World Press Takes Months to Catch-Up to Whispers, Part 24,362

The venerable Daily Telegraph of London thinks it's got a big scoop today:

Over the past few weeks, the German pontiff has been seen sneaking back to his old room outside the Vatican walls three times, La Stampa reported yesterday.

It'd be news if only they weren't seven months late and hundred of pounds short, La Stampa being hundreds of Euro short.

"'We shouldn't be surprised' wrote Marco Tossati, La Stampa's Vatican correspondent."

No, Marco, you shouldn't be surprised at all that, last June 27, the even more venerable Whispers in the Loggia broke the story:

Anyone in Rome might be wise to drop down to the Piazza della Citta' Leonina before dinnertime. You might just get a private audience on the street.

In the parlance of Benedict XVI's Vatican, I'm told, the apartment Cardinal Ratzinger occupied for 24 years (right by the last stop of the 62 Bus on which everyone gets groped) is still referred to as "home." The fifth floor of the Apostolic Palace is the dwelling above the shop.

A correspondent tells me a police car is parked outside the home base at all times, and that its "former resident" still gets back there a couple times a week for lengthy visits. It's an open question as to whether he might even be spending the night....

Yet again, cari fratelli e sorelle, It Isn't News If You Read Whispers. It really isn't news at all -- except for (the clueless) dilettantes.

Recognize.

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