The Vatican Soap Opera With the Italian Prime Minister

This is pretty wild. Get Religion that examones religious reporting has Tryin’ to make me go to rehab…

This has not got a huge amount of American Press yet. Which perhaps is good because as they point out

There will be another act, or perhaps many acts, in this opera buffa (or Boffo) and maybe we’ll get a few answers. In the meantime, we need writers who can ride the waves of political and religious tempests without drowning in a sea of Italian intrigue. This requires that religion writers be able to explain the theatrical and traditional aspects of a culture in which a public display of atonement is even more effective than an appearance on a talk show or a press conference (atonement, American-style). Covering religion Italian-style demands continued skill in translation, even if the writer’s first language is English. The most experienced Vatican-watchers fill in some pieces where they can — or admit that they don’t have all the pieces.