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what can we do for you? >> we are a nation of explorers. we seek new ways of living, of thinking, and of expressing ourselves. we take risks. we learn from experience. and we keep moving forward. that is why we encourage and celebrate the explorer in all of us. >> and now "bbc newsnight." >> will he be judged in how he deals with [unintelligible] he was a child molester and drug addict and a leading figure in

the catholic church. why was a vatican investigation halted? whoyman's guide to the man the theory that makes guide any relevance. >> i answer questions about life and everything. >> we explore the cultural legacy of the most talked-about bed. >> is that a hot water bottle or are you pleased to see me? the waterbed, is it the betting choice for the future? -- bedding choice? >> next week's visit to great britain by the pope is historic and highly controversial. he ran the vatican department charged with investigating

miscreant priests. defenders say he was thwarted in major cases by another influential cardinal and his predecessor. peter marshall reports on inquiries into the most serious of these cases. >> what is truth? truitt sets you free. god is truth. -- trysta sets you free. sexual abuse in the church has been hidden for many years. what has been the role of joseph? first as cardinal and now as pope. >> he had the case and did not do anything for six years. >> he does seem to be frightened. he seems to be boxed in. >> the cover-up has been going on for many years and people

have lost their faith. >> the way he deals with pedophile priests will be the measure by which pope benedict's papacy is judged. he has been accused of failing to clean up that filth. is he the solution or part of the problem? that question has asked increasingly over europe in the past 15 years since the head of the austrian church was revealed to be a pedophile. hans is the most senior priest to have resigned over child abuse in the past 50 years. he had been cardinal archbishop for a decade when allegations were made public he has molested boys throughout his career. by 1995 the damage had been done to his victims and the reputation of the church. >> they would not believe it.

some of them did not want to believe that because the perspective of faith was shattered. so i think it was a shocking experience. >> this monsignor is a former general of vienna. this -- these days in northern austria he finds himself at odds with the vatican he thinks has betrayed many. he was outraged by the cardinals conduct, but that the vatican had not investigated his record. >> the vatican must [unintelligible] they should have looked at his final -- file and should have decided this man is not able to become archbishop. >> in austria many catholics left the church in disgust. half a million joined a protest

movement against the vatican. >> the case was such a terrible shock and a shock of a kind we could not imagine. this is also true for the pope. >> as a theological conservative, he had been a favorite of pope john paul ii. >> he was brought up in the kind of catholicism where a pope would never admit to that kind of thing. >> so he just turned his head away. >> those were problems a cardinal would not investigate. >> [inaudible] >> that is what they have been doing all this time. >> people were shocked and angry.

they were disappointed. >> did the vatican know? >> the vatican did not say anything. the cardinal was [unintelligible] he carried on his office and it was a very strange time. >> the man with notional responsibility for looking into the abuse was another cardinal named joseph. his inquiries were quickly abandoned. the current carville says joseph was that it touched -- the current cardinal. >> the law in the church is very clear, the only person who is able to make an investigation for the cardinal is the pope. >> you are saying it was pope john paul who should have acted. >> it is the responsibility not

of the pope, but of some counselors around the pope who were of the opinion that all the cases brought up against the cardinal were media gossip. >> media gossip was the phrase of a man who has been a key figure for 20 years. first as secretary of state and now as dean of the cardinal -- college of cardinals. john paul had the power is of an absolute monarchs, but he remained dependent on [unintelligible] >> the flow of information is something that is important. that can stop or be diverted along the line. getting his well done depends on

the cooperation of people in the lower offices and their understanding of what he wants. >> how important with the cardinal had been? >> probably more important than anyone else. >> they cardinal behind-the- scenes was to prove end obstacle for joseph. in the same period, across the atlantic there were graver allegations against another pedophile priest. once again, central to the investigation was cardinal ratzinger. the priest was [unintelligible] his influence covered the world. >> he raised billions of dollars, created a network of schools and a religious

movement that spread to four comments. he was a notorious child molester, morphine addict and use money to secure power. >> jason berry has been investigating him for 25 years. he said the vatican had complaints stretching back to the 1950's. the failure to act left the victims of protected. he also had secret relationships with various women and children were born. >> i have interviewed pedophiles in prison, a great many of abuse survivors. i don't think any of those priests even comes close to him in terms of raw evil. it is almost mind-boggling what he did. >> he was born in 1920 into a

prominent catholic family. family connections secured his organization -- secured his ordination. he founded the legion of christ, a movement that claims a presence in 23 countries. at one point the vatican and suspended him amid allegations he abused seminarians and was hooked on morphine. but he was reinstated and his behavior was unchecked for five decades. >> [unintelligible] [applause] >> pope john paul was a fan of his. according to a former lawyer at the vatican embassy, this was another huge misjudgment. >> he was in denial about the harm done. he was a favorite for a couple of reasons. he was a massive fund raiser and

his people were making significant payoffs to vatican officials to maintain their stature. and he and his organization pledged personal loyalty to the pope. >> by the late 1990's the complaints were becoming impossible to ignore. cardinal ratzinger made a move to investigate but stopped. >> once the case was filed it sank into limbo and stayed there for six years. ratzinger had the case and did not do anything. >> the pope has continued to praise father marciel. cardinal ratzinger was not happy. >> the colonel became visibly upset when we tried to ask him about father marciel.

>> we tried to ask you. >> ratzinger and pope john paul had come under pressure from cardinal angelo. [applause] >> they had been allies since the 1970's. maciekl donated thousands to the cardinal. cardinal ratzinger, it was a lesson in power. >> imagine his horror at having to deal with such a corrupt figure while he is under pressure from sodono, the secretary of state's, the hon is person in this political culture. -- the highest person. >> ratzinger is a very sir

rebuttal person. he relates to issues on that level -- a very cerebral person. >> he is a man who knows how to manipulate power and operate organizations. >>sodono may have carried more weight. >> i believe so. >> only with pope john paul's death did things change. within months he had banished maciel. maciel died in 2008. the legion of christ which saw its founders canonization was left in shock by the revelations. a spokesman said its is planning with hope and humility. as for cardinal sodono, he has refused to speak to us. he is dean of the college of

cardinals and was involved over pope benedict's handling of sex abuse allegations. >> an attempt to defend the pope against allegations he had not done a enough would lead to another extraordinary revelation. this one exposed a clear split in the vatican. at easter in austria, at the current cardinal of the anna -- cardinal of vienna went on tv to defend the pope's record. >> he wanted to investigate but had been blocked. the obstruction was cardinal sodono. this approach was unprecedented. >> what this says is that this this -- is thick blanket of secrecy, there are holes in the blanket. there are holes coming through because they realize this is a

different world. maintaining secrecy is not possible. >> pope benedict reputation was supposed to be enhanced by the news you try to act against pedophile priests, but he was unhappy with the airing of the dirty laundry. this is a telling example of a pulp conflicted. >> you are harming the church, admitting the church has gone wrong. it is not popular. >> has there been an evolution? do you think? >> i hope and pray, because if there hasn't that is not good. >> god is truth and truth sets you free. gospels proclaim it and the

catholic church spent 2000 years spreading the word. yet when they came to its worst child abusers, the word was erased. the offenders were allowed to step aside. there was never a hint of anyone going to jail. that is the truth pope benedict has to bear. >> professor stephen hawking published a book on the most theoretical science. he explains why he believes that so-called m theory is the unified theory einstein was hoping to have. it settles de idea of where the universe came from. ♪

>> in this dream of finding a unifying theory of everything will make sense of our world from the infinitesimally small to the cosmological large. one such theory allows for numerous possible worlds, each with its own rules. stephen hawking who is director of research at the center for theoretical cosmology has swung his support behind this m theory. we have come to talk to professor hawking about m theory and ask him about the landscape of possible universities. how would he explain m theory to the many people in the u.k. will have little interest in theoretical physics? >> it is the theory of everything. it explains how the universe was created out of nothing. it governs everything we think we do.

>> what exactly is m theory? it is just mask and can be thought of as an extension of an earlier set of ideas. this was effectively five string theories and a sixth theory called supergravity. in the mid-1990s's it got simpler. >> in 19951 person gave us what we now call m theory. he explained what we thought of as six competing different theories were just six different corners of a deeper theory that we call m theory. >> the thing about it is most people find hard to get their brains around is the mathematical equations implied the existence of extra

dimensions, but which exist alongside the four dimensions of time and space. m theory has its critics who argue a is not a proper scientific theory because it lacks predictive power. the trouble with the theories of everything is that testing them in the laboratory is tricky. that leaves them open to the charge there is just of much of leap of faith as religion. some scientists said that is about to change. this man has found the same mass used in m theory also applies to quantum physics which can be tested. what this means is he has found a way to indirectly test the mass of m theory.

>> we can make precise predictions that can be tested. does that mean we have shown m theory is of everything? no, but we have answered those critics who say this has no useful applications. the other kind of credit a wants to know is it the theory of everything will have to be more patient. >> we asked stephen hawking about confirming m theory by observation? >> it is the only unified theory. the most important of which is there should be a relation called supersymmetry. this would predict when elementary particles should occur in pairs. it may be possible to observe this which would go a long way toward confirming m theory.

>> in the past you have spoken pessimistically about the prospects for the human race in the future. can m karie save us? >> the human race depends on whether we act wisely, not on whether we have the correct theory of everything. in the long term, we need to spread out into space. an isolated disaster can destroy the entire species. >>if m fearing a complete -- will it prove or disprove the idea of a benevolent creator? >> m theory does not disprove god but it makes him unnecessary. it predicts that the universe will be created out of nothing without the need for a creator. >> in a universe where god is rendered unnecessary, how does

professor hawking feel about his mortality? does that scare you? >> i am not afraid of death but i am in no hurry to dye. >> for most of us it is a challenge to think ourselves into stephen hawking's world, let alone into the multitude of other possible worlds. in the search for a grand design. >> [unintelligible] back in the days before bling professional footballers' have done it too. the foreign secretary shared a room with twin beds with his parliamentary aide. stephen smith brings you the cultural legacy of the twin bed hotel room. >> friday evening, another

lonely night on the road, but it does not have to be. ♪ >> thanks to a marvelous facility available at many fine hotels, twin beds. here is what one hotel worker has to say about them. >> if parents are going on holiday with a couple of kids, they will have a double bed room and put their kids in a twin bed three travelers together will share a room. if you go back to the 1920's a lot of families slept 3 or four to a bed. there was not the same luxury we have now.

>> it is hard to believe now when some footballers will not stay in the same bedroom, teammates used to bond up together in twin beds. >> we is to share twin rooms. -- we use to share twinned rooms. we slept in the afternoon. we actually got [unintelligible] by what can only be described as an artful dodger. when the police came in they said what on earth were you doing? we went, we are football players. they looked at us and said what is this all about? >> this canadian who once staged a live bed show -- this comedian. >> there is a certain

chumminess. if you cannot sleep you can have a chat. >> like a slumber party. >> it means you only need one to of toothpaste -- one tube of toothpaste. one of you can use the facilities. there is a degree of generosity. it is really coming down to the snoring. if you are off first and snoring loudly, i am in trouble. ♪ >> you can learn more in a bed conversation. it is almost as if you have a different parameters than in an office. >> that is work pillow talk comes from. >> the bedroom -- we don't know what goes on in bedrooms. there is a whole world of

difference. the bed is the most crucial piece of furniture. that is the only bit of furniture you need in the house. >> to do list, call about job. that is it, time for a nap in my twin bed. i expect tomorrow to feel twice the price. >> that is all for this week. for all of us, goodbye. >> funding is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, and honolulu. the john d. macarthur foundation, and union bank.

>> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> i am kevin bacon. >> public broadcasting is my source for news about the world. >> for election coverage you can count on. >> for deciding who to vote for. public broadcasting is my source for intelligent connections to my community. >> "bbc newsnight" was