Rumour of plot to kill pope ‘delirious’: Vatican
Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano ran a front-page story reporting that a cardinal had written a secret note to a superior in the Vatican saying he had heard of a sinister plot to kill Pope Benedict XVI within a year.
The sensational prediction was allegedly made by Cardinal Paolo Romeo, the archbishop of Palermo in Sicily, on a trip to China last November.
It was reported that the Chinese representatives of the Catholic Church and Italian businessmen to whom Romeo allegedly spoke were so alarmed by his comments that they reported them back to the Vatican.
According to reports, the comments were written up in a top-secret report, dated Dec 30, 2011, and delivered to the pontiff by a senior cardinal last month.
Although Vatican chiefs have reportedly launched an investigation into the claims, the Vatican was quick to dismiss them as “delirious” yesterday.
The Vatican’s spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said the report was “so incredible that we cannot comment on it”.
He added: “It seems to me something that is so far from reality that I don’t even want to address it.
“It seems an incredible story and I don’t want to comment.”
Meanwhile, Cardinal Romeo is quoted by Italian news agency ANSA as saying: “It is so outside of reality that it should not be given any consideration.”
