/** * https://gist.github.com/samthor/64b114e4a4f539915a95b91ffd340acc */ (function() { var check = document.createElement('script'); if (!('noModule' in check) && 'onbeforeload' in check) { var = false; document.addEventListener('beforeload', function(e) { if (e.target === check) { = true; } else if (!e.target.hasAttribute('nomodule') || !) { return; } e.preventDefault(); }, true); check.type = 'module'; check.src = '.'; document.head.appendChild(check); check.remove(); } }());

The Vatican: Suspense and intrigue

Media films the stove at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican March 9Reuters

The media have been invited in to see preparations for the conclave

By Gavin Hewitt
Europe editor
@BBCGavinHewitt

St Peter's Square has become a kind of Coliseum. On every vantage point are the TV tents waiting for the games to begin.

Even non-Catholic countries cannot resist "lo spettacolo", the secret ritual of choosing a new Pope. Meanwhile - based on very little - the betting agencies run their books on who will be the winner.

The Church protects the secrecy of its deliberations but at the same is keen to feed a worldwide audience. So it holds at bay and entices at the same time.

Cardinals are cautioned against giving interviews whilst the Vatican brings in the cameras to show off the urns where the ballots are placed and the stoves where the ballots are burned.

The Vatican well understands the fascination with the workings of the Conclave and drip feeds the detail. Yet this remains a dangerous time for the Church.

The age of deference has ed. Much of the press approaches the Vatican as it would any other institution. Commentators are not shy in suggesting who should lead the Church.

Some writers have called for a Vatican Spring. The Vatican has accused the media of trying to influence the conclave.

Here is the dilemma: The election of a new Pope can display the splendour of the Church and its worldwide influence. What it cannot do of itself is restore the authority, the moral authority of the Church.

Leaked dossier

People hold quilts at a press conference outside of Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Archdiocese of Los AngelesReuters

The sex abuse scandal often overshadowed Benedict XVI's papacy

The abuse scandal remains corrosive. The question is not just: "why were the allegations not investigated more rigorously">