Pyro-Pontiffs !

I’ve just finished watching the final episode of season two of  “The Borgias” which I enjoyed almost as much as season one, although you can have too much holy ‘humping’.

The latest episodes continued the usual bloody killings, tortures and poisonings: with lots of gorgeous costumes and although, in parts, it was a bit “history-lite” it kept up a pace with the introduction of such famous characters as Machiavelli and the ‘bonkers’ priest Savonarola who put a torch to ”The Bonfire of the Vanities”. Of course that was before Pope Alexander VI “put a torch” to him, which brings me on to another subject …

… “Vatileaks”… In other words the show trail of Paolo Gabriele, the Pope’s personal valet, who was convicted of stealing secret papers from the Vatican and sentenced to 18 months in prison. However, it is unlikely that the Vatican employee, who enjoys the privileges of Vatican citizenship and its perks, will ‘do time’ either inside the Vatican or in an Italian jail. He should think himself lucky, for in the days of the Borgia Popes he would have been hanging in chains in a dungeon of the Castel Sant’Angelo while merry Micheletto cut bits off of him before incinerating what was left.

Now it must be remembered that before he became Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger spent twentyfour years as boss of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, previously known as the “Holy Office of the Inquisition”. So it comes as no surprise to learn that during Paolo’s trial it was revealed that some of the documents taken by the butler were so confidential (can you imagine!) that they had been marked, in German, by the Pope himself … “to be burned” ! …  for throughout history, when it comes to the unpleasant truths about their religion …

… That’s what Popes have always done !