Vatican tiptoes around latest Berlusconi scandal

THE uproar over the latest sex scandal involving Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has found Vatican and other church leaders mostly keeping mum, hesitant to be perceived as meddling in politics.

Although clear moral issues are involved – Berlusconi is being investigated on accusations of having relations with an underage Moroccan and paying other women to engage in sex parties – the Vatican’s media have yet to report on the saga, which has been front-page news in Italy for weeks.

Italian bishops have limited themselves to oblique references to morality in civil life, choosing not to mention Berlusconi’s name.

The episode illustrates the limitations on the church’s role in a country that, despite its overwhelmingly Catholic population, has a long history of resentment over clerical interference in politics.

“Toward the Holy See, (Italian) political power has a mixed attitude: reverence for its huge moral influence, and indifference or even impatience when it tries to enter the political arena,” said Massimo Franco, who covers the church and politics for the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Franco told Catholic News Service that one reason the Vatican has been cautious is that it doesn’t see any real alternative to Berlusconi, at least not yet.

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