I’m fascinated by Italy because the gap between what it claims to be (liberal democracy, capitalist economy, Catholic society) and what it actually is (kleptocracy, crony capitalism, debauchery) is wide enough to fit… the Vatican.
But when readers complained that maybe a Roman Catholic newspaper had a moral duty to denounce divorce, consorting with teenage girls, naked poolside parties and being caught on tape telling a prostitute to wait for him in “Putin’s bed” while he showers, the newspaper’s editor began to weigh in.
“People have understood the unease, the mortification, the suffering that this arrogant neglect of sobriety has caused the Catholic Church,” the editor, Dino Boffo, wrote last month.
On Thursday, Mr. Boffo was out of a job.
Late last week, Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by Mr. Berlusconi’s brother, called Mr. Boffo “a homosexual known to the Italian secret services” and the culprit in a sexual harassment suit.
Essentially, the pillars of Italy are so fundamentally corrupt that its the most brazenly hypocritical who rule the roost. Amazing. Reformation, anyone?