Dan Brown's precedent lives on in 'Vatileaks'

Vatican Secretary of State criticizes 'unethical' journalists

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone says many journalists covering the "VatiLeaks" scandal are trying to imitate author Dan Brown. (CNS)

Francis X. Rocca of the Catholic News Service reports that the Vatican Secretary of State has blamed an ongoing scandal over leaked documents on some journalists having a spirit of hostility toward the Catholic Church.

"Many journalists continue to invent fables," said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Vatican judges were investigating leaks to Italian journalists, including letters to the Pope and encrypted cables from Vatican embassies.

The Church "is an unambiguous point of reference for innumerable persons," he pointed out. "Some try to destabilize it and shatter this rock, this 2,000-year old institution that continues to carry out its proper mission of witness."

Noting that the publication of private letters violates the Italian constitution's guarantee of a right to privacy, he lamented that stories of the Church's extensive charitable works have been "intentionally ignored or erased" amid heavy press coverage.

Read the full story here on The B.C. Catholic website.