There wasn't, surely, a great deal for him to do. He simply had to interrogate Barros, the complainants, those involved in the transmission of 'the Letter', and, of course, PF. That would have enabled him to survey at least the first three questions: Was the 'Five Page Letter' indeed conveyed to Cardinal O'Malley? Did he indeed convey it to PF? Is it indeed in the archives?
So why has no report been made public? Could it be that experts have been called in to do tests on PF's memory? That, I concede, could cause delays. You know what expensive doctors are like when it comes to amassing items on their bills. There are always yet more tests they can conduct ... and still some more ... the Manchester psychometrics team may be involved ...
Did the Man from Malta minutely examine PF's emails, Twitters, phone-calls, etc.? Shall we eventually have Watergate-style tapes played to us with the fouler of the expletives deleted? Ah ... the Millhouse years ... he was by far my
In our delightfully corrupt British politics, 'spin-doctors', as they used to be called, are skilled at 'placing' bad news. They rely on lengthy delays ('kicking it into the long grass') so that people half-forget what the whole thing was all about anyway; publishing reports on the eve of a parliamentary dissolution or the day of the birth of a Royal Baby ...
Heureka! That's it! The Scicluna Report will be published on the morning the whole Universe is rejoicing at the birth of Meghan Markle's first Baby and Osservatore Romano has a special five-page Supplement!
Or when Mr Putin pays his State Visit!!
Or when we win back the Ashes!!!
Or when Justin Welby resigns because of his mishandling of the Bishop Bell affair!!!!
Or when dear Mr Scalfari publishes his next 'interview' [probably on Christmas Eve] in which he will claim that PF told him he no longer believes in God; and the Press Office is feverishly explaining that these may not have been precisely the exact words PF used!!!!!
I can't find 'frabjous' in Dr Johnson's Dictionary. But you can certainly start stacking up the Beamish!
Milhous.
ReplyDeleteMilhous is the way he spelled it.
ReplyDeleteOr the resignation of the present Holy Father (aka Pope Francis) for the reason that he now admits that he had, up until now, misunderstood the job description of the office of Pope -- and, therefore, its limitations.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think the inept Vatican Press Office is looking eagerly for something big to allow them to release the report on Barros. A hurricane, another Scalfari interview without notes taken probably involving some sort of reported triple blasphemy, some outrage at the 'Youth Synod' all on one day might permit release of the Scicluna report. If our beloved Holy Father has a sense of shame, he might taken the opportunity to find a better way to occupy his time, that is, resign. However, the best five years have shown that a sense of shame is not numbered among the Pope's gifts. And the Press Office will probably surpass Lettergate in the mess they make.
ReplyDeleteThe Scicluna report is filed that mysteriously disappeared 300-page report that Pope Benedict handed over to PF.
ReplyDeleteMay I suggest, Father, that when Mr. Putin pays a visit to the UK there will be plenty of ashes to go around.
ReplyDelete