Extended New Year in Black China
The Godfather Steps Down
Kiss The Ring
Public Domain Photo
I understand that to kiss the ring of the Pope Benedict XVI is suppose to be a sign of reverence.Yet, ever time I see it, I remember “The Godfather”, in the movie, Marlon Brando is a Don of a crime family and to show respect the young criminals kiss his ring.Marlon Brando in “The Godfather” Photo copyright 1972 by Paramount Pictures.
by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
The Godfather steps down.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 1012 GMT, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his final speech
By 1120 GMT, according to an Agence France Press news release, the pope is in his pope mobile and is headed around the square.
The Godfather is doing his farewell to the masses.
According to an Associated Press new release, on Thursday as his final day as pope, Pope Benedict XVI will attend to business affairs and before 5 p.m., Benedict will leave the Apostolic Palace for the last time as pope,
In the Vatican gardens, on the top of the hill,in the helipad the helicopter will be ready to fly him to the papal retreat.
At Castel Gandolfo,south of Rome, according to the AP news release, at 8 p.m., he will be in the castle at the exact moment his papal resignation goes into effect.
Pope Benedict XVI made history when he announced that he would resign the Vatican. The “Official Statement” stated “Health” as the reason for the resignation.
However, in minutes, the Internet was buzzing with news, rumors, speculation and all kinds of stories that rejected the Vatican statement.
Within hours of the pope’s official announcement, his papacy seemed to be full of the type of political and corrupt intrigue found in novels and movies.
Marlon Brando portrayed “The Godfather”, when Mario Puzo’s novel made it to the big screen. Among the outstanding photography of that film I have never forgot the scene where the young apostles of crime always kiss the Godfather’s ring.
I find it interesting, perhaps, disturbing that the same tradition seems to be observed when some people kneel to kiss the pope’s ring.
However, Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy maybe like the Godfather movie sagas in the sense that the corruption under the central figure seems to radiate out from a central point of absolute power.
Pope Benedict XVI papacy contains the elements of an American Godfather movie beginning with the scandals.
Clerical Sex Abuse
In the American gangster and mobster movies as well as organized crime, prostitution seems to be one of the common crimes.
While no one in The Vatican may have profited off of the children molested. The fact that Pedophile Priests and sexually abusive nuns “pimped” the children for their own desires remained unreported to the authorities and a series of “cover ups” are suspected.
During The Watergate Affair, Congressional Hearings and reporters sought “The Smoking Gun” and tried to figure out what President Nixon knew and when he knew it.
Nixon resigned and went into exile. The Watergate Affair ended under the pretext that justice had been served.
Questions like “The Smoking Gun” remained that Nixon never answered.
No doubt, Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation will leave questions unanswered as well.
VatiLeaksThe butler did it. Paolo Gabriele, Pope Benedict XVI’s butler took the pontiff’s private papers and leaked them to Italian reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi, who published a book,entitled His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI. Exile To The United StatesIn the American mobster and gangster movies it is always the Italian Godfather embroiled in a battle with the Justice Department and immigration officials fighting “deportation” back to Sicily or Italy. Leave it to The Vatican to put a Real World spin on Hollywood movies. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano,in 2009,was appointed secretary-general. He insisted on centralized accounting procedures and accountability for cost overruns and turned a U.S. $10.5 million deficit for the Vatican city-state into a surplus of $44 million in the span of a year. While you would expect someone to be promoted for streamlining and improving the financial resources of a bank; Vigano’s promotion is viewed by officials as an “Out Of Sight Out Of Mind” promotion – with him in the United States, The archbishop is a long way from Italy. The Vatican and the day to day politics within the religious fiefdom will go on without the archbishop in Rome. The 007 CardinalsAmerican moviegoers will not find Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig, the traditional Ian Fleming James Bond 007 actors among the real life cast of the 007 Cardinals of the Vatican. First dubbed “The 007 Priests” by the Italian newspapers, Spanish cardinal, Julián Herranz; Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo; and the Slovak cardinal Jozef Tomko were the agents, who answered not to M, but to P – the Pope.
The story goes after the Pope’s butler was exposed in the VatiLeaks scandal or taking the pontiff’s personal papers, the pope called on these cardinals to conduct an internal investigation. Media reports claim that the investigation resulted in a “For Your Eyes Only” dossier for Pope Benedict XVI. Velvet MafiaAmerican gangster and mobster movies usually have the Godfather calling the shots on racketeering, extortion and prostitution businesses within his crime family. Italian newspapers report that the pope asked for the VatiLeaks internal investigation and the 007 Cardinals turned up the Velvet Mafia with The Vatican. The newspapers report that a gay lobby exists in the Church. The reports go on to claim that some of those people have been blackmailed by people on the outside. Bank ScandalAmerican gangster and mobster movies are always concerned about “moving money around” and keeping it hidden from “The Feds.” The plots of the movies before the 1970s and 1980s had the Godfather figure ready to agree to most of the financial schemes as long as none of his crime family or soldiers were involved in “drugs.” The Mafia Code Of Conduct in the movies was regardless of the kind of criminal enterprise; none of the major crime families would “ever deal in drugs.” Meanwhile, in The Real World, the Banco Ambrosiano scandal had the bank accused of laundering drug money for the Sicilian Mafia. Of course, The Vatican Bank was Banco Ambrosiano’s main share holder. Religious Intolerance ?American gangsters and mobsters in the movies had different opinions on religion depending on the movie you watched, the ethic background of the gangster on the screen and the year the film was made. Of course, the traditional Godfather movie is either Italian or Italian American and they trace their roots to Sicily or Italy and they are always Roman Catholic. The irony, of course, is while the Godfather and his crime family is brutal, ruthless and violent, they always seem to have time for The Church. While the Godfather maybe violent and ruthless an intolerant of other crime families, he always manages to remain devout to his faith in The Church. Perhaps, The Vatican had a “Godfather Moment” Tuesday, July 10, 2007 because the CBC website, World section, posted a release entitled, Catholic Church only true church, Vatican saysThe Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a doctrinal watchdog that Pope Benedict XVI used to head, prepared the 16-page document, that restates the belief that the Catholic Church is the only true church of Jesus Christ. After reviewing Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy, if you don;t think there is enough information to come up with your own Godfather novel or a movie script, you can always check his Wikipedia biography for some content or plot lines to add to your novel or movie script. Hitler Youth
Pope Benedict’s biography on Wikipedia states that after his 14th birthday in 1941, Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth. The page also states Membership was required by law for all 14-year-old German boys after December 1939.
Austin Cline in an about.com article questions Pope Benedict XVI ,a.k.a., Joseph Ratzinger’s explanations about his youthful membership and his German military career, during World War II.
The Professor
Pope Benedict’s biography lists the years 1951 through 1977 as his academic career. The biography mentions his service to The Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, the young professor Ratzinger, earned the reputation as a reformer.
Doctrine Of The FaithNovember 25,1981, Pope John Paul II named Professor Joseph Ratzinger as the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Vatican office has once been known as the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. Based on the descriptions of this office, the position seems the equivalent of being named The Chief Of Staff For The President Of The United States Of America.In this position Cardinal Ratzinger became the authority on clerical sex abuse cases officially required to be reported to The Vatican in 2001. A Texas lawsuit accused Pope Benedict of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys. Pope Benedict XVI sought and obtained diplomatic immunity from prosecution.The Shoes Of The FishermanI knew nothing about Catholicism when I first watched this 1968 black and white Anthony Quinn movie on the small family TV. After I saw the movie, I expected Real World popes to be like Anthony Quinn in the movie, who played a Cold War pope, who kept the world from the brink of disaster.Until I joined the United States Air Force I really had not been exposed to people in the Catholic faith. My home county, Stone County, Missouri, in the Ozarks, sits right smack dab in the center of the United States in the Midwest and had more Baptists and Pentecost than you could shake a stick at.The Baptists and Pentecost of my childhood were like a pack of wild dogs fighting over a bone. The Baptists and Pentecost ere active in recruitment of people to attend Sunday school and church. The Southern Baptists always seemed to have the pulpit pounding preachers and the Pentecost would find a field, drive some cut log poles in the ground, erect a tic tac toe framework of limbs on top of the logs and then cover it with leaves and branches of leaves to create their “Brush Arbor Revivals.”The Missouri Ozarks Pentecost were always talking about people, “filled with The Spirit.” And, you heard stories of how people started “speaking in tongues.”The Pentecost loved to talk about “The Holy Spirit” they just never explained what it was. What always seemed to surprise people was usually the person, who seemed to get filled with the Spirit was someone, who 365 day a year was quiet and shy. At the revival meetings, you would always hear stories of how this person, suddenly, “came alive and started talking in tongues.”In the eighth grade, I had a Catholic classmate, whose family had moved into the county seat,but, religion never seemed to be a topic of discussion at school,After four years and graduating alongside this girl I still didn’t know anymore about the Catholic religion than I did the day I met her. I had to wait until I went on active duty in the military to learn about Catholicism. I learned to appreciate the formality and the hierarchy, which really didn’t seem any different than the military. I shocked a devout Catholic airmen friend of mine when I asked him to explain other than religion how is the rank structure of The College Of Cardinals any different than the United States Joint Chiefs Of Staff.I know The College Of Cardinals have many more members, but the point was they were near the top of the church hierarchy just like the Joint Chiefs of Staff are essentially the elite body that takes their orders from the commander in chief and advises the president on military matters like the cardinals take their orders from the pope and assist him on religious matters.I didn’t necessarily understand the Catholic faith, but I did appreciated it’s formality and rank structure.Pope Benedict XVI did not seem as driven as the Italian Medici family popes to carve out a legacy for his family name and honor. Fortunately, he was not a Spanish Borgia pope ready to do whatever was necessary to satisfy his own desires.However, Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy for the shortcomings tends to take The Vatican from the religious realm and allow it to rest dangerously close to the shadows of the criminal world.American Godfather John GottiAmerican Godfather John Joseph Gotti Jr.,seemed to be The Real World version of the fictional Godfather Michael Corleone. No doubt, American law enforcement officials would disagree. Gotti, a Scorpio,earned the nicknames “Dapper Don” and “Teflon Don” The first nickname he earned because “The Boss Of Bosses Of The Gambino Crime Family” had a flamboyant style and became famous for his tailored suits. The second nickname he earned because he beat “The Feds” three times when they brought him to trail. At the time, like Teflon coating in a skillet, the FBI could never seem “to make the charges stick.” Eventually, though the FBI “got their man.”Like any culture, Americans are not particularly fond of criminals. The Godfather movies became a hit because the movies emphasized the close knit family that became wealthy. Gotti had the poor kid rises to riches tale that helped to romanticize his career.Americans love the underdog. Americans love the rebel. Americans love the Robin Hood character.Railroads and Banks Dubious BusinessesWhen the national economy is in a slump or in the toilet Americans can look upon the big screen and relate to the man or woman, who istares poverty in the face and decides they would rather rob a bank.Often American banks were started by rich people in the 1800s. Railroads lacked business ethics and bamboozled people out of their Land, bought off law enforcement and did what ever was necessary to get the Land to build the railroads. Banks were often seen as a partner to the railroads. Bankers never seemed to loose sleep about putting someone out of their homes or taking their Land.From the American Civil War through The Great Depression, Americans didn’t loose a lot of sleep when they thought a railroad or bank got what was coming to them.Wild West Outlaws in American culture is often seen as “down on their luck cowboy Robin Hoods”. The American bank robbers of The Great Depression were seen as rebels getting even until the bloodshed of the Kansas City Massacre. Gangster gunned down Kansas City police officers, FBI agents and a federal prisoner, who supposedly they had intended to rescue leaving the train at Union Station.Violent American Crimes1960s through the 1970sFrancis Ford Coppola directed “The Godfather” and got the movie on the big screen in 1972. The Zodiac KillerThe Zodiac Killer in Northern California seemed to strike at will in the late 1960s and early 1970s and law enforcement always seemed to be chasing a ghost when it came to this proficient serial killer.The Zodiac became the America version of Britain’s “Jack The Ripper” because like “The Ripper”, the “Zodiac” was never caught.The AssassinationsThe 1960s had the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy,the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, and Senator Robert Kennedy. Assassinations of political and a religious leader seemed unimaginable to me in my grade school years.The Yablonski MurdersWhen violent crimes began to happen to average citizens that is when you wondered if the world was really crazy. I remember the Springfield Leader-Press story about the murder of the Yablonksi family. Joseph Albert "Jock" Yablonski served as a union labor leader in the United Mine Workers. The night of December 31, 1969, killers entered the Yablonski home in Clarksville, Pennsylvania and killed Jock, his wife, Margaret, and Charolette, his 25-year old daughter, while they slept. What I never forgot was the article mentioned the killers used baseball bats.The Manson FamilyCharles Milles Manson, an ex-con, who claimed to be a guru and later Jesus Christ” set up a hippie commune on the Spahn Movie Ranch in Topanga Canyon, Caifornia, Manson did the cult leader routine and brainwashed his rebellious young followers into the belier that a race War was coming.The Tate and LaBianaca Murders The Tate and LaBianaca Murders were the work of The Manson Family. Movie actress Sharon Tate, eight and a half months pregnant, wife of famed director, Roman Polanski, her friend, Jay Sebring, a popular hairstylist, Wojciech Frykoski, an aspiring screenwriter and Polanski’s friend and his girlfriend, Abigal Folger, heiress to Fplger’s coffee were in the Tate home, when the Manson Family murder team arrived the night of August 8,1969.A Manson Family murder team invaded the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca the evening of August 8, 1969. The insane brutality of the Tate and LaBianca murders shocked the nation and drove the police to get the people responsible. Charley Manson didn’t get his hands bloody, but the justice system knew he was the mastermind behind the murders, so he got charged and convicted on the “joint responsibility rule”The Godfather WarsJune 28, 1971, Joseph Colombo, Godfather of the Colombo Crime Family was shot at a rally in Columbus Circle in New York City. April 7, 1972, four gunmen walked into Umberto’s Clam House in Little Italy, “CrazyJoe” Gallo was dining with his family when he was killed. In the 1970s, it seemed like a day or week didn’t go by that some mobster was’t being shot, blown up in his car or being fished out of the East River in the trunk of his Cadillac. As a young man in The Ozarks, New York City and the Wars between the crime family had turned The Big Apple into the American version of The Middle East. I began college in 1973 and it seemed like Crime was everywhere.Dirty Harry, “Make My Day !” The irony is that while Americans seemed mesmerized by the romanticized Godfather image they cheered Inspector Dirty Harry Calahan, when he unholstered his .44 Magnum and dispensed justice on the big screen. Actor Clint Eastwood did what Americans wanted to do and “Make My Day”, became the mantra of American law-abiding citizens.American citizens were more than willing to help their local overworked and underpaid police officers and sheriff’s deputies dispense God’s vengeance and Mankind’s justice..44 Caliber KillerRichard David Falco a,k,a David Richard Berkowitz, known as the “.44 Caliber Killer” and the “Son Of Sam” terrorized New York City in the Bicentennial Summer of 1976. Parents didn’t want their sons and daughters sitting in a car talking because the killer would walk up and start blasting away at couples in a car. While the crimes of the 1970s romanticized some Godfathers, the violence of criminals angered Americans who demanded justice from law enforcement.People understand that there will probably always be criminals, but people do not want the corruption to seep into areas like education, the military, government,business and religion.When accussations of corruption and mismanagement are leveled at a religious institution, then, people expect that justice will go after the perpetrators. The Godfather at the top of a religious institution like The Church may not always be responsible, but, he should have an idea what the underlings of his bureaucracy is up to on a day to day basis.Religious institutions are staffed by humans, but these people are suppose to be trustworthy. When their is crime in an institution like The Church you believe the guilty will be punished and held accountable.If a scandal is the result of bad business practices and mismanagement, you naturally assume, someone will step in and straighten things out.You do not expect to hear there is even the remote possibility that The Church got into bed with Organized Crime. In a religious body you do not consider that the person at the top may have looked the other way or participated in coverups.Right or wrong, the person at the top is sometimes held responsible.If the person at the top is guilty, then, they should be punished.Justice is meaningless if the person at the top uses power and prestige to stop a prosecution.SamLinksThe Godfather Godfather Part II Godfather Part III Benedict XVI News The BlotterPope Benedict’s Legacy Marred by Sex Abuse ScandalBy RUSSELL GOLDMAN (@GoldmanRussell)
Feb. 11, 2013
Online Vatican backlash over dossier rumors linking Church to ‘gay network’ and ‘sex parties’
Italian media says dossier alleges clergy were ‘united by sexual orientation’
Vatican has hit back at the ‘false and damaging’ media reports
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 03:10 GMT, 23 February 2013 | UPDATED: 11:38 GMT, 24 February 2013 AmbrosianoWikipedia Huffington PostReligion Paolo Gabriele, Pope’s Butler, Convicted In Papal Leaks, Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison
By NICOLE WINFIELD 10/06/12 11:23 AM ET Benedict XVI’s leaked documents show fractured Vatican full of rivalriesBy Jason Horowitz,February 16, 2013 New York TimesEurope Transfer of Vatican Official Who Exposed Corruption Hints at Power StruggleBy ELISABETTA POVOLEDOPublished: January 26, 2012 Washington TimesEmbassy RowBy James Morrison The Washington TimesSunday, February 12, 2012SCANDALS IN THE VATICAN Atlantic WireDid a Secret Vatican Report on Gay Sex and Blackmail Bring Down the Pope?Alexander Abad-Santos Feb 22, 2013 News WorldCatholic Church only true church, Vatican saysLast Updated: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 | 10:27 AM ET & Spirituality
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By Austin Cline, About.com Guide Seeks Immunity in Texas Abuse Case By Nicole Winfield
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First Crime Family Street JournalArts and EntertainmentSpeakeasyApril 17, 2011, 4:00 PM Sex, Bribery, Murder: The Real Story Behind ‘The Borgias’By John Julius Norwich of popes from the Medici familyWikipedia guardianPope Benedict XVI resigns owing to age and declining healthPontiff, 85, who has arthritis, says he will step down on 28 February after nearly eight years as head of Catholic churchLizzy Davies and John Hooper in Rome; Kate Connolly in Berlin
Monday 11 February 2013 16.34 GMT Huffington PostPope Benedict XVI To Resign On Feb. 28 Due To Health Concerns
AP | Posted: 02/11/2013 6:10 am EST | Updated: 02/19/2013 4:34 pm EST Benedict Delivers Farewell Address
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Associated Press