All language subtitles for PBS.Frontline.2014.Secrets.of.the.Vatican.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org-eng

>> NARRATOR: In February last

year, Pope Benedict stunned the

world by being the first Pope to

resign in 600 years.

>> No person has had more

influence on the life of the

Church, how it works on the

inside, than Joseph Ratzinger.

And he gave it up.

>> NARRATOR: When the helicopter

took him away, Benedict was

leaving behind a bitterly
divided Vatican.

This is the inside story of the

events that undermined
his papacy.

It's a story of
corruption and cover-up.

>> If I don't get a response

from you, I'll go public.

>> NARRATOR: Of sexual
scandal and abuse.

>> If you tell anybody, your

parents will burn in Hell.

>> NARRATOR: Of secrets
and hypocrisy.

>> So there we were, where they

had had sex all night long, and

he took out all his
paraphernalia and started to

celebrate Mass.

>> NARRATOR: And a story of

leaked documents exposing a

bitter internal power struggle.

>> I published documents
dealing with corruption,

scandals, frauds, nepotism.

>> NARRATOR: Now a new Pope,

Francis, must battle the forces

that overwhelmed
his predecessor.

>> If he wants to change the

Church, it's going to
mean decisive action.

And it's risky to take
on the Vatican Curia.

>> Tonight on Frontline,

"Secrets of the Vatican."

>> Frontline is made possible by

contributions to your PBS

station from viewers like you.

And by the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting.

Major support for Frontline is

provided by the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur

Foundation, committed to

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More information is
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Additional funding is provided

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dedicated to heightening public

awareness of critical issues.

The Wyncote Foundation.

And by the Frontline Journalism

Fund, with major support from

Jon and Jo Ann Hagler.

(taking oath in Latin)

>> NARRATOR: A year ago,

when the cardinals converged on

Rome to elect a new Pope, they

all understood
what was at stake.

>> The atmosphere was the

most serious, the most intense

that I've ever, ever known
because of the issues

which the Church was facing.

At the top level in Rome,

things were not going well.

And then the shame of child

abuse has had a most serious

effect, I think, on the Church--

not just in the West,

but I think all over the world.

The Catholic Church, and
in particular the Pope,

has the highest moral
voice in the world.

If that voice is
diminished by scandals,

that's a serious matter.

>> NARRATOR: This was one of

the shortest conclaves ever.

(crowd cheering)

(bells ringing)

By the evening of the next day,

white smoke from the chimney of

the Sistine Chapel confirmed

that 1.2 billion Catholics
had a new Pope.

(crowd cheering)

(cameras snapping)

(cheering continues)

(speaking Italian)

>> He said, "I'll give you my

blessing," but before the Bishop

blesses the people, he said,

"I want you to pray over me."

(crowd falls silent)

You could have heard a pin drop.

There were people crying
in the square with joy.

Pope Francis comes on the scene

at a time when the Church
is in a deep crisis.

He said, "The Church is like a

field hospital after a battle."

He's talking about people who

are wounded within the Church.

>> NARRATOR: A new beginning
for a wounded Church.

(organ music playing)

Eight years earlier, when

Cardinal Ratzinger was elected

Pope Benedict, he also
promised a new beginning.

He was taking over at a time

when the Church was reeling from

the scandal of sexual abuse by

the clergy, and he
promised firm action.

>> (translated): I still

remember very clearly when

Cardinal Ratzinger, in 2005,

went through the
stations of the cross.

At the ninth station, I think,

he stopped and denounced all the

filth that is inside the Church.

But he said, "It's not the

people from outside who bring

the filth into the Church.

It is us who make it dirty."

>> NARRATOR: He knew a lot about

filth in the Church.

For 24 years, as Prefect of the

Congregation for the Doctrine of

the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger

had been responsible for matters

of theology and discipline.

Many serious cases of priestly

abuse crossed his desk,

none more troubling than the

scandal surrounding the
Legionaries of Christ:

a scandal that, until very

recently, the Church
fought hard to suppress.

The Legionaries was one of the

fastest-growing orders in the

Church, recruiting young men in

great numbers from countries
across the world.

The Order was founded in 1941

by Marcial Maciel, a young man

with powerful family connections

to Mexico's conservative
Catholic elite.

>> Maciel was the greatest

fundraiser of the modern church.

The man had a gilded touch.

>> NARRATOR: Journalist Jason

Berry spent years investigating

Maciel and the
Legionaries of Christ.

>> He could get millionaires

and the wives and widows
of multimillionaires

to support his movement
of renascent orthodoxy.

And he was bringing in a great

many young men to this religious

order that saw itself on a

crusade to save the Church from

the decay of the modern world.

>> The Maciel case is one of the

darkest chapters in the history

of the contemporary
church, without a doubt.

Without a doubt.

>> NARRATOR: In 1947,
10-year-old Juan Vaca was

personally chosen by Maciel

to enter one of his seminaries.

Like all the other boys, he had

to swear before God that he

would never speak ill of Maciel.

>> I was enrolled with that

mentality Maciel gave us that we

were a very selected group, an

elite, chosen by God to conquer

the world, but at the same time

he started to control our minds,

to control our communication
with our parents.

>> NARRATOR: On a winter's night

in 1949, Maciel's control of

Juan Vaca reached another level.

>> We used to go to bed after

last prayers in chapel.

A colleague of mine, he said,

"Nuestro Padre"-- our father--

"wants you go to his bedroom."

"In his bedroom?"

To me, as a child,
it was very strange.

Anyway, I went to his bedroom.

He was already in bed,

and he took my hand and said,

"Please give me a massage

in my stomach, because
I have terrible pain."

He said, "Lower, lower."

Finally, I was touching his

penis, and he got an erection.

I felt completely petrified.

I was in shock.

So after a few seconds,

I would say, I felt
his semen on my hand.

"Okay," Maciel said,
"now I feel much better.

Now you can go and
go back to sleep."

>> NARRATOR: The next morning,

after a sleepless night,

Juan felt unable to follow the

call to Mass and went
straight to Maciel's office.

>> I told him, "I cannot go

to communion because I committed

a sin last night with you."

He said, "No, Juan, don't worry,

I give you the absolution.

I forgive you."

And he gave me the sacramental

absolution of a "sin."

He said, "Don't worry.

What you did was an act of

charity, because you helped me

to relieve of my pain.

You didn't commit a sin."

>> NARRATOR: The abuse continued

on a regular basis, and
Juan discovered that there

were 20 other boys involved.

In the meantime, the Legion

went from strength to strength.

(applause)

Juan Vaca was ordained in 1969

and became Maciel's deputy,

but he was caught in a
twisted relationship.

>> He never touched me again

since 1961, but I knew he
was doing with others.

Maciel was also abusing drugs:

Dolantin, a derivative
of morphine.

>> NARRATOR: In 1971, Father

Vaca was given a senior position

with the Legionaries in the

United States, but by now,

he was in conflict with himself.

>> I am lying to people, getting

money for missions when it's

being used to support this type

of life Marcial is having.

>> NARRATOR: Eventually,

Father Vaca wrote a document

setting out all the crimes he'd

witnessed and presented it to

Maciel personally, with a

request to be released
from the Legionaries.

>> "Everything is right here

in these papers, please read."

So when he was, like, halfway,

he started to cry, you
know, he said, "Juan,

you cannot do this to me."

"You did this, more than
that to me for 32 years,

and this is it."

"Well, I was just already making

the decision to name you the

second in command in the Order:

my assistant general."

I said, "Father, even if you

give me your position,
I don't want it.

This is it."

>> NARRATOR: In 1976, Father

Juan Vaca made a decision.

He would send his damning
report to the Vatican.

>> I named 21 colleagues of mine

that had been also abused.

I witnessed the abuse myself.

>> NARRATOR: Father Vaca
also described Maciel's

misappropriation of funds

to maintain his extravagant

lifestyle and the bribes he'd

paid to doctors and the police.

>> We knew that the letter was

received because we sent it

through the diplomatic pouch

because we got "protocol

number such-and-such received,"

but no answer.

No reply to the content of my

information, nothing at all.

(people cheering)

(speaking Spanish)

>> NARRATOR: Not only did the

Vatican not respond to the

letter, but Pope John Paul led

massive celebrations to mark

both the 50th and the 60th

anniversaries of Father Maciel's

priestly ordination.

>> The Vatican did nothing.

John Paul continued to praise

Maciel despite the
pending allegations.

(speaking Spanish)

>> NARRATOR: He described the

founder of the Legionaries of

Christ as "an efficacious
guide to youth."

That quote incensed
Maciel's victims.

They would go public with the

testimony they now
had on Maciel.

>> Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger...

>>NARRATOR: The official

responsible for investigating

child abuse cases, was
Cardinal Ratzinger.

He had to respond to
the news media about

the charges against Maciel.

>> There's a question whether...

>> Come to me when the
moment is given-- not yet.

>> NARRATOR: But
he was in a bind.

John Paul's public celebration

of Maciel made it very difficult

for him to take action,

and all the while, Maciel's

activities went unchecked.

>> The situation changed
at the end of 2004.

At that time, Cardinal Ratzinger

made a decision, to his credit,

that Maciel had to
be investigated.

So he sent a canon lawyer in his

office, Monsignor Charles

Scicluna, to America and Mexico

to take the testimony
of these men.

He clearly knew that whoever

would become the next Pope

needed to have Maciel under

investigation, lest the Vatican

be tarnished by this scandal

of a much accused pedophile

and nothing happening to him.

(people singing)

>> NARRATOR: With the death of

Pope John Paul, it was Ratzinger

himself, now Pope Benedict,

who would have to pursue
the case against Maciel.

>> Once he's Pope, then
the question becomes,

"How do you deal with this man?"

What should have happened was

that the order should have been

disbanded, and instead, he

invited him to spend the rest of

his life in prayer and penance.

>> NARRATOR: There was no

description of his crimes.

No apologies to his victims.

>> Why didn't he
just banish him?

Why?

Because the Legionaries of

Christ is a large and very

wealthy order and puts lots of

money in the Vatican's coffers.

>> The Legion, which had
defended him all along,

never admitted that he abused

any of these altar boys
or young seminarians,

announced at his death that
he had gone to heaven.

(singing)

A year later, the Legionaries

announced that he had a child.

Well, it soon became apparent

that he had a grown daughter

living with her mother, one of

Maciel's paramours in Madrid.

(singing)

>> NARRATOR: And, it turned out,

a son by another
woman in Mexico.

The price of the Church's

failure to act was revealed

in Jason Berry's interview
with Raul Gonzales.

>> He was a good person

when he acts like our daddy,

and a demon when he
acts like a predator.

>> NARRATOR: Maciel lived

multiple lives, and this is a

rare glimpse of him on holiday.

Raul and his half-brother Omar

would be invited on trips like

these, but Raul says there was a

heavy price for the boys to pay.

>> All the days that we stayed

with my Dad, on every
trip, there were abuses.

>> Was it mostly masturbation?

>> No.

Well, I feel really
sorry about my brother,

because he was, um... He
was penetrated by my Dad,

and my brother also penetrated

him because my Dad told
him that that was the way

he was going to learn.

And he always told us how to

kiss, we have to kiss him

because that's the way we were

going to learn how to kiss
a girl when we grew up.

>> And you were
ten, 11 years old?

>> Um... ten.

Whoa, I'm going to have to stop.

He took me on a... On a walk.

He said...

>> Ratzinger gave his famous

sermon shortly before the

funeral of John Paul referring

to filth in the Church.

Many people believe, as I do,

that he was really referring to

Maciel, and by that time, he had

a good deal of
information on him.

>> NARRATOR: And as Pope

Benedict, he also knew as much

as anyone in the Church the

extent of the clergy
sex abuse scandal.

He took every opportunity
to apologize.

>> To the men suffering because

of abuse as children, especially

within the church
by her ministers...

>> There is no doubt that for

a person like Joseph Ratzinger,

who is so engaged in faith,

these crimes are horrible.

During his trip to the United

States, he told it to the

reporter, saying there is no

place, there has not to be place

in the Church for such people.

>> I had the opportunity to meet

Cardinal Ratzinger a couple of

times when he was a cardinal,

and I found him to be

a very charming,
self-effacing, gentle person.

When he encountered as Pope

the issue of sexual abuse of

children, I think his
reaction was genuine.

But he was a creature of
the institutional Church.

That's the only life he knew,

and he could not do
what was necessary.

>> He's a shy man,
he's a very kind man,

and they made him Pope.

He had absolutely zero
pastoral experience.

Joseph Ratzinger should never,

ever have been a bishop.

He just didn't have the
gifts, the charisma.

He's a theologian.

He's a catechist.

He didn't have the
administrative skills.

>> NARRATOR: So when the clergy

sexual abuse scandal exploded

into an international crisis on

his watch, Pope Benedict seemed

unable to take charge, while

the Church hierarchy responded

as it had done for years.

>> I worked from 1981 to 1986

as the Secretary Canon Lawyer

at the Vatican Embassy
in Washington, D.C.

>> NARRATOR: In that role,

Father Doyle's job was to deal

with sexual abuse cases
on behalf of the Church.

>> My job was to talk to the

diocese and find out what was

going on, and above all,

see that they kept a lid on:

that there was no publicity,

that it didn't become known to

the public, causing scandal.

>> NARRATOR: Then he began to

have doubts about
what he was doing.

>> Even at the early stages,

I had met some of the victims.

My life was changed
when I met them.

Then it went from a purely

academic issue, from names on a

piece of paper, to human beings,

and that, of course, for me at

least, it was a drastic change.

>> NARRATOR: Faced with so many

cases, Father Doyle
decided to speak out.

>> The physical and spiritual
abuse that these...

>> I believe I saw the inside

of the workings of the
institutional Church

in a way that I had never
believed even existed.

I was severely disillusioned.

>> Because if Christ were here

today, he'd be with them.

(applause)

>> Those of us who have been the

most outspoken and the most

directly accusatory of the
hierarchy have lost any

possibility of a career
in the clerical world.

I'm still a priest, but I'm not

active in the official ministry

of the Catholic Church.

I do not wear clerical garb

at all because I see clericalism

as one of the most prominent
and important causes

for this entire problem:

the attitude that the clergy are

somehow removed and above other

Catholics and that we have to be

protected at all costs.

>> NARRATOR: Father
Doyle is not alone.

Other priests have now
come forward and in spite

of retaliation by the Church

are speaking out on
behalf of victims.

>> We're actually doing what the

Church theology, the teaching

of the Second Vatican Council,

and the Church law says
we ought to be doing.

>> Yes, yes.

>> All the Christian faithful,

everybody, they have a right and

even an obligation to make their

concerns known not only to

Church leaders, but all the rest

of the Christian faithful.

>> We're just trying
to heal through this.

We want to be able
to trust the clergy.

It's hard.

Just very hard.

>> One of the wonderful things

about coming together for us has

been just to listen and to hear.

>> I have carried this guilt

and shame with me for how many

decades, and it's
like, it's not mine.

>> It never was.

>> This was done to me.

I carried it for decades.

>> NARRATOR: When the Church

chose to suppress stories
of clergy sexual abuse,

it was to silence people
like Monica Barrett.

>> It was a Saturday, and
I was eight years old.

And my father took my younger

sister and I, and we drove out

to Lake Geneva to visit with

this priest, William Effinger.

At one point in the day, Father

Effinger said he needed help in

the church with candles.

And my father said,
"Go help him."

And we went into the church,
where he assaulted me

for a period of time, and

ultimately ended up raping me.

While he was raping me, I didn't

understand what was happening.

I just knew there was
this incredible pain

and I could hardly breathe,

and I kept praying that God
would just let me die.

And when he finished,

he stood up and he looked at me

and he said, "If you tell
anybody what you did,

they won't believe you.

And if you tell anybody, your

parents will burn in Hell."

And then he gave me penance

to do, and he turned and looked

at me, and he smoothed his hair

back with both of his hands

and he walked down the aisle

of the church, and I remember

hearing the door close.

And I just sat there because

I didn't know what I should do,

and eventually I realized that

there was blood on my legs

and there was blood on the new

purple shorts that my grandma

had given to me for my birthday.

And so when I got to the end of

the aisle of the church, I wiped

the blood off with some of the

holy water, and I went and I sat

outside under this big tree

and I was just crying because

I was in pain and I didn't

understand what had happened

to me and I was scared.

As a child who went to Catholic

school, we were taught that

the priest is basically the

closest you'll ever get to God.

And for me, when I was raped

by that priest, it just pulled

my entire foundation
out from under me.

Everything was just
taken away in that day.

>> NARRATOR: Eventually,

Father Effinger was convicted of

sexual assault on another child

and died in prison.

But Monica never got her day in

court because of the
statute of limitations.

But the diocese of Milwaukee

countersued for $14,000

in legal expenses.

>> They very much were trying to

intimidate me and to beat me

down and to hold me out as the

example, saying, "This is what

will happen to you if you come

forward and tell your truth."

>> NARRATOR: Monica was not

alone in her battle for
justice in Milwaukee.

Hers was one of hundreds of

cases which were aggressively

challenged by the diocese,

as they were compelled to pay

out $30 million in settlements.

>> In all these years, I have to

say that the Archdiocese of

Milwaukee has a demonstrated

history of having been both the

most callous and the most

disturbing, the most disturbing.

>> They have fundamentally

violated the fundamental

safety principles
applying to children.

>> NARRATOR: Jeff Anderson has

represented victims of
clergy abuse for 29 years.

He has long argued that
Milwaukee is following

procedures laid down in Rome.

>> When it comes to the

Vatican and its role in this

crisis, all I have ever seen

them do is talk, both denying

responsibility and saying

that they're doing something,

when in fact they're doing

nothing other than what they've

done in the past for decades and

centuries, which is to deny,

minimize blame, keep secrets

and protect themselves.

>> Intimidation is the strategy.

It's not part of it;

it is the strategy.

"You've exposed this part of us.

We're coming after you.

And no one's going to dare

to file a lawsuit again."

And it's meant to intimidate

and make people afraid.

>> NARRATOR: When he was
13 years old, Peter Isley

entered St. Lawrence
Seminary in Wisconsin.

>> At a very, very young age,

I had absolute faith and belief

and love of the Roman Catholic

Church, of its rituals, of its

traditions, even as a small boy.

>> NARRATOR: At the seminary,

Peter was a victim of repeated

sexual abuse by his spiritual

director, Father Leifeld.

In 1988, when Peter was in his

late 20s, he found the courage

to confront his abuser
and report to the Church

authorities.

He soon discovered
that he was not alone.

s ju independent of each other,

just starting to come forward

across the United States,

now we know across the world,

and we all went down the same

path, which was we went to the

religious officials and

authorities first-- the bishops

and the provincials--
and reported to them

what had happened to us.

And now in my case, there
were promises made.

The provincial told me,

"We're gonna keep Father Leifeld

away from children.

We've got him in a secure
treatment facility.

He's never gonna be around

children," this kind of thing.

It's when I found out that they

had lied to me, that he was in

fact around children, that he

was under no supervision at all,

that there were no consequences

whatsoever, that no one was

watching him, that I then
came forward publicly.

>> NARRATOR: Six years later,

Father Leifeld was finally

arrested and admitted other past

abuses in this court deposition.

>> I know that I
touched his penis.

I don't remember whether
or not he touched mine.

I didn't understand that there

would be a psychological
damage to the young man.

>> I'm the victim... >>
NARRATOR: Peter Isley

founded the Milwaukee chapter of

SNAP, a survivor's network of

those abused by priests.

>> I was molested when I was 13.

>> My brother is the victim

of criminal sexual assault.

>> I was raped at 13
years old in my church.

>> He admitted to you,
Bishop Sklba, what he was

and what he had done.

You sent him back to work!

Victims can't have peace
until they have justice.

(applause)

>> It was reported to
the Archdiocese...

(sobbing)

...by 14 families
from that parish.

And what did the Archdiocese do?

Transfer him again.

Why?

I want to know why!

>> NARRATOR: The Vatican
has always claimed the

responsibility for these cases

rests with the local
bishops and dioceses.

Jeff Anderson disagrees.

>> In every case that we have

worked on for 29 years,

the Vatican and its role has

been prominent because every

action taken by every bishop

and archbishop and cardinal

in connection with sexual abuse

is effectively orchestrated

and controlled by the Vatican.

Every action taken has
demonstrated to us that all

roads lead to Rome
and to the Vatican.

>> NARRATOR: The Vatican Secret

Archives contain the Church's

records back through the

centuries, including evidence

relating to sexual abuse cases

from the early Middle
Ages to the present day.

As a sovereign nation, the Holy

See cannot be compelled to hand

over its original documents

or any copies held by their
embassies worldwide.

The only hope for those

representing victims of sexual

abuse is to sue
individual dioceses.

That was how Jeff Anderson was

able to subpoena crucial

correspondence between Monica's

former archbishop Cardinal Dolan

and Cardinal Hummes, prefect
of the Congregation

for the Clergy in Rome.

>> We have evidence that

Archbishop Dolan got express

permission from the Vatican to

move $57 million from diocesan

funds into a "cemetery trust,"

and that permission was given by

the Vatican almost immediately.

>> NARRATOR: Two key words

in Latin from Cardinal Hummes

said it all: Nihil obstat.

"Nothing stands in your way."

With these two words, the

Vatican allowed the diocese

to protect its millions
from further legal claims

of abuse victims.

>> To me, it was designed

to do one thing: to keep the

archdiocese and the Vatican

from having to account for their

crimes and complicity in them.

No other real or
legitimate reason.

>> NARRATOR: The Church argued

that the money was always

committed to their cemeteries,

and a court upheld the transfer.

Meanwhile, the diocese
declared bankruptcy.

While they recently proposed

to set aside $4 million
in a victim's fund,

there are over 550

outstanding claimants.

Monica Barrett and Peter
Isley among them.

>> This is a beautiful cemetery.

They're doing a terrific
job of really maintaining

this sacred space.

You don't need $57
million for this space

and seven other cemeteries.

The real purpose was to keep

money from compensating

childhood victims of sexual

assault by priests in this

archdiocese from
court-ordered settlements.

Period.

And that is so cynical and
so just unacceptable.

And it's just a further way

of trying to hide things.

You're hiding money in the

cemetery just like you hide

sex offenders in parishes.

>> NARRATOR: While Vatican

departments worked with bishops

from around the world to deal

with the exploding clergy sex

abuse crisis, the new Pope
brought his own ideas.

The first publication of his

papacy referred to the urgency

of "The current situation and

the problem of homosexuality
and the priesthood,"

and it called on seminary

directors to screen out gay men.

Years earlier, he had engineered

a change in the catechism

to say that homosexuality

was an objective disorder.

He had also invited
leading experts to Rome.

>> I was informed that there was

going to be a meeting at the

Vatican, and it was a scientific

meeting that the Vatican
was calling to learn more

about child and
adolescent sexual abuse.

>> NARRATOR: Martin Kafka and a

distinguished panel of

psychologists and psychiatrists

tried to explain the complex set

of factors that contributed

to the crisis,

but there was one issue his

hosts were not keen to explore.

>> The number of Catholic clergy

who are accused of or prosecuted

for child and adolescent sexual

abuse vastly outnumber the

number of Protestant clergy.

So what is it about the Catholic

clergy that makes them
distinctly different?

And one of those factors is

this issue of suppressing one's

sexuality to better serve God.

>> NARRATOR: They tried to

address the issue of screening

out gay men from the priesthood.

>> The data that we have

suggests that men who abuse

children are probably equally

likely to be heterosexual or

homosexual in their
adult orientation.

But people who abuse
adolescents-- post-pubertal

children, if you will--

they're more likely to reflect

their own adult sexual
orientation in whom they

victimize.

>> NARRATOR: And for so many

years, it has been a closed

world of many more
boys and young men.

>> A lot of this abuse took

place in the '60s, '70s

and early '80s, and things were

a lot different back then.

Young men were being recruited

for the priesthood
in high school.

I think that having men be more

mature before they matriculate

in and understand what a life

of celibacy is are equally

potent ways of reducing risk:

educating priests, more open

discussion of sexuality.

>> NARRATOR: The American

seminary in Rome is considered

a model in this respect.

Men are only admitted here after

they've had real experience of

life, and say they are confident

they can hold to their vows and

face the challenges of celibacy.

>> Giving up a biological family

seems like a very... a
small burden in light

of the great gift, that
is to give myself totally

out of love for God.

>> Whatever sacrifices

priesthood entails, even if that

means giving up a biological

family, that's profoundly worth

it, you know, and that
at the end of my life,

I will be profoundly happy.

>> I love the idea of family,

but I do feel that a life

devoted completely to God's

church will not only be
fulfilling, but completely

live-giving to me and I hope to

the people that I'm
entrusted towards.

>> NARRATOR: That's what Simone

Alfieri believed when he chose

the celibate life for eight

years as a seminarian
and a missionary.

Then in 2008, he was recalled to

Rome to be ordained as a priest

by Pope Benedict himself.

(man singing in Latin)

>> (translated): I wanted to

give up all the women in the

world because I just wanted to

be in love with God,

and I wanted to follow this path

always with the grace of God

because to be celibate only with

your own strength is impossible.

(speaking Italian)

>> (translated): Being ordained

by the Pope was a
great honor for me.

It was a powerful
emotional experience.

When we laid down, the
entire Assembly prayed

for the saints to protect us.

Catholics believe that through

ordination, you are transformed.

It's a sacrament that
changes your character.

>> NARRATOR: Five years on

and Simone is disillusioned,

jobless and living
alone in an apartment

borrowed from a friend:

all the result of his
decision to leave the Church

after his experiences of
clerical life in Rome.

>> (translated): Ordained in

Rome and living in a parish in

Rome, I became disillusioned

because I saw that among
priests, there were many

contradictions-- a hunger
for power, ambition.

Many priests, obviously not

all of them, showed
sexual hypocrisy.

Some priests were very
promiscuous, and I saw that

all that was not as I thought

the clerical mission should be.

>> NARRATOR: At Simone's

ordination, Pope Benedict urged

young priests to be the doormat

of the faithful, to clean the

souls of those who come in.

But the hypocrisy he saw

around him disturbed Simone,

and after a time of prayer

and contemplation, he decided

he wanted to live a normal life

and go where his heart took him.

>> (translated): When Valentina

appeared, I knew she
was the one for me.

I decided to take responsibility

and go to the cardinal
to declare myself

and appeal for dispensation
from clerical cebacy.

>> (translated): I used to go to

the church where he was curate.

He used to be my sister's

confessor, and I often
saw him talking to her.

He was really funny,
good-looking obviously,

so the fact that he was unique

caught my attention.

Then, talking to him and seeing

him more often with other
people, I fell in love.

>> NARRATOR: For refusing
a secret relationship

and insisting on a marriage

in church, Simone and Valentina

have paid a heavy price.

Clergy and congregation in their

former church were so hostile,

they had to worship elsewhere.

>> (translated): They were

really hard, mean, unreasonable.

They judged and despised us.

They put real strain
on our relationship.

>> (translated): For me, it's

been tough psychologically.

It's been difficult
for both of us.

>> (translated): And it's

still difficult, isn't it?

>> NARRATOR: Eventually,

the pressure was too
great for both of them,

and the relationship has ended.

Simone has left Rome,
he says for good.

>> I came here when I was
a seminarian in 1986

and I remember, I had this very

wide-eyed idea of the Vatican,

of these holy cardinals
and holy men.

And I was shocked within

a matter of weeks, months,

at the careerism, at the sexual

innuendo, just the whole
kind of non-holy life

that I had expected.

>> (translated): A large part of

the hierarchy is homosexual.

Certainly, at the top levels

of the Church, in the Curia,

many important people such as

bishops and archbishops are gay.

>> NARRATOR: He is a Vatican

guide who says he's had
relationships with several

priests.

>> (translated): Here in Rome,

it's very easy to meet a gay

priest: on a bus, in a church,

and important churches like St.
Peter's.

It's even easier when you go

to gay clubs and gay bars.

You see them at bars,
and then at the altar

the following Sunday.

>> NARRATOR: The world he is

describing was captured

by reporter Carmelo Abbate, who

began a two-year investigation

when a gay friend told him

he'd just had sex with a priest.

>> (translated): The priest went

on to say, "Actually, on
Saturday, there will be

a party here in Rome

in a club in Testaccio with me

and lots of other priests.

We've also booked two escorts

from Turin, from Piemonte,

who will be the
entertainers at the party.

If you like, you're invited.

I'd love you to join us."

(dance music playing)

>> NARRATOR: Abbate went

with his friend to the party

and took a hidden camera.

>> (translated): My objective

was to write a story for my

newspaper, not to make videos.

But I knew very well
what I was going into.

I knew very well how the Church

authorities could react.

So I wanted to make sure I had

evidence to support my story.

>> NARRATOR: The priest

hosting the party greeted them,

flanked by the two escorts.

>> (translated): I would have

said that half of the people

there might have been priests.

And it wasn't just a guess--

they introduced
themselves as priests.

>> NARRATOR: Some worked

at the Vatican, others in the

institutions that cluster

around the Vatican in Rome.

>> (translated): The party in

Rome ended at my friend's house.

At the end of the party,

we all went back to his place.

Then my friend and the French

priest locked themselves in that

room and I went to
sleep in another room.

>> NARRATOR: The next day,

Abbate continued to film.

>> (translated): Then came
the moment that I found

most shocking of all,
and that was the moment

that opened my eyes to
what was really going on.

It wasn't just a matter of sex.

It was something more.

So there we were in that

atmosphere, in that house where

they had had sex all night long,

and with that man
wearing vestments.

And he took out all his
paraphernalia and started

to celebrate Mass.

>> NARRATOR: For his book,
Abbate says he met and

interviewed many other priests

in Rome who live double lives.

>> (translated): There is a

widespread culture here
in Rome of tacit consent,

in the way that we know

but we don't talk about it.

>> NARRATOR: Francesco,

a former seminarian, says he had

a relationship with a priest

who has since risen to a high

position in the Vatican.

>> (translated): He kept telling

me that he was giving me his

body, but his soul belonged
to the Church, to God.

The reasoning goes, "I'm a

priest, but I have this need.

I'll satisfy it and then go back

to being a priest."

It's a bit like vestments.

I wear them, I'm a priest.

I take them off, and I'm
just like anyone else.

>> Unless you spend some time

inside this kind of culture,

it's very hard to believe

that it could be like this.

One of the biggest problems in

the whole hierarchical
structure, the clerical

structure, is this hypocritical

presence of so many
homosexuals, gay men.

Many of them would not even

classify themselves as gay men

because they're so conflicted.

>> NARRATOR: The Benedict

doctrine on homosexuality

was deeply hurtful to those

in the Vatican who were trying

to lead celibate lives.

>> I cannot understand this
schizophrenic attitude

of the hierarchy against gay

when a lot of priests are gay.

That's something that
I cannot understand.

>> NARRATOR: As a gay priest

who works in the Vatican,

he remembers his feelings when

the then Cardinal Ratzinger

changed the catechism to say

that homosexuality was
an objective disorder.

>> It's like a knife

in your heart, because
I believe in vocation.

I believe in the calling of God.

I believe in Jesus.

I believe He want us to serve

his people, and when a document

say, "Oh, you are not able,"

that is... that's terrible.

That's painful.

I hope that one day, priests

can be freely in a relationship

and be good priests.

That celibacy in the
Church will be optional.

>> The "don't ask, don't tell"

culture was invented
inside the Vatican.

I don't want to villainize

everybody in the Vatican because

there are a lot of gay men in

the Vatican who are very good

people, who are celibate,

are not having sex, who are

struggling to be good priests.

But the culture itself
mitigates against that.

It's difficult to be
good in the Vatican.

>> NARRATOR: The Vatican
is a world on its own--

an independent state.

And this is the guarded frontier

that separates it from Italy,

whose authorities
have no powers here.

>> The Vatican is the last

absolute monarchy
in the world today.

The Pope, when he is elected,

is answerable to no human power.

He has absolute authority

over the entire Roman Catholic

Church, direct authority that

reaches down to
individual members.

He is the supreme judge,
the supreme legislator

and the supreme executive.

>> NARRATOR: But as an

executive, Benedict needed help.

He turned to his longtime

assistant Cardinal Bertone

to be Secretary of State,

effectively in charge of the

Vatican's government, the Curia.

>> The Vatican Curia, which is

the administrative body of the

worldwide church, is

a collection of small fiefdoms,

of cliques of individuals,
of different agendas

vying against one another.

>> NARRATOR: And it is the Curia

that runs a city state
with its own legal system,

its own TV channel, radio
station and newspaper.

It even has its own bank: the

Institute of Religious Works,

housed in a medieval tower.

>> (translated): The Bank of

Italy, the highest authority

in our banking system,
has described the IOR

as a foreign bank on our soil.

We see the big walls of the

Vatican as a national border.

We cannot intervene
in the Vatican.

>> NARRATOR: Nello Rossi is

a powerful figure in Italy.

He prosecutes the most difficult

cases: the mafia, corrupt

politicians and, most recently,

the Vatican Bank, which has

a long and dark reputation

for financial corruption.

>> Politicians, businessmen

were using the Vatican Bank

as an off-shore to hide their

money-- to money launder,

if you will-- or not pay taxes.

>> NARRATOR: For years,
the Italian authorities

could do nothing.

But when tough banking

regulations were imposed across

Europe in the wake of the

financial crisis, only the
Vatican Bank resisted.

So the Italian finance police

put the bank under
close surveillance.

Using all the tools
at their disposal,

they monitored transactions

in and out of the Vatican Bank.

They made their first
breakthrough in the summer

of 2010.

>> (translated): In that case,

it happened that an Italian bank

received a request from the IOR

to transfer 23 million Euros.

The Bank of Italy requires

details for both payee and

recipient in the transaction

and the reason for the transfer.

The IOR failed to provide
adequate information,

so the Bank of Italy decided
to freeze that money.

>> NARRATOR: The whole
European banking community

was up in arms.

With account holders that

included the Iranian and Iraqi

embassies, there were fears that

the bank could be used
for money laundering.

One bank after another
refused to do business

with the Vatican Bank until
it cleaned up its act.

The Pope was
increasingly concerned.

>> (translated): Pope Benedict

definitely wanted vigorous

action and transformation.

He wanted new anti-money
laundering measures,

a whole new system of control.

>> NARRATOR: He had already

appointed Gotti Tedeschi,

a highly respected banker and

a professor of business ethics,

to reform the bank.

>> (translated): Gotti Tedeschi

set about building relationships

with the international

organizations and indicated that

all regulations and standards

must be applied to bring the

IOR into line with all the other

banks operating in Europe.

He wanted to really clean up

the bank, but in the
Vatican, there were people

who didn't want that.

>> NARRATOR: Cardinal Bertone,

Pope Benedict's second in

command, had been closely
involved with the bank.

He now insisted that the

measures could not be
applied retrospectively.

>> Cardinal Bertone was adamant.

"No, we will only allow them

to look at what we are doing

from this day forward.

But the stuff from the past, you

have no right to look at that."

>> (translated): This was

a drastic limitation on the

information available to us.

>> NARRATOR: Cardinal Bertone

had outmaneuvered Tedeschi,
who was then dismissed

from his post.

A devout Catholic, he said,

"I was very disappointed,
hurt and upset.

I had been abandoned by
the world of my Church.

It was so painful."

>> (translated): We have
seen good people like the

ex-president of the IOR,
Professor Gotti Tedeschi,

kicked out overnight
in a humiliating way.

We have seen that Pope Benedict

only found out from watching

television that Gotti
Tedeschi had been expelled,

and it made him cry.

>> NARRATOR: If the Pope

was disturbed by his failure
to reform the bank,

another blow to his authority
was greater by far.

It would be called Vatileaks.

Gianluigi Nuzzi is a television

journalist in Milan.

He had written a book,

Vatican Ltd, about the

Vatican's business dealings.

One evening, he received
a mysterious phone call

from someone promising
inside information.

He was invited to a bar in Rome.

After a series of meetings,

the strangers invited him
for a ride in their car.

>> (translated): They went
around Piazza Mazzini

many times, checking that
nobody was following us.

Later, I understood the reasons.

I was about to meet a certain

person, and it would be very

dangerous if anyone came to know

that this person had seen me.

>> NARRATOR: Finally, Nuzzi

was taken to an apartment.

>> And I could see that
nobody lived there.

There was no furniture.

There was nothing.

It was an empty apartment, just

a corridor that we walked down

until we reached a room with

only one chair in the middle,

and there my source was seated.

And we began to talk.

>> NARRATOR: The source
was Paolo Gabriele,

the Pope's butler.

He was offering thousands
of secret documents from

the Pope's private office.

He said he wanted to protect

the Pope from the sleaze and

corruption that surrounded him.

He went on, "I'm afraid the Pope

doesn't have the strength

to expel the money
changers from the temple."

(applause)

(speaking Italian)

>> NARRATOR: Nuzzi broke the

story on his program, but he was

careful to protect the
identity of his source.

And over the months that

followed, he released more

and more secret documents.

>> (translated): I published

documents and stories dealing

with corruption, scandals,

frauds, nepotism, pedophilia,

sexual abuses, self-advancement,

all issues that for many years,

too many years, no one wanted

to talk about in the Vatican.

>> NARRATOR: Vatileaks

soon became an
international sensation.

>> Documents were spilling out

showing that there was cronyism

inside the Vatican, that there

were sexual parties going on,

people who were Papal gentlemen

who were involved with male

choristers in choirs inside St.
Peter's basilica.

We had contracts that were being

inflated and given to friends

of monsignors and bishops
inside the Vatican.

>> NARRATOR: Among the many

documents was this letter to

Pope Benedict written by

Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano,

who in 2009 had been installed

to clean up corruption

in the Vatican City Governate,

which controls the budget for

all construction and
maintenance in Vatican City.

>> (translated): It is a center

of power where according to

Vigano, there was widespread

corruption and profiteering
and faked expenses.

>> NARRATOR: Vigano cracked down

hard, reducing overheads by $54

million in his first year, but

he made enemies in the process,

and they plotted against him.

>> (translated): He turned to

Pope Benedict, writing two or

three letters begging for help.

He wanted to continue
with his work.

>> NARRATOR: He warned Benedict

about corruption in every single

department of the Vatican.

He also made the lethal mistake

of accusing the Pope's powerful

deputy, Cardinal Bertone,

of orchestrating a
conspiracy against him.

>> (translated): The mistake

that Vigano made was the fact

that he asked the Pope to make

a choice: me or Bertone.

No one in the Vatican can speak

to the Holy Father in that way.

Vigano was offering his enemies

the perfect opportunity

to aim the gun at his
own head, and he lost.

>> NARRATOR: If Vigano was no

match for Cardinal Bertone,

the Vatileaks documents showed

that others were so concerned

about Bertone's influence

that they also appealed
directly to the Pope.

>> (translated): A group of

cardinals went to Castel

Gandolfo, Benedict's
summer residence.

They went there basically to

call for the head of Cardinal

Bertone, his Secretary of State.

It was a dramatic and decisive

meeting because when they sat

down to have this conversation,

the Pope kicked them out,

saying, "Nobody
will move Bertone."

>> The Pope got very angry

and evidently, he said, "Der

Mann bleibt hier"-- basta!

"The man stays.

Enough!" mixing
German and Italian.

That was the word that came out,

and they were all shocked,

and he didn't want to hear
anything more about it.

>> NARRATOR: It was the sheer

quantity and detail of the

leaked documents that shocked

the Pope, and he was determined

to find the source.

So he appointed Cardinal Herranz

to lead a team of senior
cardinals to carry out

a thorough investigation.

Their rank is significant.

No one can interrogate a
cardinal except another

cardinal, which does suggest

that Benedict believed

there were cardinals
responsible for these leaks.

What he certainly didn't expect

was that it would turn out
to be his own butler.

>> The trial against Pope

Benedict XVI's former
butler, Paolo Gabriele,

opened on Saturday.

>> NARRATOR: For the first time

ever, journalists and camera

crews were invited inside
a Vatican courtroom.

For those who witnessed

the proceedings, it had all

the elements of a show trial.

>> It was so scripted and so

narrowly focused on the fact

that the butler had to have been

the only one that shows the

documents, that leaked
them to the journalists,

that took them out of the
safety of the Vatican.

His defense lawyer was very much

aligned with the prosecutor.

Everything was really
kept on message.

>> I was at the man's trial.

There were documents that were

leaked, he supposedly leaked,

that were written in languages

that he does not speak.

How would he even know
that they were important?

Nobody that I have spoken to and

that I continue to speak to in

the Vatican really believe
that the butler did it.

He was a scapegoat.

>> The highest authorities in

the Vatican didn't want to show

to the public opinion

the network: how many supporters

there were around the
butler, Paolo Gabriele,

in this planned action.

>> NARRATOR: The trial
lasted for just five days.

Gabriele was found guilty

and sentenced to 18 months.

>> Just before Christmas

of 2012, Benedict pardoned him.

I assume that there was a deal

done, that he will remain quiet,

and, "We will give you a job."

>> He still has his pension.

He hasn't lost anything
with this conviction.

This is, you know, the biggest

betrayal we've ever seen
against a sitting Pope,

and he's come out of it

with everything he had before.

>> NARRATOR: If the Pope's

butler really was responsible

for all these leaks, then the

work of the investigating
cardinals was done.

But the Vatileaks revelations

evidently horrified Benedict,

and he insisted that Cardinal

Herranz should continue his

inquiry, but in
absolute secrecy.

>> (translated): It was to be an

x-ray inquiry into the Roman

Curia, more detailed
than ever before.

>> NARRATOR: Investigative

journalist Ignazio Ingrao
tracked down 18 insiders

who had testified before

Cardinal Herranz's commission.

They included two cardinals
and nine bishops.

>> (translated): Some of
them also disclosed to us

what they said during their
deposition under oath.

People who testified before

these cardinals talked about

what we called in Italian,

"the machine of the slime".

In other words, dossiers and

documents created to destroy

reputations, all based on lies.

There were some groups

bound together by homosexuality.

It cemented relationships either

by brotherhood or blackmail.

This is the map that was drawn,

the picture that emerged from

the dossier that the cardinals

handed in to Benedict.

>> NARRATOR: Cardinal Herranz

and his team of investigators

probed all the darkest areas of

the Vatican and presented their

full report, the so-called

red dossier, to Benedict
on December 17, 2012.

On February 28,
Benedict resigned.

(applause)

>> Maybe governance
wasn't his strong point.

It was very difficult for him,

and I think when he said, "I'm

resigning because of old age and

weakness" and that he felt he

could not face the challenges

because of lack of strength,
that was very honest,

very open, very brave.

>> NARRATOR: When the helicopter

sped him away to the Papal

Residence at Castel Gandolfo,

Benedict was leaving behind him

a Church in crisis.

(crowd cheering)

(bells ringing)

Two weeks later, white smoke

from the Sistine Chapel signaled

the 266th successor to
the throne of St. Peter.

(crowd cheering)

(cameras snapping)

>> He didn't say anything

for the first few minutes.

He just looked at the crowd

almost as if, "Oh, I can't
believe this is me."

He was looking around.

It was very magical.

It was very personal
for a lot of people.

>> Fratelli e
sorelle, buona sera.

(cheering)

>> I was there in that balcony

of St. Peter's Basilica when he

started saying, "Good evening."

That was amazing.

You can't imagine the response

of that huge crowd that was in

St. Peter's Square because they

expected a theological message

and they found somebody that is

warm, that is near,
that is one of us.

(speaking Italian)

>> And then he said
that he'd come from...

the cardinals have chosen

somebody from the ends of the

Earth, or the ends of the
world, is what he said.

(speaking Italian)

(crowd cheering)

>> People related to him

and accepted him even though
we didn't really know

anything about him.

Everybody had to look him up.

People were Googling
from the Square.

"Who is he?

Where's he from?"

(speaking Italian)

>> NARRATOR: All they knew about

him was that Francis was
from Argentina, the first

non-European to be elected Pope

for over 1,200 years,

and thought to be a
traditional conservative.

But in a series of highly

symbolic gestures, he signaled

that he intended to lead a very

different church: a church

whose first duty was to
serve the poor, the sick

and the underprivileged.

He spent Holy Thursday in jail

washing the feet of young

prisoners, including
Muslim women.

(men singing)

His very first papal visit

outside Rome was to the island

of Lampedusa, where he spent his

time not with the locals,

but with illegal migrants

who had risked life and
limb to make it to Europe.

>> Francis is the first Pope not

to ever have studied in Rome,

worked in Rome, or spent
significant time in Rome.

He's an outsider.

>> He's a man that seems to be

able to touch people or to draw

them out or to give
this sense of hope.

One has to worry and wonder

if he's ever going to be able

to live up to the legacy

that he already has created.

He's already the best
Pope anyone can remember.

>> NARRATOR: Within weeks of

becoming Pope, Francis reached

out to the wider Church beyond

Rome, appointing a group of

cardinals drawn from six

continents to help him take on

the Curia, the
Vatican bureaucracy.

>> When we talk the first time,

it was very, very shortly
after his election.

He told me, "I want to make a

commission of cardinals to help

me in the renovation of the
Roman Curia," and then

he told me, "Would you dare

to lead this commission?"

And I said, "Holy Father,
whatever you want.

If you want me there,
I will do it."

>> NARRATOR: Cardinal

Maradiaga's diocese in Honduras,

Central America, represents the

sort of challenge Francis

himself knows only too well:

a country confronting poverty,

crime, repression and
political instability.

But Maradiaga says his friend

Pope Francis believes that

to do this work, the Church

can no longer be distracted

by the scandals of recent years.

It urgently needs to
fix its own house.

>> It's necessary to open

the windows in the Church

because we need fresh air.

Because you know, after all that

happened in the year before,

especially with all the scandals

of Vatileaks and the Istituto

per le Opere di Religione--

from the bank, from also some

cases of corruption with the

Narco business, some
cases of pedophilia.

The credibility of the Church

is in terrible danger.

What is necessary to do?

How can we listen to the voices

of the Holy Spirit
in order to change?

Because everybody knew it was

necessary to change many things.

>> NARRATOR: Pope Francis has

shared that message in the
most unlikely places.

>> (translated): The phone rang.

"I've got the Pope on the line,

and I really don't think

we should keep him waiting."

>> NARRATOR: Eugenio Scalfari is

the founder and editor-in-chief

of La Repubblica, Italy's

leading newspaper on the left.

He is also an atheist.

>> (translated): The
conversation we had started

with some jokes, because
that's his way.

He said, "Some of my advisors

have warned me to be careful

talking to you because you're

a clever man and you'll
try to convert me."

Me, converting the Pope!

>> NARRATOR: The Pope had phoned

to invite Scalfari for a chat.

It would be a wide-ranging

discussion which Scalfari

described in an article that

attracted worldwide attention.

When it came to the Church
hierarchy, Francis was

uncompromising.

"Heads of the Church,"

he is quoted as saying,

"have often been narcissists,

flattered, and sickeningly

excited by their courtiers.

The court is the
leprosy of the papacy.

This Vatican-centric vision

neglects the world around us,

and I will do everything
to change it."

>> (translated): He said

during our conversation that the

Church should consist of devoted

people, priests and bishops

that take care of souls,

not bishops who become bishops

to run Vatican departments

for their own self-importance.

>> (translated): We're going

from a Church preoccupied with

respecting the rules, as it was

under John Paul II and Benedict

XVI, towards a Church that says

mercy is what really matters.

>> Buongiorno.

(applause)

>> NARRATOR: Francis said that

the Catholic Church "will fall

like a house of cards"

if it fails to balance rules on

abortion and homosexuality with

the greater need to be merciful.

On homosexuality, he asked,
"Who am I to judge?"

But all this talk of radical

change alarms traditionalists.

>> There's a lot of conservative

Catholics who are stunned by

some of these comments that the

Church should not be obsessed by

abortion and homosexuality
and birth control.

But if they read carefully

what he's saying, he says,

"I'm a son of the Church

and I believe in her teachings."

>> NARRATOR: But on one issue,

there is no ambiguity:

Pope Francis's position
on global capitalism.

>> (translated): In this system

with no ethics, the center is

an idol, and the world has
idolized the god money.

>> NARRATOR: Here, Pope Francis

spoke of the growing disparity

between rich and poor, the young

unable to find work, the elderly

ignored and neglected.

>> (translated): We have to say

that we don't want a globalized

economic system that
is harming us so much.

Men and women must be at
the center, as God wants.

Not money.

(applause)

>> NARRATOR: Determined to put

his own financial house in

order, he appointed a commission

of inquiry to complete a
thorough investigation

of the Vatican Bank.

(sirens wailing)

Just two days later,
Monsignor Nuncio Scarano,

a senior accountant in
the Vatican's financial

administration, was arrested.

It was alleged that he and two

others had tried to smuggle

20 million euros in cash
from Switzerland to Italy

on a private plane.

He was arrested and soon found

himself in the Queen of
Heaven prison in Rome.

It was the first time that

anybody at this level in the

Vatican had ever been arrested

for a financial crime:

a sign, perhaps,
of changing times.

The future of the Vatican Bank

was also raised in an impromptu

press conference Pope Francis

gave to a surprised
group of journalists.

>> When we were flying back from

Brazil, he was very, very clear

that he is ready to make radical

decisions if necessary to clean

up the Vatican bureaucracy.

I mean, he did not exclude

the possibility of closing
the Vatican Bank.

"I've got three options:

close it, fix it, fix
it a little bit more."

It was sort of like, wow,

you know, this is not the
way Popes are supposed

to speak to reporters.

It was an amazing experience.

He didn't dodge any
question at all.

>> NARRATOR: By October,
the bank was seeking

to close 800 accounts.

But at the same time, Francis

received a chilling warning from

Nicola Gratteri, a prominent

anti-Mafia prosecutor.

"The Pope is dismantling
centers of economic power

in the Vatican.

If the Mob bosses can stop him,

they won't hesitate."

900 years ago in this town, a

wealthy young man gave away all

he possessed, even his clothes,

to devote his life to the poor.

Pope Francis, who took the name

of the saint, came to Assisi in

a symbolic visit to once again

reinforce his central message,

but leaving many questions

political and personal
still unanswered.

>> (translated): The Pope has

said things and made statements

that can be easily
approved by everyone.

When the Pope said that it's

necessary to help the poor

people, no one objected to that.

The issues that always divide

modern public opinion are the

real life issues: family,

gender, euthanasia and so on.

But so far, he's carefully
avoided all the issues

that would lead to conflict.

>> A real minefield in the life

of this Pope, because it's such

a big issue in the Catholic

Church and it's not gone away,

even though they're singing

Hosannas to him right now,

and that's the sexual abuse

of minors, clergy sex abuse.

I know a lot of Catholics

would like it to be
over, but it's not.

We're seeing new
cases all the time.

If the Pope doesn't come out

and set very clear, transparent

and public guidelines
and make statements,

I think this could cripple him.

>> If he wants to change the

direction of the institutional

church, it's going to mean
decisive, risky action,

and it's risky to take
on the Vatican Curia.

There are many in the Curia that

are trembling, wondering what's

going to happen and trying to

figure out ways to neutralize

their fears that he is going

to start shaking things up.

If that starts and it begins to

unravel, there's a lot
of string in that ball.

>> (translated): All efforts
to reform the Curia

over the last century,
enacted by all the Popes,

failed.

Will it succeed
with Pope Francis?

I don't know.

I don't know if this papacy

is going to last long enough

to conclude this
reformant project.

(choir singing)

>> Of course, many things
are going to change.

The Vatican state was like a

kingdom, like a human kingdom,

and so there were all the

defects of a human court.

But he wants things more simple.

I am sure that the Holy Father

will go in that direction

and will not go
backwards, certainly not.

Things are not going to continue

like they were in the past.

(applause)

>> Go to pbs.org/frontline,

and take a closer look

at the early record

of Pope Francis and his plans

for reform.

Learn more about the mounting

legal costs from the sex abuse

crisis.

>> ...credibility of the church.

>> Explore our
extended interviews.

>> They're singing
hosannas to him right now.

>> And connect to the Frontline

community.

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