by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

The Vatican's second-in-command is accusing the media of doing the work of Satan by spreading 'pettiness and lies' about the Catholic Church and 'intentionally ignoring' the good things the church does.

'The truth is that there is an attempt to sow division that comes from the Devil,' Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone said in a June 18 interview with the Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana.

'Many journalists are playing the game of trying to imitate Dan Brown,' Bertone said, referring to the best-selling author of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.

'They [journalists] continue to invent fairytales and repeat legends,' Bertone added.

The latest scandal to envelope the Vatican involves the leak of secret documents, including letters written to Pope Benedict XVI by church officials discussing sensitive topics like financial corruption at the highest levels of the church.

The pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested last month after a large number of stolen documents were found in his home.

In a previous interview, Bertone said the leaks made the pope 'sad,' but added that Benedict 'isn't intimidated by attacks of any type.'

In his June 18 interview, Bertone said no cardinals were suspected of involvement in the leaks scandal.

He also denied allegations by Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the former head of the Vatican bank, that he was ousted because he wanted the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), to be more transparent.

Bertone repeated the Vatican's position that Gotti Tedeschi left after a no-confidence vote by the bank's board because he was a divisive and inefficient manager.

Bertone was appointed to his position as Cardinal Secretary of State - officially in charge of the Vatican's political and diplomatic affairs - in 2006. He is noted for his controversial defense of Catholic bishops who concealed child abuse by priests serving under them.

'[I]f a priest cannot confide in his bishop for fear of being denounced, then it would mean that there is no more liberty of conscience,' Bertone said in 2010.

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