Transcripts For KQEH Frontline 20140414

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, its going to mean decisive action. And its risky to take on the vatican curia. Tonight on frontline, secrets of the vatican. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, 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 ive 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, thats 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, ill 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. Hes 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, its 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 fastestgrowing 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 mexicos 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, 10yearold 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 winters night in 1949, maciels 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 maciels office. I told him, i cannot go to communion because i committed a sin last night with you. He said, no, juan, dont worry, i give you the absolution. I forgive you. And he gave me the sacramental absolution of a sin. He said, dont worry. What you did was an act of charity, because you helped me to relieve of my pain. You didnt 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 maciels 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 its being used to support this type of life marcial is having. Narrator eventually, father vaca wrote a document setting out all the crimes hed 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 dont 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 maciels misappropriation of funds to maintain his extravagant lifestyle and the bribes hed 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 suchandsuch 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 maciels 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 maciels 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. Theres a question whether. Come to me when the moment is given not yet. Narrator but he was in a bind. John pauls public celebration of maciel made it very difficult for him to take action, and all the while, maciels 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 hes 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 didnt he just banish him . Why . Because the legionaries of christ is a large and very wealthy order and puts lots of money in the vaticans 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 maciels paramours in madrid. singing narrator and, it turned out, a son by another woman in mexico. The price of the churchs failure to act was revealed in jason berrys 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 halfbrother 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 thats 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, im 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, selfeffacing, 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. Thats the only life he knew, and he could not do what was necessary. Hes a shy man, hes 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 didnt have the gifts, the charisma. Hes a theologian. Hes a catechist. He didnt 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 doyles 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 didnt 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, hed 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. Im still a priest, but im 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. Were 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. Were just trying to heal through this. We want to be able to trust the clergy. Its 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 its like, its 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 didnt 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 wont 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 didnt 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 didnt 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 youll 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 theyre doing something, when in fact theyre doing nothing other than what theyve done in the past for decades and centuries, which is to deny, minimize blame, keep secrets and protect themselves. Intimidation is the strategy. Its not part of it; it ithe strategy. Youve exposed this part of us. Were coming after you. And no ones going to dare to file a lawsuit again. And its 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. There were survivors just 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, were gonna keep father leifeld away from children. Weve got him in a secure treatment facility. Hes never gonna be around children, this kind of thing. Its 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 dont remember whether or not he touched mine. I didnt understand that there would be a psychological damage to the young man. Im the victim. Narrator peter isley founded the milwaukee chapter of snap, a Survivors 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 cant 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 churchs 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 monicas 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 victims fund, there are over 550 outstanding claimants. Monica barrett and peter isley among them. This is a beautiful cemetery. Theyre doing a terrific job of really maintaining this sacred space. You dont 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 courtordered settlements. Period. And that is so cynical and so just unacceptable. And its just a further way of trying to hide things. Youre 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 in the church, 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 ones 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 postpubertal children, if you will theyre 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 theyve 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, thats 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 gods church will not only be fulfilling, but completely livegiving to me and i hope to the people that im entrusted towards. Narrator thats 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. Its 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 simones 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 celibacy. translated i used to go to the church where he was curate. He used to be my sisters confessor, and i often saw him talking to her. He was really funny, goodlooking 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, its been tough psychologically. Its been difficult for both of us. translated and its still difficult, isnt 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 wideeyed 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 nonholy 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 hes had relationships with several priests. translated here in rome, its very easy to meet a gay priest on a bus, in a church, and important churches like st. Peters. Its 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 twoyear investigation when a gay friend told him hed 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. Weve also booked two escorts from turin, from piemonte, who will be the entertainers at the party. If you like, youre invited. Id 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 wasnt 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 friends 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 wasnt 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 dont 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, im a priest, but i have this need. Ill satisfy it and then go back to being a priest. Its a bit like vestments. I wear them, im a priest. I take them off, and im just like anyone else. Unless you spend some time inside this kind of culture, its 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 theyre 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. Thats 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. Its 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. Thats terrible. Thats 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 dont ask, dont tell culture was invented inside the vatican. I dont 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. Its 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 vaticans 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 offshore 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 antimoney 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 didnt want that. Narrator Cardinal Bertone, Pope Benedicts 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 expresident 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 vaticans 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 popes butler. He was offering thousands of secret documents from the popes private office. He said he wanted to protect the pope from the sleaze and corruption that surrounded him. He went on, im afraid the pope doesnt 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, selfadvancement, 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. Peters 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 popes 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 bertones influence that they also appealed directly to the pope. translated a group of cardinals went to castel gandolfo, benedicts 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 saider 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 didnt 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 didnt expect was that it would turn out to be his own butler. The trial against Pope Benedict xvis 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 mans 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 didnt 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 hasnt lost anything with this conviction. This is, you know, the biggest betrayal weve ever seen against a sitting pope, and hes come out of it with everything he had before. Narrator if the popes 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 xray inquiry into the roman curia, more detailed than ever before. Narrator investigative journalist Ignazio Ingrao tracked down 18 insiders who had testified before Cardinal Herranzs 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 socalled red dossier, to benedict on december 17, 2012. On february 28, benedict resigned. applause maybe governance wasnt his strong point. It was very difficult for him, and i think when he said, im 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 didnt say anything for the first few minutes. He just looked at the crowd almost as if, oh, i cant 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. Peters basilica when he started saying, good evening. That was amazing. You cant imagine the response of that huge crowd that was in st. Peters 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 hed 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 didnt really know anything about him. Everybody had to look him up. People were googling from the square. Who is he . Wheres he from . speaking italian narrator all they knew about him was that francis was from argentina, the first noneuropean 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. Hes an outsider. Hes 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 hes ever going to be able to live up to the legacy that he already has created. Hes 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 maradiagas 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. Its 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. Ive got the pope on the line, and i really dont think we should keep him waiting. Narrator Eugenio Scalfari is the founder and editorinchief of la repubblicaitalys leading newspaper on the left. He is also an atheist. translated the conversation we had started with some jokes, because thats his way. He said, some of my advisors have warned me to be careful talking to you because youre a clever man and youll try to convert me. Me, converting the pope narrator the pope had phoned to invite scalfari for a chat. It would be a wideranging 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 vaticancentric 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 selfimportance. translated were 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. Theres 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 hes saying, he says, im a son of the church and i believe in her teachings. Narrator but on one issue, there is no ambiguity Pope Franciss 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 dont 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 vaticans 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. Ive 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 didnt 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 antimafia prosecutor. The pope is dismantling centers of economic power in the vatican. If the mob bosses can stop him, they wont 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 its 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, hes carefully avoided all the issues that would lead to conflict. A real minefield in the life of this pope, because its such a big issue in the Catholic Church and its not gone away, even though theyre singing hosannas to him right now, and thats the sexual abuse of minors, clergy sex abuse. I know a lot of catholics would like it to be over, but its not. Were seeing new cases all the time. If the pope doesnt 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, its going to mean decisive, risky action, and its risky to take on the vatican curia. There are many in the curia that are trembling, wondering whats 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, theres 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 dont know. I dont 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 narrator next time on frontline. Here in america. Theyre looked at as sex objects when theyre out there in the field. Narrator these are the women. We found really bad situations with ongoing sexual violence. Narrator . Who pick and process. They were all illegal, and they were afraid they were going to get deported. Narrator . The food on our tables. Frontlinin collaboration with univision and cir, investigate rape in the fields. 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. Theyre singing hosannas to him right now. And connect to thfrontline community. Sign up for our newsletter, and follow us on facebook, twitter and pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, 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. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinesecrets of the vatican is available on dvd. To order, visit shoppbs. Org, or call 1800playpbs. Frontline is also available for download on itunes. Turn to pbs. For stories that define the american experience. All of this stuff was just erupting revealing our strengths. You create a new future. Our struggles. Its very american to say this is not right. These are our stories. We were so innocent and oddly enough we were so american our american experience. Only on pbs. [light, airy music] wolf on october 16, 1978, Karol Wojtyla entered a small room in st. Peters basilica, put on a white robe, a short red cape, and a white skullcap. A few minutes later, he stood at a balcony facing st. Peters square. He had become john paul ii, the 264th pope, the spiritual leader of one out of every five people on the planet. As the holy father, he headed an institution that had outlasted the roman empire,