www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=H2ZOETDNVPSP5QFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/02/24/wpope24.xml
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Pope is victor as Prodi drops gay marriage law</b>
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 12:29am GMT 25/02/2007
The Pope emerged as the clear winner in Italy's political crisis yesterday after Romano Prodi was forced to abandon his plans to legalise gay marriage in order to shore up his fragile support.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mr Prodi is also trying to lure members of the Union of Christian Democrats, who currently form the Opposition, into his government. "I am seeking more votes. I intend to fight on, but I need to have the strength," Mr Prodi told his allies.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>However, the abandonment of the proposed law was widely criticised and described as evidence of the Vatican's continuing influence on Italy's domestic politics.
It was feeding conspiracy theories that the Holy See had engineered the government's collapse, after warning it for several weeks about the consequences of pushing ahead with the legislation.</b>
There seemed to be satisfaction in the Holy See that the government's collapse would result in the death of the civil union law.
"The fall of the government was unexpected, but it was predictable, in fact very predictable," an anonymous senior prelate told the newspaper Il Giornale. "After what happened, I can assure you that no one here shed a tear.
<b>"It was a gift, arriving just at the beginning of Lent," he said.</b>
However, he denied that the Vatican had been involved in the realpolitik that led to the government's downfall.
"The people who are screaming about a Vatican plot should look to their own houses, because there has been no trap ordered from this side of the Tiber," he said.
When questioned on the subject, the Pope also denied that the Vatican was a "centre of power".
In a meeting with several parish priests to celebrate Lent, he said that it was <b>"very important that people do not see the Church as a super-national organisation.</b> It is not an administrative body, or a body of power". He then joked: "I like to sleep at night."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->As in: church finds it important that it is not publicly <i>perceived</i> as a powerful organisation that has string-pulling power.
Cath Church is an ogre claiming to be a kitten instead. Oh, yes, do believe it.
While cath church is in denying/lying mode, about a year back in Slovakia:
www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1707579,00.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Vatican abortion treaty brings down government</b>
Saturday February 11, 2006<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Pope is victor as Prodi drops gay marriage law</b>
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 12:29am GMT 25/02/2007
The Pope emerged as the clear winner in Italy's political crisis yesterday after Romano Prodi was forced to abandon his plans to legalise gay marriage in order to shore up his fragile support.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mr Prodi is also trying to lure members of the Union of Christian Democrats, who currently form the Opposition, into his government. "I am seeking more votes. I intend to fight on, but I need to have the strength," Mr Prodi told his allies.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>However, the abandonment of the proposed law was widely criticised and described as evidence of the Vatican's continuing influence on Italy's domestic politics.
It was feeding conspiracy theories that the Holy See had engineered the government's collapse, after warning it for several weeks about the consequences of pushing ahead with the legislation.</b>
There seemed to be satisfaction in the Holy See that the government's collapse would result in the death of the civil union law.
"The fall of the government was unexpected, but it was predictable, in fact very predictable," an anonymous senior prelate told the newspaper Il Giornale. "After what happened, I can assure you that no one here shed a tear.
<b>"It was a gift, arriving just at the beginning of Lent," he said.</b>
However, he denied that the Vatican had been involved in the realpolitik that led to the government's downfall.
"The people who are screaming about a Vatican plot should look to their own houses, because there has been no trap ordered from this side of the Tiber," he said.
When questioned on the subject, the Pope also denied that the Vatican was a "centre of power".
In a meeting with several parish priests to celebrate Lent, he said that it was <b>"very important that people do not see the Church as a super-national organisation.</b> It is not an administrative body, or a body of power". He then joked: "I like to sleep at night."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->As in: church finds it important that it is not publicly <i>perceived</i> as a powerful organisation that has string-pulling power.
Cath Church is an ogre claiming to be a kitten instead. Oh, yes, do believe it.
While cath church is in denying/lying mode, about a year back in Slovakia:
www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1707579,00.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Vatican abortion treaty brings down government</b>
Saturday February 11, 2006<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->