A month after the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in the Sistine Chapel, on April 19, 2005, the US Embassy to the Vatican sent a cable to the State Department in Washington providing its first readings on what the United States and the world at large should expect from the new head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict XVI had been one of the closest associates of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. According to America's local Vatican watchers, it was "unthinkable" that he would at all deviate from the former's strict stances regarding ethical issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, contraception, cloning or homosexuality.
The profile drawn up by the embassy noted that the new pope had no political experience and that, owing to his age, he couldn't afford the luxury of acquiring it. But US diplomats in the Vatican could not complain about being underemployed. During the last 10 years, they've sent a total of 729 cables back to the State Department.
More at http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,734354,00.htmlFrom the source that claims homosexuality is "disordered" we discover a rosey-eyed yes man playing footsie with war criminals. And the temerity of that woman, bringing attention to the Curia's* unprincipled behavior. Shocking is what it is.
* Curia seems like the wrong word for a place that has little or nothing to do with healing.