Secrets of the Vatican: From John Paul II to the Death of Pope Francis

The disease of rivalry, of schizophrenia, of spiritual Alzheimer's. Resistant Catholics have paid with their lives. You can't shake an old lady like the Catholic Church without provoking cries and reactions. If he committed suicide, chances are someone helped him kill himself. The attack is immediately blamed on the Russians. The victims won't find peace until they get justice. We thought, something's gone wrong in the Pope's kingdom. Good evening, through an exceptional documentary, we will tonight try to find out more about one of the most powerful men on the planet. Heir to a history, often secret, that of

a Church, and we sometimes forget, of a State. Pope Francis has set himself the challenge of putting Vatican affairs back in order. But did he know what he was up against? Who are these invisible enemies who, for decades, who have been working in the shadows for decades, trying to put a stop to any desire for change? We cross a century, with the rise of fascism and Nazism under the windows of the pope's residence, with the time of suspicious disappearances, the arrival of John Paul II and his influence on the fall of communism, and then the

time of business and dangerous links with the mafia. For the time of scandals did not begin in the early 2000s, with the vatileaks revelations and the pedophilia files in several countries. Just before the arrival of Pope Francis, One man found himself confronted with the opacity of the institution, four years ago. At the time, Benedict XVI quickly felt alone and realized that he was, in fact, trapped. Here's why. On this day in December 2012, Pope Benedict XVI is tormented. He is awaiting an investigative report on Vatican finances. The Vatileaks affair broke in the press a few

months earlier. There was talk of corruption and embezzlement. Certain members of the Curia, the government of the Holy See, are said to be directly involved. The Pope knew nothing about it, so he launched his own investigation in total secrecy. He chooses honest cardinals, serious people, who are not part of the Curia. The Pope's men arrived with their report, 600 pages long. It was most damning. The press is telling the truth. Those who run the Vatican, and in particular the Pope's closest collaborators, are embroiled in an unprecedented scandal of corruption and financial embezzlement. Worse than that,

Benedict XVI has discovered that all those who tried to alert him have been removed from the Vatican. The Church is an institution, the Curia an administration. Everyone wants to be closer to the sun, others are scheming in their corners, some are gaining comfort, notoriety and so on. The Pope is downcast. He, the man of letters, finds himself confronted with pettiness and political violence. He goes into seclusion and asks himself questions. Does he still have real power in the Vatican? He was a pope who, by personality, was not a pope capable of command, able to decide,

able to govern. So what can be done to put an end to these excesses? Benedict XVI knows that he has very little room for maneuver in the face of a system that has been in place for decades. But he does have one power left, a power that no pope has used for 600 years: renunciation. If the Pope renounces his duties, the entire curia will have to resign. His mind is made up, but he tells no one. Two months later. At a canonization ceremony, the Pope surprises everyone. In all freedom, I declare: Renounce the ministry of

Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on April 19th, 2005, so that from February 28th, 2012 at 8 p.m, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter will be vacant, and the Conclave for the election of the new Supreme Pontiff will be held. will have to be convened by those whose duty it is to do so. I confess that at the time, I didn't understand. I remember asking my neighbor to confirm that the Pope was giving up. In reality, I understood, but I couldn't believe it. I didn't expect

it at all the day he did it. I went through the decision like everyone else, with great emotion. We're in a church where everything is ritualized, in a place where we're really part of a tradition, you're part of a tradition. And now he's doing something we've never seen before. You could really feel that his collaborators were completely stunned. For several minutes, the cardinals remained speechless, until their deans spoke up. Holiness, beloved and venerated Successor of Saint Peter, your moving message resounded through this hall like a thunderclap in a serene sky. We listened to it with

a sense of bewilderment, almost all of us incredulous. The Pope was frank. He said a prayer and left. And we were left all alone, without a pope. Joseph Ratzinger's renunciation of the pontificate is surely an extraordinary event in the history of the Church. Not just of this century, but of the millennia. That very evening, as torrential rains poured down on Rome, a bolt of lightning struck St. Peter's Basilica. The Catholic Church was going through one of the most serious crises in its history. At the same time, in Argentina, a man was preparing to join the

Vatican. He is the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Bergoglio. Like all cardinals under the age of 80, he is one of the cardinal electors, those who will elect the new pope. The Argentine cardinal hopes that he will return to Buenos Aires soon, without any unpleasant surprises. In 2005, he was tipped to succeed John Paul II, but the man who hates the Vatican and it's intrigues for power had withdrawn. But that day, as he was leaving his home, an old friend reminded him of his obligations. This woman, whom he had known for a very long time

and nicknamed "La Bruja", the witch, told him "This time, you mustn't give up like you did in 2005. You must accept the pontificate." The archbishops and cardinals in the field, those in Boston, Bonn or deep in Africa, they couldn't take any more vatileaks of scandal from within the curia itself. They couldn't take it anymore. People were wondering what was going to become of the papacy. It was almost the end of the cycle. We were saying to ourselves, "There's something wrong with the Pope's kingdom." In March 2013, the preparatory meetings for the conclave opened. The election

of the new pope is about to begin. The 115 cardinal electors take it in turns to make a speech setting out their expectations of the next pontiff. All are eligible. At the end of these meetings, they will vote on the new pope from among their number. There were half a dozen favorites. The direction was not clear. Some of the cardinals wanted a successor of the same type as Ratzinger, with a stronger hand. But there was a group of cardinals who didn't want to elect an Italian or a European. Because certain things that had happened in

the Roman Curia, Certain scandals, were somehow attributed to the Italian Church. And so there was the idea and the will for a very important change. Confusion always reigns as the conclave approaches. But on the third day of these preparatory meetings, a speech shook the Assembly, that of Cardinal Bergoglio. He said that the Church needed to be less inward-looking, less navel-gazing. And it was an important speech, because it caught the attention of the cardinal electors. It was a speech that made a big impact. And inexplicably, it opened a breach. He won consensus on the idea of

bringing to Rome a person completely outside the affairs of the Curia. In the corridors of the Vatican, this speech is all anyone talks about anymore. So much so that the Argentine cardinal is wondering whether he has gone too far. He may have just positioned himself, in spite of himself, as a candidate for the throne of St. Peter's. The Sunday before the conclave, Bergoglio was a little worried. And when he met a Canadian priest in Piazza Navona, he told him I don't know what he's planning for me, my fellow cardinals. On March 12, the conclave begins.

All the cardinal electors entered the Sistine Chapel to vote behind closed doors. Locked and keyed, "conclave" in Latin. Bergoglio, like all the others, takes a vow of silence. I, Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, promise it, vow it and swear it. God help me, And his holy Gospels, which I touch with his hand. Little did the Argentine cardinal know at the time that he was already one of the favorites. On the second day of the conclave, in the third vote, Bergoglio received 50 votes. And during the break, it became clear that his candidacy was very strong. Even

if there were opponents on the left, who would say that he was ill because he was missing a lung. The turning point came with the sixth ballot. Bergoglio obtained an absolute majority. He no longer had a choice. He, the Argentine Jesuit, has just been named Pope. I announce a great joy. We have a Pope. During the announcement of his appointment, before presenting himself to the faithful, Bergoglio chose to isolate himself to pray. Cardinal Bergoglio of the Holy Roman Church, who calls himself Francis. He almost felt a great emptiness. And the moment he went to the

chapel to pray, with Cardinal Tauran and Cardinal Vallini, Cardinal of Rome, he took them both by the arm, kneeling on the same prie-dieu. And then he told them that he had been filled with a great light. The Argentine cardinal finally accepts his destiny. He is the first South American pope in history. He takes the name Francis, in homage to St. Francis of Assisi. A sign of poverty, hope and submission to God. Good evening, brothers and sisters! As you know, the task of the Conclave was to give Rome a Bishop. It seems that my brother Cardinals

went almost to the ends of the earth to find him. Before the Bishop blesses the people, I ask you to pray to the Lord to bless me, the prayer of the people asking for the Blessing of their Bishop. Good night and good rest! The crowd cheers this new pope with his unexpected profile. But some in the Vatican do not take kindly to his arrival. For the moment, it's a honeymoon. But the day will come when he'll have his back against the wall. One day, he'll come up against the hard core of the curia. He had

no intention of becoming Pope, but this time he couldn't escape it. He is the new head of an ailing institution, shaken by repeated scandals. Will Pope Francis be able to breathe new life into the Catholic Church and restore its image? At least, that's the challenge he's set himself. But first, how did we get here? Is the Vatican going through its first major crisis in such a visible way? Perhaps for the past century, because before that, the thick walls of St. Peter's Basilica have long been the guardians of the secrets, intrigues and betrayals that have played

out there. This is the story we're about to delve into. Let's begin in 1929. Vatican City is preparing to become a state. With a territory, a government and a role to play once again in the concert of nations. But this change in status was the result of an unholy alliance with Italy's ruling Fascist party, led by Benito Mussolini. That morning, a procession of official cars heads for the Lateran Palace, the former residence of the popes. A delegation from the Italian government was meeting with representatives of the Church to define the Vatican's new status. The Italian

Prime Minister was the driving force behind these historic agreements and leader of the Fascist party, Benito Mussolini, nicknamed the Duce. The Duce didn't actually have the Church in his heart. But he knew he could only truly rule Italy if he put the Catholics on his side. With the Lateran Agreement, the Church, deprived of its lands since Italian unity, obtained a sovereign territory of 44 hectares, Much smaller than before, but still right in the heart of Rome, around St. Peter's Basilica. As compensation for the ceded territories, the Kingdom of Italy paid the Vatican an annual sum

of 750 million lire. On that day, the Church, the Papacy and the Pope himself regained their status. It may seem like nothing, but it's fundamental. When you're the Catholic Church, when you claim to be universal, you need to be recognized internationally. And since that day, only the Catholic religion has had such status. Pope Pius XI was the clear winner in these negotiations. An absolute monarch, he already had all the power within the Vatican. He was now in a position to get involved on the international stage, As head of state. Pius XI was a very political

pope. He was a scholar. He was a man who wanted to preserve the Church's autonomy from Mussolini. But this pact with the Fascist regime soon turned into an arm wrestling match. In the texts, it is written that the Church is responsible for school education in Italy. But Mussolini had no intention of losing control of young people. All totalitarian regimes have this obsession with getting young people on their side. The problem is that for the Church, it's much the same. Mussolini quickly broke his commitments. He closed down all Catholic youth associations in Italy And sent his

Fascist Youth into the streets of Rome. The Pope could only watch helplessly as the Duce took control of the country. Undoubtedly, there was no question of opposing Mussolini head-on, for good reason. The Pope had no means of doing so. But Italy isn't the only country affected by the rise of extremes and identitarian withdrawal. The economic crisis of 1929 plunged Europe into social chaos, particularly in Germany, where the Nazis came to power. From 1933 onwards, the Italian aspect of the problem became secondary to the German one. That morning, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pacelli, came

to warn the Pope of a worrying development in Germany. The new chancellor, Adolf Hitler, was in the middle of a speech at the Berlin Sports Palace. In his speech, broadcast over the radio, he calls religious beliefs into question. I don't want to tell our people that the resurrection will happen by itself. We want to work, but the people themselves must make the effort. We must not believe that freedom, well-being and life are a gift from heaven. It's all rooted in our will, our work. Did Hitler think he was God? Does Nazism want to be a

religion? So what fate does he have in store for German Catholics? The Pope decided to enter into negotiations with the National Socialists in an attempt to preserve the interests of the Church and its faithful. Pius XI tried to contain the rise of Nazism, and above all the threat it posed To Christianity in Germany by signing a concordat that was fiercely criticized. A concordat signed on July 20, 1933 between Secretary of State Pacelli and German Vice-Chancellor von Papen. Pacelli obtained a guarantee that the voice of the Church would always be heard in Germany through the Christian

Party. But Hitler scoffed at the agreement. No religion should interfere in the politics of the Third Reich. He ordered the dissolution of the Christian Party. This concordat with Germany was not balanced. Hitler got pretty much what he wanted, and the Vatican was unable to safeguard its political autonomy from Nazism. Pius XI wrote a handwritten text, an encyclical, to keep German Catholics on the straight and narrow. The encyclical was immediately relayed by priests in every church in Germany. When Hitler discovered this, he attacked clerics throughout the country. Some Catholic resistance fighters paid with their lives. The

parish priest of Berlin Cathedral was shot by the Nazis. The auxiliary archbishop of Munich died in the Dachau concentration camp. In 1938, the situation in Germany worsened. On the night of November 9th to 10th, synagogues were set on fire, businesses ransacked, thousands of Jews arrested or murdered. By the end of Kristallnacht, over 30,000 German Jews had been deported. How did the Pope react to this persecution? His position? Not to put the Catholic community at risk. Especially as Germany was now a predominantly Catholic country. Germany was the world's leading Catholic country. So Pius XI decided to

act behind the scenes. He sent a letter to all the dioceses of Europe. He asked them to come to the aid of persecuted Jews fleeing Germany. The diocese of Edinburgh, Scotland, was the first to respond. My Cardinal, we confirm that we have received your letter to provide help for the Jews in Germany. For the past two weeks, we have been doing our utmost to help these persecuted people. The dioceses are mobilized, but the Pope would like to reach more people, to get the international community to react. So he's writing a new encyclical. This time, the

text firmly condemned the anti-Semitism and racism of Nazi ideology. Will the Pope's voice awaken consciences, before it's too late? He condemned anti-Semitism, which was not specific to Hitler. There were anti-Semites all over Europe, including, of course, in France. And he famously said, "We are spiritually Semites". Pius XI openly condemned the excesses of Nazism. At the time, he was the first head of state to do so. But the text was never published. On the night of February 10th, 1939, the Pope died of a heart attack, without having had time to sign his final encyclical. Tradition dictates

that only texts duly signed by the pope who has just died remain. The encyclical in question was on his desk. The Pope would probably have signed it within a few weeks, but he died too soon. Could this encyclical have awakened consciences and changed the course of history? We'll never know. 3 weeks after Pius XI's death, a new pope was elected. The voters chose Cardinal Pacelli. A former Secretary of State, a member of the Roman aristocracy and a fine negotiator, he was best placed to defend the Church's interests on the eve of the coming war. Pacelli

took the name of Pius XII, but this did not mean he would follow in his predecessor's footsteps. Faced with the rise of Nazism, the Vatican changed strategy. A choice that could tarnish the Church's image for decades to come. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, France and England entered the conflict. The Second World War begins. Vatican Radio, the Holy See's press organ, immediately reported the news. Cardinal Hlond, who arrived in Rome after fleeing Poland, informed Pope Pius XII this morning of the situation in his destroyed country. The Poles, Catholics and Jews alike,

have been struck by famine since their food supplies and possessions were confiscated and sent to Germany. This will be the last war report from Vatican Radio. Mussolini forbids the Pope to communicate on the subject. Pius XII accepted the censorship. To avoid reprisals, he prefers to keep the Church out of the conflict. The Holy See proclaims its neutrality. Why was this? Because the protagonists, the belligerents, are old Catholic or Christian peoples. And for a pope, it's impossible to condemn one without condemning the other. Of course, he's going to be called every name in the book. German

Catholics, French Catholics, Belgian Catholics, all these peoples caught up in the tornado of war, will obviously resent this pope. And the Pope's neutrality became very embarrassing from 1942 onwards, when Hitler launched the Final Solution and decided to exterminate all the Jews in Europe. There was evidence of the murder of millions of Jews. The Pope was well aware that this could not be considered a fact of war like any other. Pius XII, and those around him, were well aware that the extermination of the Jews was something special. What happened was that Catholics hid Jews in convents

and parishes, and that the Catholic hierarchy let it happen, didn't denounce them, which is not bad. But the solidarity of these Catholics with Jewish communities contrasts more and more with the attitude of the Pope, who refuses to intervene in the conflict. In his Christmas speech, Pius XII spoke only half-heartedly, without ever denouncing the Nazi crimes. Humanity owes this wish to the hundreds of thousands of people Who, through no fault of their own and sometimes simply because of their nationality or race, were doomed to death or progressive decay. On several occasions, of course, he denounced the

death of the Jews, but at the same time, he didn't back up these denunciations sufficiently. Did this increase persecution? Did it discourage those Christians who, for example, could help Jews escape deportation and denunciation? The question remains open. But the Pope cannot turn a blind eye indefinitely. The Germans had occupied Rome since the Allied landings in Sicily. And in October 1943, they invaded the ghetto, right under the Vatican's windows. The Germans carried out a giant roundup of Rome's Jews. There were around 12,000 Jews in Rome. The Germans arrested several thousand. Trucks filled with these unfortunate people

are parked along the Tiber, 400 meters from the Pope's apartment. Some people see this and rush to Pius XII's apartment, in his apartment, saying, "Holy Father, this is what's going on here. 400 meters away, they're loading the trucks. Pius XII sent an emissary to ask the Gestapo to stop the roundup. He went to the Nazi authorities and said, listen, the Pope is extremely upset, we've got to stop this, it's not possible. And in fact, the Germans went ahead and sent the first convoy of Roman Jews to disaster. The Pope didn't insist, but finally decided to

act. A few days after the roundup, he opened the doors of the Vatican to the Roman Jews who had escaped from the ghetto. The Pope instructed many religious, parish priests and bishops, to hide Jews in and around Rome. There are Jews hidden in Castel Gandolfo, in the Pope's summer residence. In November 1943, he rescued more than 4,500 Jews from hiding in the Vatican, or he asked monasteries and convents to take them in. If the Vatican had reacted earlier, could it have saved more lives? 1259 Jews from Rome were sent to Auschwitz, but only 15 returned.

A few months later, the bells of St. Peter's Basilica rang throughout Rome. Allied troops had just liberated the Italian capital. From his balcony, Pius XII blessed a jubilant crowd gathered for the occasion. Our fatherly hearts have been overwhelmed on many occasions by the tears of our children. You are those children, and we pray for you. But the ambiguity of Pius XII has left its mark. Through him, the entire Roman Church was challenged. The Italians, the head of the Vatican for centuries, Are they still legitimate to defend the interests of Catholics the world over? After the

war, we entered a crisis of authority, in which the Church's word is debated, not only by people in general, but also by Catholics. A few years later, it was discovered that from within the Vatican, a network had exfiltrated several Nazi war criminals, notably to South America. The Roman Church had totally missed its rendezvous with history, But despite this, the Pope remains in place. He centralized all power, with the unconditional support of the Roman Curia. When he died in October 1958, many voices called for a modernization of the Church. A new pope was elected, John XXIII,

aged 72. No one expected change to come from him. And yet, right at the start of his pontificate, John XXIII launched the greatest reform the Church had ever known - a veritable Estates General. But the old guard of the Curia had no intention of letting him. On October 11, 1962, some 2,500 bishops, archbishops and cardinals, from all five continents, were summoned to the Vatican for the first great council of the 20th century, the Second Vatican Council. Together, they were to devise a new organization for the Church And redefine its place in the modern world. An

ecumenical council, as in the 19th century, is the most important assembly imaginable in the history of the Church. And now, this pope, who was said to be in transition, is launching this unprecedented adventure. He realized that there was a problem between the language spoken by the Church and the language of the modern world. That's why this famous update is necessary, so that the voice of the Church, the voice of the Gospel, can once again be heard clearly. I remember the morning of October 11, 1962. I was a young priest working at the Secretariat of State

And had worked, in my modest way, on the preparations for the Council. My office overlooked St. Peter's Square. And I remember marvelling at that procession, that uninterrupted litany, of bishops of all kinds. Usually, you see a pope who's always been Italian for 500 years. Now we see bishops who speak all sorts of languages and you get the feeling that now it's up to them, they're the ones with the power. The whole world is gathered here. It seems as if the moon itself has hastened here tonight to watch this spectacle that even St. Peter's Basilica, with

its four centuries of history, has never been able to contemplate. But the Roman cardinals, nicknamed the party of Italians, don't want this council. In power for centuries, they refuse to let themselves be dictated to by new rules, By bishops from the other side of the world. From then on, they did everything in their power to keep control of the debates. The Roman Curia's theory is that we're going to celebrate the Council. So we're going to have this big act where everyone arrives on the first day and then we'll open the document doors. Inside are the

texts. They've been magnificently written by theologians. All you have to do is sign at the bottom. The great organizer of these maneuvers is none other than Cardinal Ottaviani, one of the most powerful men in the Vatican. A great conservative, Ottaviani has no desire for change. And he says so. He says the Church is immutable, We're not going to lower the Church to the point of dialogue with just anybody. There's no question of revolution. He is the patron saint of the Holy Office, the Vatican body that monitors the regularity of the faith. Basically, he's the Grand

Inquisitor. Your Eminence, the Holy Office and the man who runs it - that's you - don't have a good reputation. Why not? We're judged on the dates of past centuries, not on what life looks like today. You know that the Holy Office succeeded the Inquisition. But it's no longer the Inquisition. Ottaviani answers the journalist with a slight smile. But in reality, he's enraged. He hadn't anticipated this media overexposure. And that's what the curia, the Roman administration, Cardinal Ottaviani hadn't thought of. There was a guest at the Council that no one had anticipated. Apart from the

bishops and the Holy Spirit, who is supposed to be there, there was public opinion from all over the world. Ottaviani felt the situation slipping away from him. The Council was set to last. But an unexpected event could work in his favor. On the night of June 3, 1963, John XXIII died suddenly in his sleep. The Pope was dead. Vatican II was thus suspended. It was the Pope who convened the Council. When the Pope dies, the Council stops. And so one of the issues at stake was whether the person elected Pope would continue the Council or

not. In the days that followed, Ottaviani maneuvers in the Vatican corridors. He spoke with many of the cardinal electors to convince them to elect a new pope opposed to the resumption of the Council. At the time, there were a number of people who thought it would be better to stop the Council. But these maneuvers were in vain. Cardinal Montini was the overwhelming favorite. A former archbishop of Milan, he was in the camp of the reformers. Ironically enough, it was Ottaviani himself who was to officially announce his election. Cardinal Montini. Cardinal Montini, just elected Pope, said

his first task would be to bring the Council to a successful conclusion and then to put it into practice. Cardinal Montini takes the name Paul VI. 3 months after his election, he opened a second session of the Second Vatican Council. But Ottaviani and the more conservative cardinals were not resigned. The Pope wanted to reduce the power of the curia to make the Church more democratic. They'll do anything to stop him. They tried to convince Pope Paul VI to defer these questions. They got no answer. And so they're going to carry out an act that is

a kind of coup d'état that is absolutely incredible. Ottaviani sent one of his men to the Vatican printing house to simply destroy the documents needed to adopt this reform. He stopped the printing of the bulletins on which the questions were printed, and had them burned, saying. "The pope has not validated these questions." And since the ballots are burnt, we can't vote. The vote is delayed. But Ottaviani's maneuver does not go unnoticed. An internal war breaks out within the Vatican, between members of the Curia and supporters of reform. Leading the reformers were the German Cardinal Frings

and his young assistant, a certain Joseph Ratzinger. At the time, Joseph Ratzinger was reputed to be a progressive and liberal theologian. And indeed, he was an advocate of collegiality. It was he who wrote a speech on collegiality for Cardinal Frings against Ottaviani. A few days later, in the middle of the Council session, Cardinal Frings suddenly took the floor. Ratzinger had written his speech. It was a real charge against the Curia. He accuses the Curia and the Holy Office of being a scandal against the Gospel. The worst accusation of all. Frings attacks Ottaviani directly. It's because

of cardinals like him that the Vatican needs more democracy. These are very violent words. And Ottaviani is going to insist on being able to respond immediately. Normally, you have to take your turn. He's said to have turned as red as his dress. But Ottaviani won't have time to respond. To avoid a confrontation, the session chairman decides to turn off the microphones. Poor Ottaviani, who presented himself as the old carabiniere who must watch over the Church treasury, was humiliated. The commentators are delighted, naturally. A scandal that exposes the divisions within the Church. Between Italian conservatives and

the rest of the Catholic world. You can't shake an old lady like the Catholic Church was, 2000 years old, without provoking cries and reactions. In all, the Council lasted 4 years. 4 sessions that will not fundamentally change the way the Church operates, but will give greater autonomy to foreign bishops. The Council did not revolutionize the Church, but it did change it in a more modern direction, and above all in a direction that gave greater importance to to each country. In other words, the fact that we express ourselves at Mass in the language we speak increased

the autonomy, not the independence, of each Church in each nation. But we expected too much from this Council if we imagined it would allow priests to marry. It didn't. The Church tried to make its revolution, but it was without counting on a major upheaval in society. In May 1968, the liberation of morals was to undermine all institutions, starting with the Church. Vocation crisis, drop in donations, the main consequence for the Vatican was empty coffers. To manage its finances, the Catholic State has its own bank, the IOR. Until now, its main function has been to collect

donations from the faithful. At the end of the 60s, Pope Paul VI decided to open it up to private investors. To this end, he sought a man he could trust to head the Vatican bank. He made a surprising choice. In November 1970, Paul VI was on an official trip to the Philippines. No sooner had the Pope set foot on the tarmac, when a man emerged from the crowd and tried to stab him. But one of the bishops in the delegation intervened, and saved the pontiff's life. This American bishop, a colossus of 1.90 meters, is called

Paul Marchinkus, is Paul Marchinkus. That day, he became the Pope's right-hand man. It was to him that Paul VI decided to entrust the reins of the Vatican bank. He began his career as a bodyguard, meaning he was far removed from the management of the worldwide Catholic Church. A resourceful man, he was quite close to Paul VI. In this curia, where no one dares to get into the financial thick of things, you'd think an American would know how to do it, what a dollar is, and so on. But in reality, Paul Marcinkus knows nothing about finance.

So, as soon as he was appointed, he sought advice from leading Italian bankers. And some of them are keen to find an interest in working with the Vatican bank. The first was a Sicilian named Michele Sindona. Michele Sindona was a man who caused Italy a lot of financial problems. But he was protected by the Christian Democracy of the time. And his bank, Banca Privata, also laundered dirty Mafia money, the causa nostra. So, when Marchinkus explained to him that he needed to replenish the Church's coffers, Sindona offered him nothing more and nothing less, Sindona offers to

help him launder mafia money. Marcinkus knowingly accepts. What did Paul Marcinkus say? He said that you can't run a church with Hail Marys. You need money. I once knew someone who brought cash in suitcases to the Vatican. To the bank. So these are not fantasies. These are things that really happened. At the time, the Vatican bank accepted money from everyone. The Maliana gang, a Roman criminal gang, put a lot of money into the Vatican bank. Because even though it's located there, on a street in Rome, it's almost an offshore bank. In other words, there are

no tax inspections. Sindona introduces Marcinkus to another financial partner. And not just any financial partner. Italy's big money man, Roberto Calvi. Roberto Calvi, who was Italy's greatest banker, Number one at Banco Ambrosiano, was in business with Sindona. Calvi figured that the Vatican bank's good reputation could enable him to practice tax exile on a large scale. Its clients are major Italian industrialists who want to avoid paying taxes. But also political parties who want to circulate money discreetly. All these financial arrangements are perfectly illegal. But since everyone's doing it, why not the Church? Marcinkus is very proud

to associate with bankers of this level and so on. And to handle so much money. He's pretty full of himself, Marcinkus, on this one. The Vatican bank had an active role in this complex operation. This vast, huge operation. And it had an active role because it made money. It gained a lot. Every time money passed through the Vatican bank, it received a commission. Within a few years, the Vatican coffers filled up again. The money was flowing. And for the time being, the Pope has nothing to say about it. Paul VI was a very refined pope,

a pope very detached from the material activities of the Church, perhaps didn't pay enough attention to the role of the bank. So who was the Vatican bank maneuvering for? When Churchmen want to deal with economics, they always do anything. Because it's obvious: it's the confrontation between the supernatural world and the real world, where the rules of the game are set by those who play in the real world. The Marcinkus system remains in place, with the Pope's blessing. But when Paul VI died of a heart attack, everything was called into question, because his successor is reputed

to be incorruptible. John Paul I realized that the Vatican bank represented a huge problem for the Holy See. A problem not only of transparency, but of connections and involvement so dirty that they could have led to repeated scandals, with irreparable damage to the Church. The new Pope seems determined, he wants to see the accounts, to clean up the finances. He won't have the time. Just one month after his election, he too fell victim to a heart attack. John Paul I remained pope for just 33 days. And his death is still a mystery, despite the official

version of cardiac arrest, is still shrouded in mystery. Did he really die of a heart attack, or did someone provoke his death? A suspicious death that suits Marcinkus just fine. No investigation will be opened, Into the death of John Paul I, nor into the Vatican's hidden finances. Once again, a pope must be elected. It remains to be seen whether he will take an interest in this dubious banking system, which has been filling the Church's coffers for years, with dirty money. Cardinal Wojtyła of the Holy Roman Church. When the name Karol Wojtyła was mentioned, everyone thought,

he's an African pope. Wojtyla is an African-sounding name. It took them a while to realize that this was a pope from Poland. He was the first non-Italian pope in five centuries. And indeed, it was a rupture. Not only is he not Italian, he is Polish. In other words, he comes from a Communist country. He comes from the other side of the Iron Curtain. Cardinal Wojtyla is the first Pope from Eastern Europe. His origins could have a positive effect on relations between the Church and Moscow. We're in the middle of the Cold War. Eastern Europe is

in Soviet hands. And for 30 years, Catholics in Communist countries had been cut off from the world. With a Polish pope, at a time when everything seems to be at a standstill between the two blocs, the Church could play a major role on the international stage, as it did when it made and unmade kings. No one would ever have thought of electing a foreigner. And certainly not a pope from Eastern Europe, from the Soviet bloc. A candidate capable of breaking down that impenetrable wall of ice that prevented the Church from speaking to Catholics under Soviet

domination. My dear brothers and sisters, we are all still saddened by the death of our beloved Pope John Paul I. And now the eminent Cardinals have called for a new Bishop of Rome. They have called him from a faraway land. This Pope has a flair for communication. You can feel it from day one. He was not only an actor, but also a journalist. When he speaks to a crowd, he knows how to speak to a crowd. At 58, Karol Wojtyła takes the name John Paul II. And the young pope imposes a style very different from

his predecessors. The Roman Curia, so aristocratic, so tied to the old rules, was not used to dealing with such a young man. A curia that will soon be reassured. It regained all its power with this new pope, who had no intention of meddling in internal affairs. John Paul II showed very little interest in the Roman Curia. He didn't have in mind a church that would rule the world from the Vatican. He had in mind a church that would challenge the world, fight it, in all its negative aspects. John Paul II's struggle was both religious and

political. He spent his entire childhood under the yoke of the Communists. Now he wants to use his status as pope and head of state to bring them down. That was the battle, every morning. I think he's been fighting ever since he was a little boy. He fought as a child. It was very painful. He lost his mother when he was very young. He lost a little sister. He was left alone with his father. He was a man who had always been used to fighting. John Paul II will then use the all the resources the Vatican

has to offer, his diplomatic network, but also his finances. Banker Marcinkus had nothing to worry about. All the Pope wants him to do, is to keep the money flowing into the Church's coffers. John Paul II understands that Marcinkus can be a valuable instrument in his hands. Wojtyla never asked where the money in the Vatican bank came from. With the entire state apparatus behind him, the Pope went to war against the Soviet Union. His strategy was simple. He relied on the power of his words and the hope they inspired to return to Poland. One year after

his election, he achieved the unthinkable. On June 2, 1979, Karol Wojtyla returned to Warsaw. The day the Polish pope landed at Warsaw's old Okience airport, you could feel that something was about to happen. I was one of thousands of journalists following this incredible journey. A pope behind the Iron Curtain was unheard of. On the day of his arrival, the Pope was welcomed as a head of state by the Polish Prime Minister. I would like to say that all of us Poles attach particular importance to your visit. We are convinced that this visit will serve the

values that are most precious to us, Poland's prosperity and the good of mankind. This is where a number of people in Moscow, including Mr. Souslov, the head of ideology, Mr. Brezhnev, the General Secretary, are saying that the Poles have fallen on their faces. Moscow is well aware of the trap into which the Polish authorities have just fallen. The Pope is using his personal history to justify his return to Poland. In reality, he has simply infiltrated the Soviet bloc to destabilize it. He knows that every word he utters can act as an explosive charge to dynamite

the Soviet system from within. At every stage of his journey, huge crowds took to the streets to welcome the local boy-turned-pope. Every human being is on the march. Even nations are on the march. Walking also means being aware of the goal. He makes absolutely incredible speeches about man, about human rights, about human responsibility, human dignity, the primacy of man. Rhetoric that is completely at odds with the cultural foundation of these communist countries Where man is a cog in the social machine, as they used to say in those days. And he, the Pope, says no, the

important thing is man, that's the main thing. Under the guise of religion, the Pope is sending a political message to the Polish people. I'm speaking to anyone who wishes to serve peace with the best will in the world. We must not be afraid! We must open our borders! You can imagine the profound meaning of this sentence for the millions of Poles who are listening to him, and not only for Poles: there are many Czechs who are following the journey, many Hungarians who are wondering what is happening in Poland, and even beyond. There are Lithuanians in

the USSR, there are Ukrainian Catholics in the USSR itself, who are saying, "What is this Pope saying to us Slavs, The people of this part of the world? And what repercussions could this trip have in the world, and in the East in particular? On verrans I hope the repercussions will be positive. Repercussions that are not long in coming. A year after the Pope's visit, strikes broke out all over the country. Over 10 million Polish workers rally under the banner of Solidarnosc, Poland's first independent workers' union. A union launched by Lesz Waleza. The strike lasted for

weeks, and the workers only interrupted their movement to take part in the masses organized in the middle of the street. The pope who sowed the seeds of this revolt had clearly become a threat to the entire Soviet Union. A few months later, on May 13, 1981, John Paul II took part in a general audience in St Peter's Square in the midst of 20,000 faithful. Suddenly, two shots rang out. A man hidden in the crowd had just shot the Pope. It was 5.07 pm, when all the radios and televisions suddenly stopped, and the rumour spread throughout

Rome that the Pope had been the target of an attack. Pope John Paul's operation was a success. His vital functions were unaffected. An incredible image then went round the world. John Paul II had just escaped death, and he wanted the world to know it. It was the first time a hospitalized pope had been seen wearing bandages, then recovering in his robe. It's the first time the Pope's body has become a human body, visible and suffering like any other human. The Pope's convalescence will last 21 days. And all this under the worried gaze of the faithful

massed outside the hospital. 21 days during which the press wondered who had ordered the assassination. Who wanted to kill the Pope? Many saw it as the work of the Russian secret services. The attack was immediately attributed to the Russians. It's easy to see how the Polish and Soviet authorities were beginning to get on each other's nerves. Vis-à-vis a Pope who, after a trip to Poland, was destabilizing Central Europe. The shooter, Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish extremist militant, was arrested and interrogated. But he would never say who had sent him to kill the Pope that day.

On leaving hospital, John Paul II remained convinced that the Soviets were indeed behind the assassination attempt. And as a good politician, he sought support from their greatest enemies. Wojtyla decided, without giving it much thought, that any ally who could help him was a good one. Let's just say that from this point of view, he's very pragmatic and realistic. And he is a pope who is truly unscrupulous in his approach to the Polish problem. On June 7, 1982, U.S. President Ronald Reagan visited the Vatican. Your Holiness, this is my first trip to Europe as President. My

visit is part of a desire for peace. The very condition of today's world calls for a far-sighted policy that fosters The conditions indispensable to lasting peace. They understand that they can be useful to each other. I believe that after his meeting with Reagan, John Paul II began the most active phase of his action against the Soviet Union. Behind the scenes, the Americans agreed to help John Paul II in his fight against the Communists. To this end, they intended to provide financial aid to the Solidarnosc trade union, supported by the Pope. It is very clear, and

we now know it, that the American services, and either the CIA directly, or much more often organizations linked to it, helped the Solidarnosc trade union. The Pope and the Americans wanted to use the occult system of the Vatican bank To transport this money discreetly. But 2 weeks after President Reagan's visit, this system was once again under threat. On June 18, 1982, Roberto Calvi, Marcinkus's financial partner, was found hanged in the shade under a Thames bridge. If he had committed suicide, chances are someone had helped him to do it. The investigation into this mysterious death reveals

the existence of a mafia system in which the Vatican bank is allegedly involved. The Italian justice system is seeking to arrest Marcinkus, but as long as he remains in the Vatican, he is untouchable, and the Pope refuses to hand over his banker to the law. We issued an arrest warrant for Marcinkus. At the time, it was absolutely impossible to cross the wall. It was absolutely impossible. The courts were forced to drop their proceedings, and Marcinkus continued to deal in money, sheltered by the city walls. Marcinkus remained in office and in power until the end. He

was protected by Wojtyla until his death. The Pope covered up his banker's excesses, so that he could continue to finance the Polish revolution. A decision that paid off. In November 1989, the whole world witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall. The wall that symbolically separated Eastern and Western Europe had fallen. The Polish revolution spread throughout the Soviet bloc. Communist regimes collapsed one after the other. John Paul II was one of the actors in the fall of the Wall in Europe. He really deserves credit for that. Would he have succeeded if he'd been more careful, More

cautious, more hesitant? I'm not sure. During the 90s, John Paul II multiplied his travels to continue to occupy the international scene. But the world was once again at war, and his message of peace was no longer heard. The '90s saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, wars in the Balkans and wars in Africa's Toucouleur region. The powerlessness of the Pope's message. He said, "The wall has come down, the Cold War is over, and now there's war again". During the fight against communism, the Pope had many powerful allies, and he campaigned against war. But all the

allies he had before no longer agreed with him. And so his voice was one that today we might call prophetic, but which at the time nobody wanted to hear. The last moments of his pontificate were difficult. Stricken by Parkinson's Disease, the Pope was very weak and no longer able to govern. But he had such an aura that no one would dare question him. It was a terrifying agony, even uncomfortable for many people, including those around him. He knows perfectly well the image he gives on television around the world. Deep down, this is his last message.

A fundamental message. It's that, right to the end, a man is worthy, he stands up, that's how it is. It's a wonderful message. And at the same time, it marks the end of an era. John Paul II died on the night of April 2, 2005, at the age of 84. 3 million faithful attended his funeral. Around a hundred heads of state made the trip. During his 26-year pontificate, John Paul II left his mark on generations around the world. The modern media made him an icon. It was as if, in the space of a ceremony, the

entire planet was in remembrance. That's how many people remember him. This great pontificate, which had touched the world, as we saw at the time of his death, left a legacy that was both heavy and full of difficulties. John Paul II made history and gave the Vatican a new diplomatic dimension. But in his desire to change the world, he completely abandoned the Church's internal affairs in favor of the Roman Curia, which had once again become all-powerful. A new pope was named, Cardinal Ratzinger, a former advocate of reform who had joined the conservative camp after the shock

of May 68. He took the name Benedict XVI. Will he succeed in regaining control of the Vatican? Nothing is less certain at a time when the Church is preparing to be called to account for the many scandals it continued to ignore during the pontificate of John Paul II. In the mid-2000s, the first scandal broke. Churchmen were alleged to have sexually abused minors. Hundreds of victims came forward in the United States. I was raped when I was 13 in my church. He confided in you, Bishop Sklba. What he was and what he had done. And you

sent him back to work. The victims won't find peace until they get justice. But worst of all, the institution itself is said to have covered up the abuse. In Ireland, at the end of 2009, a judicial commission of inquiry revealed that the Church had covered up numerous cases in the Dublin diocese. For decades, sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy had been covered up, the perpetrators protected and the victims ignored, The Pope's response is eagerly awaited. He must immediately condemn the pedophile priests and summon the Irish bishops to cooperate with civil justice. We

must establish the truth about these past events, take every step to prevent them from happening again, ensure that justice is done and, above all, support the victims of these despicable crimes. The Pope is fighting pedophilia. He's doing something revolutionary. He's saying that every parish, every Catholic church in the world must recognize the civil courts. There is not only God's justice. There is also civil justice. Ratzinger has American dioceses paying out over 4 and a half billion euros in damages to victims of pedophilia. For the first time in the history of the Vatican, a pope wants

to break the law of silence. But that's not what public opinion will remember about him. Benedict XVI lacks the oratorical talent of John Paul II. He has therefore entrusted Vatican communications to his right-hand man, Secretary of State Bertone, a conservative who has been with the Vatican for over 30 years. Bertone, a clever and intelligent man, has built up a great deal of power within the Vatican. So it was he who was called upon to respond to the media on the pedophilia cases. And on a trip to Chile, he completely muddies the Church's message. Many psychologists

and psychiatrists have shown that there is no link between celibacy and pedophilia, but many others have shown, and I was recently told, that there is a link between homosexuality and pedophilia. The truth is this. By conflating homosexuality and paedophilia, the Vatican representative is sending out a retrograde image of the Church, erasing all the efforts made by the Pope to resolve the problems internally. Benedict XVI has been very unfortunate. There is no doubt that the person who should have collaborated most with him, the Secretary of State in the person of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, did not live

up to the Pope's expectations. Bertone wasn't up to the task, he didn't have the intellectual stature, nor the moral stature. For Cardinal Bertone is not just a poor communicator. Ever since he took over at the Vatican, he has done everything to keep the Pope out of the decision-making process. Every time Bertone entered Ratzinger's office, he closed the door, spoke with Ratzinger and came out every time with the documents signed by the pope. He always got what he wanted. That's how he managed to hide from Benedict XVI one of the biggest scandals the Church is about

to face. In February 2012, an Italian investigative journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi, was contacted by a man close to the Pope. This was his butler, Paolo Gabriele. Gabriele is married. He has two children. He lives inside the Vatican with his wife and family. He shares a daily intimacy with the Pope. He hears his confidences. He collects his confidences. He hears things. He sees. The two men meet in an apartment in central Rome. Gabriele has brought hundreds of confidential documents revealing the existence of a vast network of corruption within the Vatican itself. From over-billing to embezzlement, the list

of malpractices is long. Thefts from papal villas, inflated invitations to tender, corruption, outrageous spending. He tells a lot of stories. The documents show that a man at the top of the church is directly involved in These affairs. The Secretary of State himself, Cardinal Bertone. The dossier is damning, and according to the butler, the Pope knows nothing about it. Interviewed by the journalist, Paolo Gabriele explains why he decided to divulge the documents. It's a gesture of anger. Why anger? Anger because there's an omerta, a desire not to divulge the truth, perhaps, I don't know, out of

fear. 3 months later, the journalist published his investigation. The scandal broke. The press gave it a name: vatileaks. Benedict XVI, who discovered the affair through the media, did not react. But he ordered a counter-investigation. The Vatican's only reaction was to arrest the butler. Tried before a special Tribunal for document theft, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison before being pardoned by the Pope. I find this unacceptable, surprising, sad and degrading. The only people on trial in the Vatican are those who give information to journalists. You give information, even verbally, and you risk 4 to

8 years in prison. Because in the Vatican, they do put people on trial. But they don't arrest pedophiles, or those who launder Mafia money. They arrest those who talk to journalists. Cardinal Bertone will never be questioned, just like the other members of the Curia involved in this scandal. Since he can't force them, Benedict XVI will find an extreme solution. Disappear and make them disappear with him. If he resigns, the curia will be reconstituted. His mind is made up: he will resign like a president handing in his mandate. I freely renounce the ministry of Bishop of

Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, which was entrusted to me by the Cardinals on April 19, 2005. Benedict XVI has dedicated his life to the Catholic Church, and when he had to choose between himself and the good of the Church. I think he chose to step aside and save the Church. To save the institution to which he had dedicated his entire life. Sin, scandal, the improper use of money, power coalitions, the cover-up of abuse of minors - these are enemies internal to the Church, not external. It's something so contrary to the Gospel that a feeling of

disgust grew in public opinion, a rejection of the ecclesiastical institution. And this damaged communication of the Gospel message. Benedict XVI failed, but could he really combat the excesses of the curia? A Staunch conservative, he was himself part of the system. Pope Francis was elected under pressure from cardinals on the American continent. He is Argentinian, and therefore has no ties whatsoever with the Italian power structure that has been in place for centuries. He is also a Jesuit, which means he advocates a Church that is poor and close to the people, the exact opposite of the Roman

Curia, which has been doing everything in its power for decades to preserve its privileges. But he has a major advantage in imposing himself: his immense popularity, which he has built up right from the start of his pontificate. In July 2013, the Pope made his first visit to Lampedusa, an Italian island hit hard by the migrant crisis. He came to remind the population that welcoming refugees is part of Christian values. Europe is divided on the question of refugees, and Christian Europe is divided. That's a big problem. Today, nobody in the world feels responsible for this. We've

lost the sense of fraternal responsibility. The culture of well-being that leads us to think of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of others, makes us live in soap bubbles that are beautiful, but are nothing, that are only the illusion of the futile, of the temporary, which leads to indifference towards others, and even leads to a globalization of indifference. He spoke of the globalization of indifference. He asked parishes and communities to take in the families of refugees. The question of migrants is the social dimension of Francis' pontificate, and one that is extremely prominent. Why is

this so? Because he himself comes from a world of poverty. And these migrants simply remind him of the world he comes from. François is the son of Italian emigrants who left for Argentina to escape fascism in the 30s. His story resonates with that of his migrants. Suddenly, he's the darling of the world. This is a man with a genius for communication, who immediately understood that his popularity would be his greatest asset. An asset he intends to use for political ends. Pope Francis wants to remind the world that the Vatican is a state and that it

has powers on the international stage. Pope Francis wants to be a protagonist, he wants to play a role in the world, And he loves politics. In fact, he has said that a Christian should love politics. And there is one issue on which Vatican diplomacy could have a role to play. It's the long-standing dispute between Cuba and the United States. Since the Cold War, the two countries have never managed to reconcile. But to break the deadlock, Pope Francis can count on his networks in South America. Latin American camaraderie is a bit like John Paul II and

his Polish and Baltic relatives. In this case, it's between Latin Americans. It all began on March 27, 2014. U.S. President Barack Obama, on an official visit to the Vatican, wasn't expecting to be taken to task by the Pope. At that moment, the pope tells him, it's not the pope talking to you, it's the Latin American. We can't stand it, we won't tolerate Cuba's continued isolation. You've got to change your policy, and we're going to help you. We're going to offer you our credibility, our ability to inspire confidence in Cuba, so that one by one we

can remove all the obstacles. And Barack Obama accepted the offer. I would like to thank all those who have supported and helped us in this rapprochement. I especially thank His Holiness, Pope Francis, who is showing us the way to make this world a better place. 5 months later, the US President made the rapprochement between the two countries official. A first diplomatic success to be attributed to Pope Francis. It's a success not only for the Pope, but for Vatican diplomacy as a whole, which, I believe, more than ever, is called upon to play a major role

in world affairs. In just a few months, the new Pope has enabled the Vatican to regain its influence with the world's great and good. But Francis has another, more delicate matter to deal with. He must regain control of the Church's internal affairs, which have been confiscated for too long by the Roman Curia. To this end, he quickly set up a counter-power, a group of nine independent cardinals, the C9. Their job was to draw up a new constitution, and to work with him as he went along to solve the various problems. So this is really to

prevent the Curia from regaining power over Church affairs. I think the Pope is a man who decides. He's a decision-maker. The Roman Curia was no longer used to a pope who makes decisions and demands transparency. The problem is historically linked to the way the curia runs the Vatican. The way the Roman Church has always kept the Vatican's secrets. Something Pope Francis is trying to put an end to by all means, with a very ecumenical vision of the Church. The decision to create a restricted council of cardinals has caused much irritation among the Vatican hierarchy. One

of Pope Francis' fiercest opponents is none other than Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican's former Secretary of State, who was forced to step down when Benedict XVI stepped down. He no longer has any power, but has a lot of scores to settle. Still a member of the Curia, he has many cardinals with him who don't agree with the Pope's new policy. He's being challenged internally, and it's clear that he's being challenged in the Roman Curia by a number of people who used to live like this, quite comfortable financially, and then quite quietly in their own little corners.

In the Vatican, a statistic is circulating. 20% of Vatican staff and curia cardinals are in favor of the Pope. 10% are openly against the Pope and 70% are waiting for his successor. But Francis has no intention of allowing himself to be impressed by the Roman curia. On December 22, 2014, just one year after his election, he prepared a tailor-made speech for them. He wants to confront them with their responsibilities in a way that no pope has Yet dared to do. The Curia is called to improve, to keep improving and to grow in communion, holiness and

wisdom in order to fully realize its mission. However, like any human body, it's also prone to disease. And to start with, the disease of feeling immortal. The disease of bureaucracy. The disease of disorganization. The disease of chatter, the disease of rivalry, of schizophrenia. The disease of indifference to others, of spiritual Alzheimer's. The disease of deifying leaders. It's the disease of those who court superiors, hoping to win their goodwill. They are victims of careerism and opportunism. They honor people, not God. The Pope clearly said to us cardinals, you didn't come to Rome to be at court.

He told us that the Vatican was the last court to fall. We have to get rid of a culture that no longer corresponds to our needs, nor to those of the Gospel. It's a change that's necessary. It was a tough speech for the cardinals who listened to him and the Curia staff. They were flabbergasted, stunned. And what was striking was that even some of his supporters were embarrassed by the severity and harshness of the speech. At the end of his speech, Francis comes to greet the cardinals. Everyone was smiling, including Bertone, who was directly targeted

by the Pope's criticism. A facade of smiles. The members of the Curia have clearly understood who the new master of the Vatican is. But how long will he remain so? Because all his enemies are still there. In July 2016, Pope Francis arrived in Poland in the footsteps of John Paul II. He celebrates the World Youth Day. More than 3 million young Catholics came to give him a triumphant welcome. This new Pope, who wants to shake up the old Church, seems to have no fear of anything. He doesn't want to travel like a head of state.

He doesn't want to travel locked up in an anti-projectile papamobile. He says he doesn't want to be in a tin can. He wants to have contact with people. Because he says, "I'm old anyway. I'm almost 80. And so my life, I've already lived it." And this makes him freer in relation to the risks he faces. He's a man who meets the people. His support is the people. St Peter's Square is always full. His trips to Mexico, America and everywhere else show that he is loved by the people. Naturally, this success has its drawbacks. It comes

at a price. Because Pope Francis' personal success is a success achieved by taking a stand against a Church described as old, closed, rigorist, fundamentalist, hostile to the world. So, to his own advantage, he is harvesting the consensus of a large part of the world's non-Catholic, secular public opinion, which is hostile to the Church, because it finds in him the person who denounces the failings of the Church itself. That said, people who call themselves Christians but don't necessarily go to Church every Sunday, they're very happy to have something that lets them say they're Catholic without being

laughed at. So, I think this Pope Francis is very popular at the grassroots level of Catholicism and that's his strength. How long that will last, that's a problem. So much for this piece on the secrets of the Vatican, and we hope that this behind-the-scenes look at history has given you the keys to a better understanding of current affairs. Enjoy your evening on France 2.