Who Was Minding the Store?

John Paul 11 was “furious” when he learned that while he was in Poland earlier this summer, a number of officials at the Vatican sought to undercut his position by publicly raising the question whether the Pope should concern himself with Polish politics. Don Virgilio Levi went so far as to print an editorial in L’Osservatore Romano that seemed to say: Never mind what the Pope said, the real Catholic position is that the Polish government is right and Lech Walesa must retire forthwith and absolutely from public life in Poland.

There were two contrasting views of Don Levi’s curious behavior. One appeared in all the Italian newspapers, except the greatest and most respected, Corriere della Sera. This version stressed Don Levi’s unusual role on the paper and in the Vatican generally, constantly incurring rebukes for advocating a liberal line plainly out of step with Vatican thinking, openly dividing the staff of the Vatican daily until it had become widely noted that L’Osservatore had become an armed camp, with the editor, Valerio Volpini, heading one faction, and Levi the other. A number of journals mentioned the long duration of this crisis, and the naming of Monsignor Stickler, prefect of the Vatican Library, to conduct an inquiry into the scandalous feud between the editors. “His judgments,” so we read, “were of extreme severity.” It was generally believed that both editors were certain to be dismissed in the near future. Levi, however, was the first to go, fired within the week of publishing his editorial on the Pope’s visit to Poland.

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Farley Clinton

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John Paul 11 was “furious” when he learned that while he was in Poland earlier this summer, a number of officials at the Vatican sought to undercut his position by publicly raising the question whether the Pope should concern himself with Polish politics. Don Virgilio Levi went so far as to print an editorial in L’Osservatore Romano that seemed to say: Never mind what the Pope said, the real Catholic position is that the Polish government is right and Lech Walesa must retire forthwith and absolutely from public life in Poland.

There were two contrasting views of Don Levi’s curious behavior. One appeared in all the Italian newspapers, except the greatest and most respected, Corriere della Sera. This version stressed Don Levi’s unusual role on the paper and in the Vatican generally, constantly incurring rebukes for advocating a liberal line plainly out of step with Vatican thinking, openly dividing the staff of the Vatican daily until it had become widely noted that L’Osservatore had become an armed camp, with the editor, Valerio Volpini, heading one faction, and Levi the other. A number of journals mentioned the long duration of this crisis, and the naming of Monsignor Stickler, prefect of the Vatican Library, to conduct an inquiry into the scandalous feud between the editors. “His judgments,” so we read, “were of extreme severity.” It was generally believed that both editors were certain to be dismissed in the near future. Levi, however, was the first to go, fired within the week of publishing his editorial on the Pope’s visit to Poland.