A General Warning for Top-Down
Organizations, “Spiritual” or Otherwise
Ariel David, from HAARETZ
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In accordance with a
prophecy made
by Helena
Blavatsky in the 19th century,
traditional Organized
Crime loses control
and gets rather un-organized in
the
Vatican in 2013.[1]
The following report was
first published by Israeli newspaper "Haaretz"
on March 5, 2013. Its warning may be useful
for the leaders of the Adyar
Theosophical
Society and other theosophical associations as
well. It is potentially beneficial to good-willing
leaders of any top-down organization. It shows
that times and karma have changed, and fraud can’t
always win. In fact, the time for Ethics is now arriving.
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)
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For
centuries the Catholic Church has had a love-hate relationship with new forms
of communication, both fearing their potentially subversive power but also
eagerly adopting them as novel tools to spread Christ's message. Seeking to
harness the power of the Internet, in recent years the Vatican has ostensibly
embraced new media. It has created a large web presence that includes a YouTube
channel,
a Facebook
profile and Twitter accounts in nine languages for
the pope.
But while
mastering the technique, the Vatican has been far more reluctant to embrace the
greater transparency and accountability that are the driving spirit of these
new tools. The Holy See is not the only government that has tried to have its
cake and eat it too on this matter, but it has been particularly strict in
controlling the flow of information and maintaining a veil of secrecy over most
of the Church's affairs.
Never has this policy been
more apparent than in the aftermath of Pope Benedict XVI's sudden
resignation and in the way the Vatican reacted to the
ensuing media storm. And despite the completely different background, the
situation that emerged bears some keen similarities to the controversy over how
Israel handled the "Prisoner X" affair, and is
another example of how attempts to keep the public in the dark and preserve a
culture of secrecy are not only counterproductive, but also futile.
The furor at the
Vatican didn't involve a mysterious prisoner who died in jail, but a document
that may or may not hold the reasons for the first papal resignation in 600
years. After Benedict announced he was stepping down due to his old age and
failing health, many media outlets, particularly Italian papers, published
stories about a secret report on the ills of the
Church that allegedly played a major part in the pontiff's decision.
There is no doubt
this report exists. Last year the pope charged three senior cardinals (dubbed
"the 007 cardinals" by Italian journalists) with investigating the
so-called Vatileaks scandal, in
which Benedict's butler was arrested for leaking to the press papal documents
that revealed power struggles and corruption within the top ranks of the
Church.
The three
cardinals were allowed to interrogate anyone in the hierarchy and were given
broad discretion in their investigation, which reportedly went well beyond
probing the butler and those who might have helped him. The pope received their
final report in December, but the Vatican has refused to publish it or make its
contents known. Since the pope's surprise resignation, this refusal has fueled
speculation that the report was so shocking that it pushed Benedict to abdicate
in frustration at the impossibility of reforming the Church. After the pope's
announcement, Italian media published the purported content of the secret
report, citing unsourced excerpts and witnesses. The stories painted the
picture of a corrupt and divided Church, with prelates concerned mainly with
their careers and various lobbies struggling for power. Chief among these
groups is supposedly a "gay lobby", as Italian daily La Repubblica dubbed it, formed
by homosexual priests that scheme to advance their agenda, but are also
vulnerable to blackmail by their secular lovers.
The Vatican
responded to these scoops by reiterating that only the next pope will see the
cardinals' report and by launching a rare attack on the media. The Vatican
spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said the press was "taking
advantage" of the Church's difficult moment to "spread lies" and
try to influence the upcoming Conclave, the assembly of cardinals that will
elect the new pontiff.
Lombardi may be
right, but the refusal to publish the report did nothing to quash the rumors,
giving the impression that the Vatican did have something to hide and leaving
the field entirely to the Dan Brown-esque newspaper articles, irrespective of
their accuracy. In this climate, any step by the Holy See has launched a
renewed flurry of speculation, such as when, a few days before the pope
officially stepped down, a key official in charge of improving the Vatican Bank's
much-questioned anti money-laundering procedures was suddenly named the Holy
See's ambassador to Colombia.
Now, as the
Conclave nears and the behind-the-scenes intrigue amongst the cardinals
intensifies, the Vatican can expect to see more leaks and purported revelations
in the press.
Similarly,
Israel's initial attempts to silence its own media about the suicide of Ben
Zygier only managed to magnify the scandal, promoting criticism and conspiracy
theories that paint an even worse picture than the one that would have probably
emerged had the case been handled more transparently.
When in Rome or in
Jerusalem, such crises could be dealt with more effectively through greater
accountability and openness rather than gag orders or stubborn silence.
NOTE:
[1] See the article “A Prophecy on the Roman Church”,
which can be found by the List of Texts in Alphabetical Order at www.Esoteric-Philosophy.com , www.TheosophyOnline.com,
or by the “Lista de Textos em Ordem Alfabética” at www.FilosofiaEsoterica.com .
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Ariel David is a Tel Aviv-based foreign correspondent
for Italian and English-language publications. He worked for five years as
correspondent for the Associated Press in Rome, covering Italy and the Vatican,
reporting on key events in Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate, including his
election and his trip to the Holy Land in 2009. (Note from the “Haaretz”)
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, www.Esoteric-Philosophy.com,
www.TheosophyOnline.com and www.FilosofiaEsoterica.com .
If you want to
have access to a daily study of the original teachings of Theosophy, write
to lutbr@terra.com.br
and ask for information on the
e-group E-Theosophy.
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