatileaks affair broke in the press a few months earlier. We are talking about corruption and embezzlement. Some members of the Curia, the government of the Holy See, would be directly involved. The pope knew nothing. So he launched his own investigation in the greatest secrecy. Choose honest cardinals, serious people who are not part of the Curia. The Pope's men arrive with their hefty 600-page report. It is most overwhelming. The press is telling the truth. Those running the Vatican, including the pope's closest associates, are embroiled in an unprecedented scandal of corruption and financial embezzlement. Worse than that. Benedict XVI discovers that all those who tried to alert him have been removed from the Vatican. the Church is an institution. The Curia is an administration where everyone wants to be closer to the sun, others scheming in their corner, some derive comfort, notoriety, and so on. The Pope is shot. He, the man of letters, finds himself confronted with pettiness and political violence. He leaves to isolate himself and wonders if there is still any real power in the Vatican. He was a pope who, by his personality, was not a pope capable of commanding, capable of deciding, capable of governing. So what can be done to put an end to these abuses? Benedict XVI knows that he has very little room for maneuver in the face of a system that has been in place for decades. But he still has a power, a power that no pope has used for 600 years. Waiver. If the Pope resigns, the entire Curia will have to resign. His decision is made, but he doesn't tell anyone. We are two months later, during a canonization ceremony. The Pope will surprise everyone. I confess that at the time, I did not understand. I remember, I asked my neighbor to confirm that the pope was giving up. In reality, I understood, but I couldn't believe it. I was not excpecting that at all. The day he did that, I experienced this decision like everyone else. With great emotion. We are in a church where everything is ritualized, in a place where we are really in the tradition, we are part of a tradition and here she is doing something that we have never seen. We really felt that his collaborators were completely stunned. For several minutes, the cardinals remain speechless until their dean speaks. The pope was frank. He said a prayer and left. And we were left alone, without a pope. The reason for Joseph Ratzinger's resignation from the pontificate is surely an extraordinary element in the history of the Church. Not just this century, but millennia. That same evening, as torrential rains fell on Rome, lightning struck St. Peter's Basilica. The Catholic Church is going through one of the most serious crises in its history. At the same time in Argentina. A man prepares to join the Vatican. It's the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Bergoglio, like all cardinals under 80. He is one of the cardinal electors, those who must elect the new pope. The Argentinian cardinal hopes that he will return to Buenos Aires quickly, without unpleasant surprises. In 2005, he was expected to succeed John Paul II. But he, who hates the Vatican and its power intrigues, had withdrawn. But that day, on leaving his house , an old friend reminds him of his obligations. This woman whom he has known for a very long time and whom he nicknamed the The witch told him this time, you must not give up like in 2005. You must accept the pontificate. The archbishops and cardinals in the field, those who are in Boston, Bonn or in the depths of Africa, those there, they couldn't take any more of Vatileaks, the scandals that had even inside the Curia, there couldn't take it anymore. We wondered what will become of it? What will become of the papacy? It was really a bit late in the cycle. When we said to ourselves There is something wrong with the kingdom of the pope. In March 2013, the preparatory meetings for the conclave begin. The election of the new pope will be decided. The 115 cardinal electors must take turns making a speech to explain what they expect from the next sovereign pontiff. All are eligible. At the end of these meetings. They will vote to designate the new pope among them. There were half a dozen favorites. The direction was unclear. Some of the cardinals wanted a successor of the same type as Ratzinger, with a stronger grip. But there was a group of cardinals who did not want to elect either an Italian or a European. Because some things that had happened in the Roman Curia, some scandals, were somehow attributed to the Italian Church. And so there was the idea and the will for a very important change. Confusion still reigns as the conclave approaches. But on the third day of these preparatory meetings, a speech will upset the assembly. That of Cardinal Bergoglio. He said that it was necessary to have a Church less turned on itself, but that it looks at the navel less. And it was an important speech because it caught the attention of the cardinal electors. It was a speech that left a deep impression and, inexplicably, opened a breach. He made a consensus on the idea of bringing to Rome a person completely outside the affairs of the Curia. In the halls of the Vatican. We are only talking about this speech. To the point that the Argentinian cardinal wonders if he hasn't gone too far. He may have just positioned himself in spite of himself as a candidate for the throne of Saint-Pierre. The Sunday before the conclave. Bergoglio was a little worried. And when he met a Canadian priest in Piazza Navona, he said to him: I don't know what they are preparing for me, my fellow cardinals . On March 12, the conclave begins. All the cardinal electors enter the Sistine Chapel to vote behind closed doors. Locked away. Conclave in Latin. Bergoglio, like all the others, takes a vow of silence. At that time, the Argentinian cardinal does not know that he is already one of the favorites. On the second day of the conclave, in the third vote, Bergoglio obtained 50 votes. And during the break, we understood that his candidacy was very strong. There were opponents who would say he was sick because he was missing a lung. The turning point comes in the sixth round of voting. Bergoglio obtains an absolute majority. He no longer has a choice. He, the Argentinian Jesuit, has just been named pope. During the announcement of his appointment. Before presenting himself to the faithful, Bergoglio chooses to isolate himself to pray. He almost felt a great void. And when he went to the chapel to pray with Cardinal Tauran and Cardinal Vallini, Cardinal of Rome, He took them both by the arm and knelt on the same kneeler. So what ? He told them that he felt invaded by a great light. The Argentinian cardinal finally accepts his fate. He is the first South American pope in history. He takes the name Francis in homage to Saint Francis of Assisi, a sign of poverty, hope and submission to God. The crowd acclaims this new pope with an unexpected profile. But in the Vatican, some do not see his arrival in a good light. For now, it's the honeymoon. But the day will come when he will be up against the wall. One day he will come up against the hard core of the Curia. He had no intention of becoming pope, but this time he couldn't escape it. It is he who takes the head of a suffering institution, frozen and shaken by repeated scandals. Will Pope Francis manage to breathe new life into the Catholic Church, to restore its image? In any case, this is the challenge he set himself. But first, how did we get here? Is the Vatican going through its first major crisis so visibly? Maybe for a century. Because before, the thick walls of Saint Peter's Basilica have long been the guardians of the secrets, intrigues and betrayals that have been played out there. It is this story in which we will delve. Let's start in 1929. The Vatican City is about to become a state with a territory, a government and a role to play again in the concert of nations. But this change of status results from an alliance against nature with the power in place in Italy, the fascist party of Benito Mussolini. That morning, a procession of official cars headed for the Lateran Palace, the former residence of the Popes. A delegation of the Italian government has an appointment with the representatives of the Church to define the new statute of the Vatican. On the initiative of these historic agreements, the president of the Italian Council and leader of the fascist party Benito Mussolini, nicknamed the Duce. The Duce didn't really have the Church in his heart, but he knew that he could only really rule Italy if he put the Catholics aside. With the Lateran Accords. the Church, deprived of its lands since Italian unity, obtains a sovereign territory of 44 hectares, much smaller than before, but still in the heart of Rome, around Saint Peter's Basilica, in compensation for the territories ceded . The Kingdom of Italy will provide the Vatican with financial aid of 750 million lire each year . On that day, the Church, the papacy, the pope himself found a status. It doesn't seem like much, but it's fundamental when you're the Catholic Church, when you claim universality, you have to be able to be recognized internationally. And since that day, moreover, only the Catholic religion has such a status. Pope Pius XI is a priori the big winner of these negotiations. Absolute monarch, he already had all the powers within the Vatican. He is now able to get involved on the international scene as head of state. Pius XI was a very political pope. He was a scholar. He was a man who wanted to preserve the autonomy of the Church from Mussolini. But this pact with the fascist regime will quickly turn into a showdown. In the texts, it is written that the Church is responsible for school education in Italy. But Mussolini has no intention of losing control of the youth. All totalitarian regimes are obsessed with getting young people on their side. The problem is that for the Church, it's a bit the same. From then on, Mussolini quickly broke these commitments. He closes all the associations of young Catholics in Italy and sends his fascist youths to march through the streets of Rome. The pope can only observe, powerless, the grip of the Duce on the country. Unquestionably, he was not question of opposing Mussolini head-on. For one good reason, the pope had no way. But Italy is not the only country affected by the rise of extremes and the withdrawal of identity. The economic crisis of 1929 plunged Europe into social chaos, especially in Germany, where the Nazis took power. From 1933. The Italian aspect of the problem becomes secondary to the German aspect. That morning, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pacelli, came to warn the Pope of a worrying event in Germany. The new Chancellor Ad*lf H*tler is in the middle of a speech at the Sports Palace in Berlin. In his speech broadcast on the radio, he questions religious beliefs. Does H*tler take himself for God? Does Nazism want to be a religion when it comes out? Is it reserved for German Catholics? The Pope then decides to enter into negotiations with National Socialism in an attempt to preserve the interests of the Church and its faithful. Pius XI will try to contain the rise of Nazism and above all the threat that presents itself to Christianity in Germany by signing a concordat for which he has been violently reproached. A concordat signed on July 20, 1933 between Secretary of State Pacelli and German Vice Chancellor von Papen. Pacelli obtains the guarantee that the voice of the Church will always be heard in Germany through the intermediary of the Christian Party. But Hitler does not care about this agreement. No religion should interfere in the politics of the Third Reich. He orders the dissolution of the Christian Party. This concordat with Germany was not balanced. Hitler got pretty much what he wanted. And the Vatican was unable to safeguard political autonomy from Nazism. Pius XI writes a handwritten text, an encyclical, so that German Catholics stay on the straight and narrow. This encyclical was immediately relayed by the priests in all the Churches of Germany. When H*tler finds out, he directly goes after clerics across the country. There were
resisting Catholics who paid for it with their lives. The parish priest of Berlin Cathedral was shot by the Nazis. The auxiliary archbishop of Munich died in the Dachau concentration camp. In 1938. The situation worsens in Germany. On the night of November 9 to 10, synagogues were set on fire, businesses ransacked. Thousands of Jews are arrested or murdered. When Kristallnacht ends, more than 30,000 German Jews have been deported. Faced with these persecutions, how will the pope react? His position: not to put the Catholic community at risk . Especially since Germany was now a country with a Catholic majority, the first Catholic country in the world is Germany. So, Pius XI decides to act in the shadows. He sends a missive to all the dioceses of Europe. He asks them to come to the aid of the persecuted Jews who are fleeing Germany. The Diocese of Edinburgh, Scotland, is the first to answer the call. My cardinal, we confirm to you that we have received your letter to provide aid to the Jews of Germany, we have for two weeks done what is necessary to best assist these persecuted people. The dioceses are mobilized, but the pope would like to reach more people and get the international community to react. So he writes a new encyclical. A text which, this time, strongly condemns the anti-Semitism and racism conveyed by Nazi ideology. Will the pope's voice wake up consciences before it's too late? He condemned anti-Semitism. Which was not a Hitler specificity. There were anti-Semites all over Europe, including of course in France. And he had this famous phrase. We are spiritually Semites. Pius XI openly condemns the excesses of Nazism. At the time, he was the first head of state to do so. But this text will never be published. On the night of February 10, 1939, the pope died of a heart attack without having had time to sign his final encyclical. Tradition dictates that only the duly signed texts remain. By the pope who has just passed away. The encyclical in question was on his desk. Probably within a few weeks, the pope would have signed it. But he died too soon. Could this encyclical have raised awareness and changed the course of history? We'll never know. Three weeks after the death of Pius XI, a new pope is elected. The voters chose Cardinal Pacelli, a former secretary of state, member of the Roman aristocracy and skilled negotiator. He is best able to defend the interests of the Church. At the dawn of the coming war, Pacelli takes the name of Pius XII. But it will not necessarily be part of the continuity of its predecessor. Faced with the rise of Nazism, the Vatican changed its strategy. A choice that could tarnish the image of the Church for decades to come. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, France and England will enter the conflict. It is the beginning of the Second World War. Radio-Vatican, the press organ of the Holy See, immediately echoes it. This bulletin will be Vatican Radio's last war report. Mussolini forbade the pope to communicate on the subject. Pius XII accepts censorship. To avoid reprisals, he prefers to keep the Church out of the conflict. The Holy See proclaims its neutrality. For what ? Because the protagonists, the belligerents, are old Catholic or Christian peoples, and for a pope, it is impossible to condemn both without condemning the other. He is going to be called names like German Catholics, French Catholics, Belgian Catholics. All these peoples caught in the tornado of war will resent this pope. And the pope's neutrality becomes very embarrassing from 1942, when he launches the final solution to them and decides to exterminate all the Jews of Europe. We had evidence of the murder of millions of Jews. The pope feels that there, we cannot consider that it is an act of war like any other. He is well aware Pius XII and his entourage also that the extermination of the Jews is something special. What happened is that Catholics hid Jews, convents, parishes and the Catholic hierarchy left. do, which we have not denounced. Which isn't bad enough. But the solidarity of these Catholics with regard to the Jewish communities contrasts more and more with the attitude of the pope, who refuses to intervene in the conflict. During his Christmas speech. Pius XII expresses himself in half words, without ever denouncing Nazi crimes. Of course, on several occasions he denounced the death of the Jews, but at the same time he did not support these denunciations sufficiently. Did this increase the persecution? Did it discourage those Christians who, for example, could help Jews escape deportation? The question remains open. But the pope will not be able to close his eyes indefinitely. The Germans occupied since the Allied landing in Sicily and in October 1943, they invaded the ghetto under the windows of the Vatican. The Germans make a giant roundup of the Jews of Rome. There are approximately 12,000 Jews in Rome. The Germans arrest several thousand of them. The trucks that fill up with these unfortunates are parked along the Tiber, 400 meters from the pope's apartment. There are people who see this and rush to Pius XII, to his apartment. And who say: very Holy Father, this is what is happening there, 400 meters away, they are filling the trucks. Pius XII then sends an emissary to ask Gestapo officials to stop the raid. He steps up. He goes to the Nazi authorities and says to them: listen, the extremely pissed off Pope. We have to stop this, it's not possible. But in reality, the Germans continue and send a first convoy of Roman Jews to disaster. The pope does not insist, but he finally decides to act. A few days after the raid, he had the doors of the Vatican opened to Roman Jews who had escaped from the ghetto. The pope instructed many religious, many parish priests and bishops to hide Jews in Rome and around Rome. There are Jews who are hiding in Castel Gandolfo, in the pope's summer residence. He saved in November 43 more than 4500 Jews welcomed in the Vatican, that is to say that he asked the monastery, the convent, to welcome them. If the Vatican had reacted sooner, could it have saved more lives? 1259 Jews from Rome will be sent to Auschwitz. Only fifteen will return A few months later, the bells of Saint Peter's Basilica resound in Rome. Allied troops have just liberated the Italian capital and Pius XII, from the top of his balcony, blesses a jubilant crowd gathered for the occasion. But the ambiguity of Pius XII left traces through him, it is the whole Roman Church which is disputed. The Italians, at the head of the Vatican for centuries, are they still legitimate to defend the interests of Catholics around the world? After the war, we enter into what is reminiscent of a crisis of authority in which the word of the Church is discussed not only by people in general, but discussed by Catholics. A few years later, we will discover that, from inside the Vatican, a network has made it possible to exfiltrate several Nazi war criminals to South America in particular. the Roman Church has therefore totally missed its rendezvous with history. But despite this, the pope remains in place. It centralizes all powers with the unconditional support of the Roman Curia. When he died in October 1958, many voices were raised to demand a modernization of the Church. A new pope is elected, John XX three. He is 72 years old, so no one expects change to come from him. And yet, from the beginning of his pontificate, Jean XX III launches the greatest reform that the Church has known of true States General. But the old guard in the Curia has no intention of letting him do that. On October 11, 1962, nearly 2,500 bishops, archbishops and cardinals from five continents were summoned to the Vatican for the first great council of the 20th century. Vatican Council Two. Together they must design a new organization for the Church and redefine its place in the modern world. An ecumenical council, as in the 19th century, is the Assembly, the most important one can imagine in the history of the Church. And now this pope, who was said to be transitional, is launching this incredible adventure. He is well aware that there is a problem between the language made by the Church and the language of the modern world. This is why we must make this famous update so that the voice of the Church, so that the voice of the Gospel may once again be heard clearly. I see myself again, on the morning of October 11, 1962, I was therefore a young priest who worked at the Secretariat of State and who had, among other things, worked in my modest way, preparing for the Council. My office overlooked St. Peter's Square and I can see myself marveling at this procession, this uninterrupted litany of bishops of all kinds. Usually, we have a pope, he's always been an Italian for 500 years. And there, we see bishops. Who speak all kinds of languages. And we have the feeling that now it's up to them. They are the ones who have the power. But the Roman cardinals, nicknamed the party of the Italians, do not want this council in power for centuries, they refuse to let new rules be dictated by bishops from the other side of the world. From then on, they will do everything to keep control of the debates. The theory of the Roman Curia is that we are going to celebrate the Council. So we're going to have this big act where everyone comes in on the first day. And then we're going to open the briefcases. There are the texts which are inside. They have been beautifully written by theologians. All you have to do is sign below. The great organizer of these maneuvers is none other than Cardinal Ottaviani, one of the most powerful men in the Vatican. Great conservative in front of the eternal, Ottaviani, he has no desire for that to change and he says it. He says the Church is immutable, we are not going to lower the Church to a dialogue with anyone. It is not a question of making a revolution. He is the patron of the Holy Office, that is to say of the authority in the Vatican which controls the regularity of the faith. In the background, it is the Grand Inquisitor Eminence. The Holy Office and the one who directs it, ie you, do not have a good reputation. For what ? We are judged by the acts of past centuries, not by the aspect of present life. You know that the Holy Office succeeded the Inquisition, but it is no longer a question of the Inquisition. Ottaviani responds to reporters with a slight smile, but in reality he is enraged. He hadn't foreseen this media overexposure. And that's what the curia, the Roman administration. Cardinal Ottaviani had not thought, it was because there was a guest at the Council that no one had foreseen, apart from the bishops and the Holy Spirit, who is reputed to be there. There was public opinion from all over the world. Ottaviani, on the situation, escape him. The council is here to stay, but an unexpected event could play in its favour. On the night of June 3, 1963, John XXIII died suddenly in his sleep. The pope is dead. Vatican II is therefore suspended. It is the pope who convenes the Council. When the pope dies, the council stops and so one of the issues was whether whoever would be elected pope would continue the council or not. In the following days. Ottaviani maneuvers in the corridors of the Vatican. He speaks with many cardinal electors to convince them to elect a new pope. Oppose the resumption of the council. At the time, there were a number of people who thought it was best to stop the Council. But these maneuvers remain in vain. Cardinal Montini, go big favourite. Former archbishop of Milan, he is in the camp of the reformers. And, ironically, it is Ottaviani himself who must officially announce his election. Cardinal Montini, just elected pope, said his first job would be to bring the council to a successful conclusion and then to put it into practice. Cardinal Montini takes the name Paul VI three months after his election. He opens a second session of the Second Vatican Council but Ottaviani and the most conservative cardinals are not resigned. The Pope wants to reduce the power of the Curia to make the Church more democratic. They will do anything to stop him. They tried to convince Pope Paul VI to postpone these questions and they did not get an answer. And so they're going to do an act that's kind of an absolutely incredible coup d'etat. Ottaviani sends one of his men to the Vatican printing press to simply destroy the documents necessary for the adoption of this reform. He is going to stop the printing of the bulletins on which there were the questions and he is going to burn them saying the pope did not validate these questions. And since the ballots are burned, we cannot vote. The vote is delayed. But Ottaviani's maneuver did not go unnoticed. An internal war breaks out within the Vatican between the members of the Curia and the partisans of the reform. At the head of the reformers, the German Cardinal Frings and his young assistant, a certain Joseph Ratzinger. At the time, Joseph Ratzinger was reputed to be a progressive and liberal theologian and indeed he was the defender of collegiality. It is he who will write for Cardinal Frings a speech on collegiality against Ottaviani. A few days later, in the middle of a council session, Cardinal Frings suddenly speaks. Ratzinger wrote his speech. A real charge to denounce the actions of the Curia. He accuses the Curia and the Holy Office of actually being a scandal against the Gospel, which is the accusation, the worst. Frings goes after Ottaviani directly. It is because of cardinals like him that the Vatican needs more democracy. These are words of great violence and moreover. Ottaviani will impose to be able to answer immediately whereas normally it is necessary to take its turn. It is said to have turned as red as her dress. But Ottaviani will not have time to respond. To avoid confrontation, the chairman of the session decides to cut the microphones. The poor redacted who presented himself as the old carabinieri who must watch over the treasury of the Church, was humiliated. It made the commentators happy. A scandal that brings to light the divisions of the Church between Italian conservatives and the rest of the Catholic world. You don't shake an old lady like the Catholic Church was 2,000 years old without it provoking cries and reactions. In total, the Council will last for years. Four sessions which will not fundamentally change the functioning of the Church, but which will give more autonomy to foreign bishops. The Council did not upset the Church, but it modified, in a more modern direction and especially in a direction which granted more importance to each country. That is to say that the fact that we express ourselves at Mass in the language we speak has increased the autonomy and not the independence of each Church in each nation. But too much was expected of this council. If we imagine that he was going, for example, to allow the marriage of priests, that was not the case. the Church tries to make its revolution. But that was without counting on a major upheaval in society. In May 1968, the liberation of morals will undermine all institutions, starting with the Church. Crisis of vocations, drop in donations. Main consequences for the Vatican the coffers are empty. To manage its finances, the Catholic State has its own bank, the IOR. So far, mainly collect donations from the faithful. At the end of the 1960s , Pope Paul VI decided to open it up to private investors. For this, he is looking for a trusted man at the head of the Vatican bank. And he will make a surprising choice. In November 1970, Paul VI was on an official trip to the Philippines. The pope has hardly set foot on the tarmac when a man emerges from the crowd and tries to stab him. But one of the bishops of the delegation intervenes and saves the life of the sovereign pontiff. This American bishop, a colossus of one meter 90, is called Paul Marcinkus. That day, he became the Pope's confidant. It is therefore to him that Paul VI decides to entrust the reins of the Vatican bank. He began his career as a bodyguard. This is to tell you that it is quite far from the management of the world Catholic Church. He is resourceful. He is quite close to Paul VI in Curia, where no one dares to get dirty in financial affairs. We call ourselves an American. He knows how to do it, he knows what a dollar is, and so on. But in reality, Paul Martin knows nothing about finance. So, as soon as he was appointed, he sought advice from major Italian bankers. And some will quickly find an interest in working with the Vatican bank. The first is Sicilian and is called Michele Saint-Donat. Michele Saint-Donat was a man who caused a lot of financial problems for Italy. But who was protected by the Christian democracy of the time. The bank and its bank, the Banca Privata, also laundered dirty money from the mafia, from the Cosa Nostra. From then on, when Marcinkus explains to him that he needs to bail out the coffers of the church, Saint-Donat offers him neither more nor less than to help him launder the money of the mafia. Marcinkus knowingly agrees. Paul Marcinkus what was he saying? He said that a church is not administered with Av Maria. It takes money. I knew someone who brought cash in suitcases to the Vatican, to the bank. So these are not fantasies, these are things that really happened. The Vatican bank at that time accepted money from everyone. The Maliana gang, a Roman criminal gang, is putting a lot of money in the Vatican bank. Because even if it is there, in a street in Rome, it is almost an off shore bank, ie there is no tax control. Saint-Donat introduces Marcinkus, another financial partner. And not just any great Italian treasurer Roberto Calvi. Roberto Calvi, who was the greatest Italian banker. The number one Banco Ambrosiano was in business with Saint-Donat. Calvi thinks that the good reputation of the Vatican bank could allow him to practice tax exile on a large scale. His clients are major Italian industrialists who want to evade the tax authorities, but also political parties who want to circulate money discreetly. All these financial arrangements are perfectly illegal. But since everyone does that. So why not the Church? Marcinkus is very proud to associate with bankers of this level, et cetera and then to handle so much money. He is quite full of himself. On this one, the Vatican bank, had an active role in this complex operation, this vast big operation and it had an active role because it won and it won a lot every time the money passed through the Vatican bank, she gets a commission. If we have it. In a few years, the coffers of the Vatican are filling up again. The money is flowing and for the moment the pope is not find nothing to complain about. Paul VI, who was a very refined pope, a pope very detached from the material activities of the Church, perhaps did not pay enough attention to the role of the bank and therefore to whom the Vatican bank operated. When churchmen want to deal with the economy, they always do anything. Because it's obvious, it's the clash between the Supernatural World and the real world. Where the rules of the game are set by those who play in the real world. The Marcinkus system remains in place with the Pope's blessing, but when Paul VI dies of a heart attack, everything is thrown into question. Because his successor is deemed incorruptible. John Paul I realized that the Vatican bank was a huge problem for the Holy See. A problem not only of transparency, but of connections and implications. So dirty that they could have created repeated scandals with irreparable damage to the Church. The new pope seems determined. He wants to see the accounts, clean up the finances. He won't have time. Only a month after his election, he in turn suffered a heart attack. Jean-Paul Iᵉʳ, remained pope only 33 days. And his death is still today, despite the official version of cardiac arrest surrounded by a mystery that no one has been able to explain. Did he really die of a heart attack or did someone cause his death? A suspicious death that suits Marcinkus well. No investigation will be opened either on the death of Jean-Paul Iᵉʳ, or on the occult finances of the Vatican. Again, a pope must be elected. It remains to be seen whether he will be interested in this dubious banking system which has filled the coffers of the Church for years with dirty money. When, when was Karol Wojtyla's name pronounced? Everyone thought he is an African pope or he is an African sounding name, but its not. It took them a little time to realize that it was a pope who came from Poland. Poland. He is the first non-Italian pope for five centuries. And indeed, it was a break. Not only is he not Italian, but Poles, ie he comes from a communist country. He comes from the other side of the iron curtain. We are in the middle of the Cold War. Eastern Europe is in the hands of the Soviets and for 30 years, Catholics in communist countries have been cut off from the world with a Polish pope, while everything seems frozen between the two blocs. the Church could play a major role on the international stage, as in making and unmaking kings. No one would ever have thought of electing a foreigner. And even less the election of a pope from Eastern Europe, from Europe, from the East, from the Soviet bloc. He was a good candidate, a candidate able to break this impenetrable wall of ice which prevented the Church from speaking to the Catholics who were under Soviet domination. He has a sense of communication. This pope, we feel it from the first day. He was not only an actor, but a journalist. When he talks to a crowd, he knows how to talk to a crowd. At 58, Karol Wojtyla takes the name of John Paul II and the young pope imposes a very different style from his predecessors. The Roman Curia, so aristocratic, so tied to ancient rules, was not used to dealing with such a young man. A Curia which will very quickly be reassured. She finds all her power with this new pope who does not intend to take care of internal affairs. John Paul II showed very little interest in the Roman Curia. He did not have in mind a Church which, from the Vatican, would govern the world. He had in mind a Church which would know how to challenge the world, to fight it and in all that it would have of negative. John Paul II's fight is both religious and political. He spent his entire childhood under the yoke of the Communists. He now wants to use his status as pope and head of state to bring them down. It's the fight every morning. I think he always fought since he was little. He fought as a child. It was very painful. He lost his mother very young, he lost a little sister. He found himself. Alone with his father. He was a man who had always been used to fighting. John Paul II then used all the resources offered to him by the Vatican, its diplomatic network, but also its finances. Banker Marcinkus therefore has nothing to worry about. All that the pope asks of him is to continue to bring money into the coffers of the Church. John Paul II and understands that Marcinkus can be a valuable instrument in his hands. John Paul II never tried to find out where the money from the Vatican bank came from. With the whole state apparatus won over to his cause. The Pope goes to war against the Soviet Union. His strategy is simple, he relies on the strength of words and the hope he arouses to return to Poland. A year after his election, he will achieve the unthinkable. On June 2, 1979, Karol Wojtyla returned to Warsaw. The day the Polish Pope landed in Warsaw at the old airport. We feel that there, something is going to happen. I was one of the thousands of journalists following this incredible journey. A pope behind the iron curtain was unheard of. The day of his arrival. The pope is welcomed as a head of state by the Polish Prime Minister. That's
where in Moscow a number of people, including Mr Suslov the head of ideology and Mr Brezhnev the general secretary and the Poles fell on their heads. Because Moscow is well aware of the trap into which the Polish authorities have just fallen. The pope uses his personal story to justify his return to Poland. In reality, he has simply infiltrated the Soviet bloc to destabilize it. He knows that every word spoken can act as an explosive charge that will blast the Soviet system from within. At each stage of his journey, huge crowds take to the streets to welcome the child of the country who has become pope. In the one where he holds absolutely incredible speeches on man, on human rights, on the responsibility of man, on the dignity of man, the primacy of man. Speeches that are completely at odds with the cultural foundation of these communist countries where man is a cog in the social machine, as we said at the time. And he, the pope says no, The important thing is the man. This is the main. Under cover of religion, the pope is delivering a political message to the Polish people. You realize the deep meaning of this sentence for the millions of Poles who listen to it and not only for the Poles, There are many Czechs who follow the journey. There are many Hungarians who wonder what is happening in Poland and even beyond. There are Lithuanians in the USSR There are Catholic Ukrainians in the USSR Even who say to themselves But what is this pope telling us? We, the Slavs, we, the people of this region of the world Repercussions that do not take long. A year after the Pope's visit, strikes broke out across the country, nearly 10 million Polish workers lined up under the banner of Solidarnosc, the first independent workers' union in Poland. A union launched by Lech Walesa The strike lasted for weeks and the workers only interrupted their movement to take part in masses organized in the middle of the street. The pope who sowed the seeds of this revolt clearly became a threat to the entire Soviet Union. A few months later, on May 13, 1981, John Paul II took part in the general audience given in Saint Peter's Square, in the midst of 20,000 faithful. Suddenly, two shots ring out. A man hidden in the crowd has just shot the pope. It's 5 p.m. Seven. When, suddenly, the radios, all the televisions stop and especially when the rumor grows in Rome, that the Pope has been the victim of an attack. An incredible image will then go around the world. John Paul II has just escaped death and he wants to let it be known. It is the first time that we will see a pope hospitalized with bandages then recovering, In his dressing gown. This is the first time that the pope's body has become a visible and suffering human body like any other human. The pope's convalescence will last 21 days. And this under the worried gaze of the faithful massed in front of the hospital. 21 days during which the press wonders about the identity of the sponsors who wanted to kill the pope. Many see it as the mark of the Russian secret services. The attack is immediately attributed to the Russians. It is understandable that the Polish and Soviet authorities began to have their nerves on edge vis-à-vis a Pope who, after a trip to Poland, would destabilize central Europe. The shooter, Mehmet Ali Agça, a Turkish extremist activist , was arrested and questioned. But he will never say who sent him that day to kill the pope. Upon leaving hospital. John Paul II remains convinced that the Soviets are indeed behind this assassination attempt. And as good politicians, he will then seek support from their greatest enemy. Who decides without thinking too much about it, that all the allies who can be useful to him are good. Take. But let's say that from this point of view, he is very pragmatic, realistic. And he is a pope who is truly unscrupulous in his approach to the Polish problem. On June 7, 1982, US President Ronald Reagan visited the Vatican. They understand that they can be useful to each other. I believe that after the meeting with Reagan, John Paul II begins the most active phase of his action against the Soviet Union. The Americans agree to help John Paul II in his fight against the Communists. For this, they intend to provide financial aid to the Solidarnosc trade unions, supported by the pope. It is very clear, and now it is known, that the American services and either the CIA directly, or much more often organizations linked to it, helped the Solidarnosc trade union. To transit this money discreetly. The pope and the Americans want to use the occult system of the Vatican bank. But two weeks after President Reagan's visit, this system is again under threat. On June 18, 1982, Roberto Calvi, financial partner of Marc Schinckus, was found hanged in the shade under a bridge over the Thames. The investigation into this mysterious death reveals the existence of the mafia system in which the Vatican bank is allegedly involved. Italian justice seeks to arrest Marcinkus, but as long as he remains in the Vatican, he is untouchable and the pope refuses to hand over his banker. To justice. We have issued an arrest warrant for Marcinkus. At the time, it was absolutely impossible to cross the wall. It was absolutely impossible. Justice finds itself forced to abandon its prosecution and Martin continues his money trafficking behind the walls of the city. Marcinkus, remained in office and in power until the end. He was protected by Wauthier until his death. The pope covered the drift of his banker and that in order to be able to continue to finance the Polish revolution. A decision that will pay off. In November 1989, the whole world discovered the fall of the Berlin wall, this wall which symbolically separated Eastern Europe and Western Europe fell. The Polish revolution spread throughout the Soviet bloc. Communist regimes are collapsing one after another. Jean-Paul II was one of the actors in the fall of the wall in Europe. It is true that it is really to be put on its balance sheet. What would have happened to him if he had been more watchful, more careful, more hesitant? It's not sure. During the 1990s, John Paul II multiplied his travels to continue to occupy the international scene. But the world is once again at war and its message of peace is no longer heard. The 90s were, after the fall of the Wall, the wars in the Balkans, the Hutu-Tutsi wars in Africa, the impotence of the pope's message. He says The wall has fallen. The cold war is over and war again. In the period of the struggle against communism, the pope had many powerful allies. Period during which he campaigned not to go to war. But all the allies he had before no longer agreed with him, and so his path was a path that today we can call prophetic, but that at the time no one wanted to hear. The last moments of his pontificate are difficult. Affected by Parkinson's disease, the pope is very weak and is no longer able to govern. But he has such an aura that no one will dare question him. It was terrifying agony. It even made a lot of people uncomfortable, including those around him. He knows perfectly well the image he gives on televisions all over the world and basically, he is giving his last message there. A fundamental message is that until the end, a man is worthy, he is upright, that is how it is. It's a great message and at the same time, it signals the end of an era. John Paul II died on the night of April 2, 2005, at the age of 84. 3 million faithful attend his funeral. A hundred heads of state made the trip. In 26 years of pontificate, John Paul II marked several generations all over the world. Modern media has made him an icon. We had the impression that the space of a ceremony, the whole planet was meditating. This is the memory that we may have kept, that many have kept. This great pontificate which had touched the world and what we saw precisely at the time of his death, in reality left a heavy heritage rich in difficulties. John Paul
II will have marked history and restored a diplomatic dimension to the Vatican. But wanting too much to change the world, he completely abandoned the internal affairs of the Church in favor of the Roman Curia, which had become all-powerful again. A new pope is appointed is Cardinal Ratzinger and a former Reformation supporter who joined the camp of the conservatives after the shock of May 68. He took the name of Benedict XVI. Will he be able to regain control of the Vatican? Nothing is less certain at a time when the Church is preparing to be held accountable for the numerous scandals that she continued to ignore during the pontificate of John Paul II. In the mid-2000s. A first scandal broke out. Churchmen are said to have sexually abused minors. Hundreds of victims are coming forward in the United States. But the worst is that the institution would have covered his actions. In Ireland, at the end of 2009, a commission of inquiry of justice reveals that the Church has smothered many cases in the diocese of Dublin. We are therefore impatiently awaiting the pope's response. He immediately condemns pedophile priests and summons the Irish bishops to collaborate with civil justice. The pope fights pedophilia. He is doing something revolutionary. He says all parishes, Catholic churches in the world must recognize civil courts. There is not only the justice of God, there is also civil justice. Ratzinger makes the American dioceses pay more than 4.5 billion euros in damages to the victims of pedophilia. For the first time in the history of the Vatican. A pope wants to break the law of silence, but that's not what public opinion will remember of him. Benedict XVI does not have the oratorical talent of John Paul II. He therefore entrusted the communication of the Vatican to his right-hand man, Secretary of State Bertone, a curator who had been in post for more than 30 years in the Vatican. Bertone. Bertone, who is a skillful and intelligent man who has built, has built great power within the Vatican from the Vatican. It is therefore he who is called upon to respond to the media on pedophilia cases and during a trip to Chile. It will totally confuse the message of the Church. You know my psychiatrist on display and the relationship between these teenagers and pedophilia? For me, I find that a demonstration, but a clue to the relationship between homosexuality and pedophilia. Is by creating the amalgam between homosexuality and pedophilia. The Vatican representative sends back a retrograde image of the Church, thus erasing all the efforts undertaken by the pope to solve the problems internally. Benoît is touched, torn. Benedict XVI was very unhappy. No, with us, there is no doubt that the person who should have collaborated the most with him, that is to say the Secretary of State in the person of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone Bertone. Did not live up to the Pope who was to serve. Nobody was able to fulfill this task. He didn't have the intellectual stature, nor the moral stature. Because Cardinal Bertone is not only a bad communicator. Since he took power in the Vatican, he has done everything to keep the pope out of the decisions to come. Every time Bertone entered Ratzinger's office, he closed the door, spoke with Ratzinger , and came out each time with the documents signed by the pope. He always got what he wanted. This is how he managed to hide from Benedict XVI one of the biggest scandals that the Church is about to face. In February 2012, an Italian investigative journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi, was contacted by a man close to the pope. This is his butler, Paolo Gabriele. Gabriele Gabriele is married to two daughters. He has two children. He lives inside the Vatican with his wife and all his family, and he is a person who shares daily intimacy with the pope. Otherwise, he hears his confidences, he collects his secrets, he hears things, he sees. The two men meet in an apartment in the center of Rome. Gabriel is to bring hundreds of confidential documents revealing the existence of a vast network of corruption within the Vatican itself. Overbilling, embezzlement the list of embezzlement is long. Stuff thefts from the pontifical villas, inflated tenders, bribery, crazy spending. He says a lot of things. The documents show that a man at the top of the Church is directly involved in these affairs. The Secretary of State himself, Cardinal Bertone. The file is damning and according to the butler, the pope would know nothing. Questioned by the Italian journalist, Paolo Gabriele explains why he decided to disclose these documents. Three months later, the journalist publishes his investigation. The scandal breaks out. The press gives him a name Vatileaks. Benedict XVI, who discovered the affair through the media, did not react. The time for him to sponsor a counter investigation. The Vatican 's only reaction was the arrest of the butler, who was tried before a special court for theft of documents. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison before being pardoned by the pope. And that, I find that unacceptable, surprising, sad, sad, demeaning. In our country, the only trials in the Vatican are against those who give information, journalists. Give information even orally. You risk 4 to 8 years in prison because in the Vatican the trials do them, but they don't stop the pedophiles, nor those who launder the money of the mafia. Cardinal Bertone will never be worried, just like the other members of the Curia implicated in this scandal since he cannot compel them. Benedict XVI will find an extreme solution to disappear and make them disappear with him. If he resigns, the Curia will be recomposed. His decision is made he will give up as a president who would return his mandate. But what is this ? Only little princes who have immaculate professions, promoted prenuptially and. Benedetto who goes to colleges Souto who has. Benedict XVI, dedicated his life to the Catholic Church. The good and the bad. And when. He had to choose between himself and the good of the Church, I think he chose to himself. Put aside and save the Church. There are things to do, it is to do. Save the institution to which he has devoted his entire life. This is called believing the voters. And so he stung sin. The scandal is the incorrect use of money, power coalitions, the concealment of abuses committed on minors. According to They are internal enemies to the internal Church, not external. Isn't it? It was something that was so against the gospel that in Public there was a growing sense of disgust. It says a rejection of the ecclesiastical institution, but ecclesial, and that damaged communication of the message of the Gospel, of messaging. Benedict XVI failed, but could he really fight against the excesses of the Curia? A fervent conservative, he himself was part of the system. It was under pressure from the cardinals of the American continent that Pope Francis was elected. He is Argentinian and therefore has no connection with the Italian power in place for centuries. He is also a Jesuit, which means that he militates for a poor Church. Close to the people. The exact opposite of the Roman Curia which has been doing everything for decades. To keep his privileges. But to win, he has a major asset: immense popularity that he will build from the beginning of his pontificate, in July 2013, for his first trip, the pope goes to Lampedusa, an Italian island hit hard by the migrant crisis. He comes to remind the population that welcoming refugees is part of Christian values. Europe is divided on the question of refugees and Christian Europe. It's a big problem. And one that, we felt responsible. Did Bishop West have a sense of brotherly responsibility? The Albanian culture would be hateful and insensitive to the Church, to places that bring life and symbol of the symbols that this Nobel announcing to me the name, the only illusion. Should we help the principal who leads to indifference? Little case for the globalization of indifference? He spoke of globalization, of indifference, asking parishes and communities to accommodate refugee families. The question of migrants is the dimension. Social of the pontificate. From François who is extremely significant. For what ? Because he himself comes from a world of poverty. And these migrants. Make him think. Simply to the world where he comes from. François is the son of Italian immigrants who left for Argentina to flee fascism in the 1930s. His story resonates with that of these migrants. All of a sudden. Here he is the darling of the whole world. He is a man who has a genius for communication and who immediately understood that his popularity would be his best asset. An asset that he intends to use for political purposes. Pope Francis wants to remind the world that the Vatican is a state and has powers on the international scene. Pope Francis. Want to be a protagonist. Wants to play a role in this world and he likes politics. And he. It has also been said One must be a Christian. Must like politics. And there is a file on which Vatican diplomacy could have a role to play. This is the old dispute between Cuba and the United States. Since the Cold War, the two countries have never managed to reconcile. But to unblock the situation, Pope Francis can count on his networks in South America. Latin American camaraderie is a bit like John Paul II and his Polish and Baltic relatives. There, we are between Latino. It all started on March 27, 2014. US President Barack Obama, on an official visit to the Vatican, did not expect to be taken to task by the Pope. Moment. The pope says to him It's not the pope speaking to you, it's Latin American. We will not tolerate, we will no longer tolerate Cuba continuing to exist. We must change policy and we will help you. We are going to offer you our credibility, our ability to inspire confidence in Cuba in order to overcome all the obstacles 1 to 1. And Barack Obama accepts the proposal. In the In the World Should be. Five months later, the American president formalizes the rapprochement between the two countries. A first diplomatic success attributed to Pope Francis. It is a success. Certainly from the Pope, but also from Vatican diplomacy as a whole which, I believe more than ever. Is called to. Play a major role in world affairs. In just a few months, the new pope has enabled the Vatican to regain its influence with the leaders of this world. But François has another file, more delicate to settle. He must regain control of the internal affairs of the Church, confiscated for too long by the Roman Curia. For this, he quickly sets up a counter power a group of nine independent cardinals, the C9. Are in charge of making a new Constitution. They are responsible for dealing with the various problems as they arise. It is really so as not to let the Curia take back power over the affairs of the Church. I think the pope is a man who decides. He has a decision maker. A pope who decides and who demands transparency. The Roman Curia was no longer used to it. Problems having a problem at Church. The problem is historically linked to the way the Curia runs the Vatican to a Vatican and very much to the way the Roman Church has always kept the secrets of the Vatican Vatican. Something that Pope Francis is trying to put an end to by all means, with a very ecumenical vision of the Church. The decision to create a restricted council of cardinals has caused a lot of irritation among the Vatican hierarchy, which is Vatican. One of the fiercest opponents of Pope Francis is none other than Cardinal Bertone and the former Vatican Secretary of State, forced to leave his post on the resignation of Benedict XVI. He no longer has power, but many scores to settle. Still a member of the Curia, he has with him many cardinals who do not adhere to the pope's new policy. The pope is challenged internally. It is certain that it is disputed in the Roman Curia by a certain number of people who lived like that on a form of life quite comfortable financially and very quiet in their little corner. In the Vatican, there is a statistic. Who circulates. From her. From the 20% of the personnel of the Vatican and the cardinals of the Curia are in favor of the pope. Paris, Pope. They say. 10% are against the. Pope. And 70% are waiting for his successor. But Francis does not intend to let himself be impressed by the Roman Curia. On December 22, 2014, just one year after his election, he prepared a tailor-made speech for them. He wants to put them face to face with their leaders. As no pope had yet dared to. To do in Coria and that a mandate improves and improves the peace, there is him a communion. And Sapienza can carry out such a mission. And for that, as they say, Corpo, it starts with water. There are illnesses like illness. Adèle This mortality, the disease of planning. Only the disease of the disease. Adele who has the disease and the rivalry and the schizophrenia from the front, the disease of indifference with imprints in history, the spiritual Alzheimer, the disease of the vileness and capi and the disease of the columns of the lodge. She careerism, opportunism, delirious people, ie resignations. Which exceed all the sorrows and which is well the image. And step by step. The Pope clearly told us cardinals that you did not come to Rome to be at court and he told us that the Vatican was the last court that was to fall. We must get rid of a culture that no longer corresponds to our needs or to those of the Gospel. It is a change that is. Necessary. And that we, someone, are going. The speech. It was a speech. Hard. For the attention of the cardinals who listened to him and of the personnel of the Curia. Discover them at the table. They were flabbergasted, amazed. And what is striking. It is that even some of his supporters were embarrassed by the severity and harshness of this speech. At the end of his speech, Francis comes to greet the cardinals. Everyone keeps smiling, including Bertone, directly targeted by the pope's critics. Facade smiles. The members of the Curia understood well who was the new master of the Vatican. But how long will he stay? Because all these enemies are still there. Pope Francis arrives in Poland in the footsteps of John Paul II. He celebrates the World Youth Days there. More than 3 million young Catholics came to give him a triumph. This new pope, who wants to shake up the old church, seems to no longer be afraid of anything. He doesn't want to travel like a head of state. He does not want to travel locked in an anti-projectile popemobile. He said he didn't want to be in a tin can and he wants to have contact with people. Because he says Me, anyway, I'm old, I'm almost 80 years old and therefore my life, I've already lived it and this makes him freer in relation to the risks he faces. He is the man who met the people. Its support is the people. St. Peter's Square is always full. His travels to Mexico, America, everywhere. These are trips where we see that he is loved by the people! Naturally, this success has its downsides. There is a price to pay because the personal success of Pope Francis is a success obtained by taking a stand against a Church, described as old, closed, rigorous, fundamentalist, hostile to the world. So he reaps to his own advantage the consensus of a large part of world public opinion, non- lay Catholics, which is hostile to the Church because it finds in him the person who denounces the failings of the Church itself. That said, people who call themselves Christians without necessarily going to church every Sunday, these people, they are very happy to see something that allows them to say that they are Catholic without being laughed at them. So I think this Pope Francis is very popular at the grassroots level of Catholicism and that's his strength. How long will it last? That's the problem.
