The Vatican's No. 2 official on Monday blamed the media — and the devil — for fueling the scandal over leaked Vatican documents.
Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told an Italian Catholic weekly that journalists reporting on the leaks scandal are "pretending to be Dan Brown… inventing stories and replaying legends." The reference to Brown is particularly acute; Brown wrote The Da Vinci Code and Angels andDemons, the best-selling fictional accounts of power struggles and scandals inside the Catholic Church.
The Vatican has been on the defensive ever since sensitive documents alleging corruption and exposing power struggles began appearing in the Italian media in January. A recent book containing dozens of documents from Pope Benedict XVI's own desk has compounded what many see as a plot to undermine Bertone's authority....