THE VATICAN’S NUMBER two has said that some media are trying to “imitate Dan Brown”, the famed author of the The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, in their reporting of the ongoing Vatileaks scandal.

In an interview with Famiglia Christiana – an Italian Catholic magazine – Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said that the media is ignoring the good things the church is doing while focusing on the scandals.

He was referring to the controversy surrounding a series of leaks from the church that in some cases allege corruption in the Church’s dealings with Italian companies who were paid inflated prices, rivalries among cardinals and clashes with management at the Vatican Bank.

The scandal recently saw the arrest of the Pope’s butler, Paulo Gabriele, who is suspected of having orchestrated the leak of the documents which paint a picture of a power struggle and corruption at the highest levels of the Catholic Church.

“They (journalists) continue to invent fairytales and repeat legends,” Bertone is quoted by Reuters as telling the paper adding that they were full of “pettiness and lies spread in these days”.

He said that many media are “playing the game of trying to imitate Dan Brown” referring to the works of the American fiction author who has been criticised as being anti-Christian.

The Cardinal added that the truth of the matter was the Vatileaks scandal “is an attempt to sow division that comes from the Devil”.

Read: A butler, a cardinal and the Pope: Vatileaks scandal deepens

Read: Vatican launches rare criminal probe into leaks

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