Frustrations in the Village of Washerwomen

This is the most on-target piece I've yet seen on life inside the Vatican these days.... Tip to Phil Pulella at Reuters...

According to Vatican statistics, [Benedict XVI] is attracting twice as many people to his general audiences and Sunday blessings than John Paul did in the same period in 2004.

But the private Pope, according to several well-placed Vatican prelates who spoke on the condition of anonymity, is another matter.

"The style inside the Vatican now is totally different," said a monsignor. "He is keeping a lot of us guessing."

Yes he is.

John Paul would invite visitors to his private mass early every morning and engage them afterwards at breakfast on a host of issues facing the Church and the world.

Before his health declined, John Paul's dinners were legendary for their cultural exchange and lively intellectual banter.

Benedict, by contrast, has precious few visitors to his private apartments apart from his close staff. So, hints of what is on his mind or of impending decisions rarely trickle out.

No they aren't.

"Everyone says he listens very carefully. He listens, listens and listens, but he does not talk much," one prelate who holds a senior Vatican position said.

"I can assure you, we not only know zero, we know less than zero," he said.

Not less than zero here, but close.

Hardly a week passes without an Italian media report that Benedict is about to shake up the curia, the Vatican's central administration, with a slew of new appointments.

But the sources said Benedict would most likely make new appointments one at a time.

"I don't see any big changes in the air, at least not all at once. As people retire they will be replaced," a monsignor said.

One major change that has been mooted for some time is a successor for Cardinal Angelo Sodano as secretary of state.

Sodano, who turns 78 this month, has held the second most powerful job in the Vatican since 1991 and is three years beyond the normal retirement age.

But Benedict so far has frustrated all the pundits and kept Sodano -- and a host of others -- in their jobs.

Benedict surprised many in the Vatican when, several months after his election, he appointed an American, Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco, to succeed him in his old job as the Vatican's chief doctrinal enforcer.

"No one here was able to predict that," one prelate said.

No one there. In Rome. That's right.

And wait, Phil: Levada wasn't appointed "several months" after B16's election -- he got the nod precisely two weeks after 19 April.....

-30-