Vatican City – Yesterday, La Stampa published a piece aimed at promoting a book soon to be released by Edizioni Dehoniane, a publishing house long managed by the Dehonians—hardly renowned for their honesty and transparency, yet eager to pontificate from their blogs against everyone and everything. Does the name Lorenzo Prezzi ring a bell? No, because he’s unknown to most, one of those “poor boomers” keyboard warriors who vent their anger with moralizingposts, dispensing lessons without ever signing them on the front lines of coherence. The Dehonians, in fact, are heading for extinction, much to the relief of poor Father Dehon.
Today, behind EDB stands Alberto Melloni, who won the auction that sold off EDB after its bankruptcy. Melloni is one of those laymen with a fetish for the Catholic Church, ready to lecture priests, bishops, and even the Pope. He filled television studios whenever there was an opportunity to insult and attack Benedict XVI, who was apparently at fault for not mentioning him. The system follows Andrea Grillo’s motto: “If you don’t give me positions, you’re evil.”
Professor Melloni hailed Pope Francis enthusiastically when he was elected as if he were a new Revelation, but soon began to attack him for not giving him enough attention, even going so far as to undermine his interests. Along the same lines is Massimo Faggioli, who had to cross continents just to find someone willing to award him a chair. Different stories, but a single aim: to matter in an ecclesial landscape they wish to see revolve around themselves.
Yet the management of Melloni & Company, so acclaimed by Matteo Zuppi, has always been shrouded in opacity. Everything touched by the “lord of history” raises questions: from the chair at the University of Reggio Emilia to his role in the Giovanni XXIII Foundation for Religious Sciences—all seems wrapped in a thick fog. A few years ago, it emerged that, as coordinator of a PhD funded by PNRR funds, he also served as secretary of the Foundation, home to mandatory internships: a dual role much debated but never clarified. And yet, Melloni never misses an occasion to declare on television—as “church historian” on clearly left-wing programs—that priests and money cannot coexist. Meanwhile, he continues to pursue funding to sustain his activities. In short, these are the laymen who delegitimize the clergy because they want to handle the money themselves.
Once again we confront one of those outsiders never welcomed in the seminary but quick to take the lectern against the Church, in the ranks of so-called “Cathocommunists.” That said, here’s the picture: let’s finally get to the point. The publishing house has decided to print yet another thin booklet, full of copy-and-paste, authored by Antonio Spadaro: the Jesuit—now “orphan” of Bergoglio—today as disoriented as Andrea Tornielli and company, left without space or funding.
In recent weeks, we have witnessed a real boom of volumes on the newly elected Leo XIV, some printed just hours after the conclave. And then they wonder why no one takes seriously those claiming to possess “secret documents” on the Latin Mass? How can anyone trust those churning out books on Mary, on the Popes, or on any topic, products of artificial intelligence and on sale almost in real time?
The problem today is that publishing houses are thirsty for these nonsense and make no distinction: they fling open their doors to these “illiterates” who keep their names in the shop windows, despite having nothing substantive to say—after all, there isn’t much to reveal about a newly elected Pope. This sick system has elevated figures like Spadaro, whisked from Sicily to Rome to direct an increasingly embarrassing little magazine and then promoted—thanks to his work as scribbler for Bergoglio—to the Dicastery for Culture. A man who struggles to speak without dialect intonations, yet proclaims himself a supreme professor with an frankly hypertrophic ego.
The Spadaro–EDB combo is truly staggering: both so far removed from any rigor, they offer us a second “Viganò case.” Just like Dario Edoardo, who once forged a letter from Benedict XVI for personal gain, today Antonio Spadaro and EDB exploit Leo XIV to boost sales. A choice that has left the Pope not only annoyed, but downright irritated, especially after the false label “With an exclusive interview with Cardinal Robert F. Prevost,” which was turned into a supposed “interview with the Pope” in La Stampa yesterday.
And where is the Italian Journalists’ Association hiding? It’s surprising how it remains silent while nonexistent quotes are attributed to politicians and religious figures and false news parades unpunished across the pages of books and newspapers. Always ready to collect dues, but never to exercise the slightest oversight.
The “interview” is nothing but an old speech by Prevost, dating back to when he was a bishop, retrieved from a YouTube video and simply transcribed by Spadaro, a faithful scribe. It is therefore neither an interview nor an exclusive: it was never granted to Spadaro nor ever uttered by the Pope. Remember when they insulted Robert Sarah with the celibacy book affair and the instrumentalization of Benedict XVI? As you can see, what Silere non possum has been saying for years is reality: there is no difference between traditionalists and modernists.
La Stampa, then, transformed that simple transcribed speech into an “interview with the Pope” and placed it on its front page. Let us not forget that this is the same daily that boasted Andrea Tornielli as an “illustrious Vaticanist” and gave space to Salvatore Cernuzio. It was there that the two met, and the “magician” from Chioggia chose to bring his protégé to the Vatican once he secured his seat thanks to Beniamino Stella and Pietro Parolin.
What can one say? The amoral, scruple-free familistic system prevailing in journalism aligns perfectly with the Vatican one. One thing, however, is clear: for Antonio Spadaro, the door to the abyss is wide open. The days when one could turn a blind eye to such actions against the Pope are over. Today Prevost remains silent, but once he sets the chairs back in order and the music stops, some will find no spot on which to rest their rear ends.
d.M.A.
Silere non possum