"The Vatican is a hive of interests, different groups like Opus Dei and little transparency which heightens tension," said Gianluigi Nuzzi, the journalist who last month published the leaked letters in "Your Holiness", a book the Vatican describes as "criminal".
The stakes are high and time is short, since the winning side could have a huge say over who replaces the pontiff.
Letters published so far accuse Bertone of exiling a priest to a US post after he exposed graft at the Vatican and insinuate the cardinal was behind a gay whispering campaign against a newspaper editor.
But they also claim Bertone's biggest battles took place in Milan, involving high finance, a suicide, the Vatican's millions and the 77-year-old cardinal's alleged thirst for empire building outside the Holy See. "Bertone wanted to extend his authority beyond the Vatican and tighten his grip on Milan," Nuzzi told the Guardian.
In March 2011, Bertone abruptly fired Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the head of the Istituto Toniolo, a wealthy, religious foundation that controls the city's Cattolica university, an institution so influential three of its professors were appointed as minister in Mario Monti's technocrat government last November.
Bertone reportedly told Tettamanzi, a powerful former archbishop of Milan, he had Benedict's backing to sack him, but a furious Tettamanzi wrote directly to the pope demanding to know if Bertone had gone behind his back.
"This was a real clash of the titans," said Nuzzi of the battle, which ended with Tettamanzi resigning.
Next, Bertone allegedly ordered the head of the Vatican bank to bid for Milan's bankrupt San Raffaele hospital, founded by Don Luigi Verze, a confidant of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who enjoyed close ties to the Italian secret services. Wiretaps reveal he may have been linked to an alleged arson attack on a business rival.
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The stakes are high and time is short, since the winning side could have a huge say over who replaces the pontiff.
Letters published so far accuse Bertone of exiling a priest to a US post after he exposed graft at the Vatican and insinuate the cardinal was behind a gay whispering campaign against a newspaper editor.
But they also claim Bertone's biggest battles took place in Milan, involving high finance, a suicide, the Vatican's millions and the 77-year-old cardinal's alleged thirst for empire building outside the Holy See. "Bertone wanted to extend his authority beyond the Vatican and tighten his grip on Milan," Nuzzi told the Guardian.
In March 2011, Bertone abruptly fired Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the head of the Istituto Toniolo, a wealthy, religious foundation that controls the city's Cattolica university, an institution so influential three of its professors were appointed as minister in Mario Monti's technocrat government last November.
Bertone reportedly told Tettamanzi, a powerful former archbishop of Milan, he had Benedict's backing to sack him, but a furious Tettamanzi wrote directly to the pope demanding to know if Bertone had gone behind his back.
"This was a real clash of the titans," said Nuzzi of the battle, which ended with Tettamanzi resigning.
Next, Bertone allegedly ordered the head of the Vatican bank to bid for Milan's bankrupt San Raffaele hospital, founded by Don Luigi Verze, a confidant of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who enjoyed close ties to the Italian secret services. Wiretaps reveal he may have been linked to an alleged arson attack on a business rival.
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