'Vatileaks' casts cloud over new cardinal ceremony

[February 17, 2012]  VATICAN CITY (AP) -- A scandal over leaked documents and reports of political infighting, intrigue and mismanagement in the Vatican's frescoed halls has cast a cloud over this weekend's ceremony to create 22 new princes of the church.

Pope Benedict XVI summoned cardinals new and old for a day of reflection Friday ahead of Saturday's consistory, where the 22 new cardinals will get their red hats and be formally welcomed into the elite men's club that will elect the next pope.

With the 84-year-old German pope slowing down, Saturday's ceremony has taken on the aura of a pre-conclave summit, with the various geographic voting blocs of cardinals -- Italians prime among them -- jockeying for prominence with a view to take back the papacy they haven't had for three decades.

[Associated Press]

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