Robert Mickens - 16 March 2013 Robert Mickens - 16 March 2013

Robert Mickens, the longtime Rome correspondent for The Tablet, a U.K.-based Catholic newspaper, sees many of the scandals and bureaucratic flubs as indications that the church must modernize itself. "The church as it exists today is anachronistic," he said. "It's an absolute monarchy in the 21st century, with a bureaucracy with roots that date back to the fourth or fifth century. It must be thoroughly reformed." Not only do the matters threaten to darken Benedict's legacy, but they dramatically increase the difficulties facing his successor. "The recent spate of problems is going to leave the next pope with the greatest challenges since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council," Mickens said, referring to the three-year process undertaken in the mid-Sixties to update the way the church related to the world. Mickens says the Italians might be better equipped to overhaul the church's administrative apparatus, known as the powerful Roman curia, which was relatively unsupervised under Benedict. Italians dominate the curia in terms of membership numbers, and its administrative style, language and decision-making process is decidedly Italian. "The curia can reflect the best and worst aspects of Italy, and there is a belief that it could take an Italian to understand it and reform it," Mickens says.

They quote Robert Mickens, the Vatican correspondent for The Tablet: "They're very concerned about getting somebody clean.

Robert C. Mickens speaks about The Vatican's implosion CityClubofCleveland Nov.20 2012 Robert C. Mickens, Vatican correspondent and columnist for "The Tablet," speaks about The Vatican's implosion and what it means for American Catholics in a 56 minute video. Robert C. Mickens

Robert Mickens It was the day after the 'Regensburg' speech when Tarcisio Bertone was installed as the Vatican's Secretary of State, and he hit the ground running. Since then this populist and voluble cardinal - fiercely loyal to his cerebral boss - has remained a controversial figure Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone would be the first to admit that he has not had an easy time as Vatican Secretary of State. More by Robert Mickens