| May 5, 2025
Rome. The Eternal City is buzzing with anticipation these days ahead of the conclave. The corridors, cafes, and restaurants near the Vatican are a hive of activity with cardinals, journalists, clerics, and opinion-makers of all stripes. We, too, have been strolling through the city, encountering quite a few familiar faces.
But if there’s one meeting we won’t forget, it was this afternoon. Walking around the outskirts of Borgo Pio, I met none other than the Jesuit James Martin and the British native Austin Ivereigh, two of the greatest enthusiasts of Francis’s pontificate and tireless defenders of the synodal line, inclusive and conciliatory… at least on paper.
Upon seeing them, my friend and companion on this trip wanted to greet them, and we introduced ourselves: “We’re from InfoVaticana.” The reaction was instantaneous and, frankly, revealing. James Martin, the author of “Building Bridges,” that book that boasts of building bridges between the Church and the peripheries, chose to turn away and turn his back on us without saying a word. No dialogue, no bridges, no greeting. A pure wall. How significant. We must not be their type.
Austin Ivereigh, for his part, did speak to us… although perhaps he would have preferred not to. Visibly annoyed—and increasingly so as the conversation progressed—he stood up, approached us, and vehemently reproached us for the “campaign” we, according to him, were waging against Cardinal Robert Prevost. “The campaign you’re waging against Prevost is very interesting,” he said, his tone a mixture of anger and frustration.
When we replied, “No, not against Prevost; against the culture of cover-up in the Church, which you’re now in favor of?” the discomfort was palpable. Nervous, Ivereigh mentioned a Sodalitium as the supposed source of the information, and when we explained that there are many cases, all documented, he insisted, ironically, that InfoVaticana “always has more,” referring to the documents we’ve been publishing on the case. His reaction left no room for doubt: Prevost was their man, the candidate on whom they had pinned all their hopes.
The scene couldn’t have been more illustrative. Just hours before the conclave begins, the coup plotters are nervous. And not because someone is defaming Prevost, but because the truth is coming out. Because the documents, the testimonies, and the omissions are there, documented and published. And more are coming.
It’s revealing: the same environment that demands synodality, transparency, and bridges of dialogue cannot bear to shed light on the dark sides of its protégés. For some, the culture of concealment is not a past to be overcome, but a strategy they still try to maintain.
At InfoVaticana, we will continue doing what we’ve always done: telling what others prefer to keep quiet. Because if today’s meeting has demonstrated anything, it’s that there are those who fear, and are very much so, that we will continue to tell more.
Martin is a nasty little witch isn’t he