In a recent interview with the Italian media portal Il Messaggero, ex-communicated Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò charged Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of having ties to Freemasonry and of having ‘subjugated’ Pope Benedict XVI.
To the question posed by journalist Franca Giansoldati, “A step back in time: in 2011, Pope Ratzinger implored you to accept being appointed as Nuncio to the United States, leaving the role of the Governorate where you were cleaning it up internally. You had clashes with Cardinal Bertone, then Secretary of State, whose name is linked to the scandal of the misappropriation of funds from the Bambino Gesù (Hospital) even though he was never investigated. What did Benedict XVI say to you? How did things go that day, and what were the main reasons for the disagreement with Bertone?” Viganò answered,
“To speak of a ‘disagreement’ seems euphemistic to me. Thirsty for power, unscrupulous, manipulative, and contiguous to Masonic circles: this is the portrait of Cardinal Bertone, to whom Benedict XVI was unfortunately subjugated.”
“Bertone did everything he could to remove me from the Secretariat of State, because in my very delicate role I prevented him from promoting ‘his’ candidates, men of his circle, who were corrupt and often sexually perverted,” Viganò alleged.
“He managed to transfer me to the Governorate on July 16, 2009, where in my action to combat the vast network of corruption I had discovered the role and complicity of the Secretary of State himself in covering, supporting, and promoting the malfeasance and in making personal profit from it. Benedict XVI told me – during the private audience granted to me on April 4, 2011 – that he wanted to appoint me President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, but Bertone (with the complicity of Cardinal Lajolo, President of the Governorate, who was also involved in the network of corruption) imposed himself forcefully on the Pope and obtained my expulsion from the Roman Curia,” he added.
Continuing, Viganò asserted that becoming “(a)ware of this plot hatched to the detriment of the Holy See and Benedict himself, and knowing that the Pope’s will that I continue to ‘clean up’ was being subverted (while my removal would have nullified the work done and left the corrupt unpunished), I initially tried to resist, not without great difficulty, since I was precluded from having any direct access to the Pope.”
“Thus, after a long inner travail, a personal letter from Benedict XVI convinced me to accept the nomination to the United States,” Viganò concluded.
According to Viganò, Benedict XVI’s letter read:
I would like to tell you that I have been reflecting and praying about your condition after the latest events. The painful news of the death of His Excellency Msgr. Pietro Sambi has confirmed me in the conviction that your providential position at this time is the Nunciature in the United States of America. Furthermore, I am certain that your knowledge of this great country will help you to take on the demanding challenge of this work, which in many ways is decisive for the future of the universal Church.