The Vatican's most pompous moment

Apparently the pope is upset at the media, especially the Italian media because of its relentless focus on Vatican scandals. The prevailing winds in Italy blame Benedict's departure on these scandals. Don't they know he's God's representative on Earth?!

Here is the Vatican's comment on this:

"If in the past, the so-called powers, i.e., States, exerted pressures on the election of the pope, today there is an attempt to do this through public opinion that is often based on judgments that do not typically capture the spiritual aspect of the moment that the church is living," the statement said. 

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi was asked how specifically the media was trying to influence the outcome; Lombardi didn't respond directly, saying only that the reports have tended to paint the Curia in a negative light "beyond the considerations and serene evaluations" of problems that cardinals might discuss before the conclave.

Indeed. It must be highly serene and extra-holy at the Vatican these days. The whole world can see this. I can't tell you how often I hear people say, "It's just so spiritual at the Vatican, especially now in this time of popely change. And those holy cardinals! Have you ever seen such serenity?!"

I especially like the Vatican's reference to "the so-called powers, i.e., States". That's so much fun. Because there are no real powers in the world. There is only the Vatican, the official house of Jeebus.

But the media's not buying it. The story ends this way:

The Vatican's attack on the media echoed its response to previous scandals, where it has tended not to address the underlying content of accusations, but has diverted attention away. During the 2010 explosion of sex abuse scandals, the Vatican accused the media of trying to attack the pope; during the 2012 leaks scandal, it accused the media of sensationalism without addressing the content of the leaked documents.