New
tales of priestly avarice rock the Vatican
Two
books expose financial secrets that risk undermining Pope Francis’
reforms.
By SILVIA MARCHETTI
11/4/15, 8:30 PM CET
The Holy See is
about to be rocked by a second “Vatileaks” scandal.
The publication of
two books Thursday — “Via Crucis” by Gianluigi Nuzzi and
“Avarizia” by Emiliano Fittipaldi — promises to expose new
evidence of fraud and misdoings in the Oltretevere, as Romans call
St. Peter’s kingdom beyond the Tiber River.
The books appear to
be linked to this week’s arrests by Vatican police of Spanish
clergyman Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, secretary of a special
commission set up by Pope Francis to examine the Vatican’s finances
— known by its acronym COSEA — and Francesca Chaouqui, an Italian
PR woman who was dubbed the “social media guru”of the Holy See.
They are suspected
of leaking to journalists classified Vatican documents, including
recordings of private conversations of the Pope, spiritual leader of
the world’s one billion Roman Catholics, and information about
Vatican finances.
Chaouqui, who
collaborated with investigators, has been released, while the cleric
remains in custody. Both face up to eight years in jail.
“Via Crucis” was
written by a reporter who was involved in the first “Vatileaks”
scandal in 2012 that cast a shadow over the papacy of Joseph
Ratzinger, who as Pope Benedict took the historically unprecedented
step of resigning in 2013.
In his book, Nuzzi
highlights the internal fight being waged by Benedict’s Argentine
successor Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, against
excessive Church spending.
“Expenditures are
out of control … there are traps. If we can’t keep under control
the money, which is visible, then how can we look after the souls of
the faithful, which are invisible?” he quotes Bergoglio as saying
in a moment of private distress.
“Avarizia”
(“avarice”) is a snapshot of the Vatican’s financial fraud
based on confidential documents obtained from the COSEA.
“I have documents
coming from various sources including the COSEA committee, the IOR
(the Institute for the Works of Religion, the Vatican bank) and the
Vatican prefecture,” Fittipaldi told POLITICO in an interview.
“The greatest
bombshell is that the Vatican is still working as a profitable
merchant bank — the Church of the Poor, strongly wanted by Pope
Francis, is far away from being created,” he said.
In an excerpt
published Tuesday in L’Espresso magazine, Fittipaldi alleges that
the former Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone used
part of a €200,000 fund destined for a foundation for sick children
to fund the redecoration of his lavish apartment, while a German
bishop — who was removed last year — spent €31 million on a
makeover of his palace in Limburg.
The Church also
bought luxury flats in the capital’s historical center worth €4
billion which are leased to VIPs, while Rome struggles to find
housing for the influx of migrants, according to the book.
“Avarizia” tells
of prelates living in 400- to 600 square-meter studios with panoramic
terraces overlooking Rome’s monuments, or building private retreats
in lush Holy See estates with expensive furniture. Some regularly
travel business class and one cleric is reported to have rented a
private helicopter for €24,000 to fly from Rome to Basilicata, in
southern Italy.
Fittipaldi recounts
senior priests making shopping trips to designer boutiques and
holding lavish gala dinners of tuna and red prawn carpaccio at the
capital’s most exclusive restaurants.
More allegations
concern money donated by the faithful via “Peter’s Pence” which
has been invested in funds and bank accounts worth €400 million and
is used by the Roman Curia for personal expenses and private trips.
The author said the Church bought shares in oil companies involved in
environmental disasters and paid for lawyers used in beatifications
and canonizations.
The Vatican’s only
response so far has been an official statement describing the actions
of those who leaked the material as “divulging confidential
documents [which] is a crime under the criminal code of the Vatican
City State.”
“It should be said
clearly once again on this occasion as in the past, that they are the
result of a serious betrayal of the trust placed in certain
individuals by the Pope, and, as far as the authors are concerned, of
an operation to draw advantage from a gravely unlawful act,” the
statement read.
“Publications of
this kind do not contribute in any way to the establishment of
clarity and truth, but rather to the creation of confusion and
partial and tendentious interpretations. We must absolutely avoid the
mistake of thinking that this is a way to help the mission of the
Pope.”
In a television
interview Nunzio Galantino, head of the Italian Episcopal Conference,
described the leaks as “an attack on the Church. I don’t know
who, but someone is frightened by the renewal process brought forth
by Pope Francis.”
Authors:
Silvia Marchetti
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