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The Living Force
Dirty laundry? Two senior Vatican officials arrested in new VatiLeaks scandal
http://www.sott.net/article/305436-Dirty-laundry-Two-senior-Vatican-officials-arrested-in-new-VatiLeaks-scandal
More details on the two books being released, on the mismanagement and excesses of the Vatican and misappropriated funds.
New books allege mismanagement, excess at the Vatican
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new-books-cite-mismanagement-excess-at-the-vatican/2015/11/03/ba0d101a-81a5-11e5-8bd2-680fff868306_story.html
The Vatican faced fresh accusations of mismanagement, excess and resistance to change as details from two new books emerged Tuesday, a day after the Holy See announced the arrest of two insiders on suspicion of leaking internal information.
The Washington Post obtained an early copy of “Avarice: Documents Revealing Wealth, Scandals and Secrets of Francis’ Church” by Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi of L’Espresso, which delves into the details of suspect accounts in the Vatican Bank, big spending by cardinals and the “saint making factory” of the Holy See.
In one incident, Fittipaldi outlines a 23,800 euro ($26,400) helicopter ride in 2012 by former Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone who was pushed aside by Francis. He also documents how a religious foundation paid to refurbish Bertone’s home.
He also cites continuing problems at the Vatican bank, which became the subject of a massive clean up effort that started under Benedict XVI and kicked into high gear under Francis.
He cites, for instance, an account at the Vatican Bank originally under the name of Lorenzo Leone, a deceased Italian bureaucrat who Fittipaldi said had allegedly amassed an illicit fortune while managing an Italian insane asylum. Earlier this year, Italian authorities were surprised, Fittipaldi said, to find out about the existence of the account containing 8 million euros and which was still being used by Leone’s relatives.
Fittipaldi cites internal documents as showing that most of the St. Peter’s Pence offerings sent to the Vatican from parishes around the world — which totaled 378 million euros, or $415 million in 2013 — wound up in an account mostly used to cover the functioning of the Holy See’s bureaucratic machine and was not used for charitable reasons.
Between July, 2014 to January, 2015, Fittipaldi, citing documents from the Vatican’s accountability office, alleges the cardinal spent 501,000 euros ($551,000) — computers, staff, business class tickets, clothing, housing, tailor made upholstery and “luxurious furniture.” In another chapter, he outlines the “saint making factory” at the Vatican and how some parishes have paid up to $482,693 to push forward the candidacy of local saints.
Also emerging this week is “Merchants in the Temple,” by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, whose 2012 book on a “Vatileaks” scandal rocked the papacy of Benedict XVI by detailing behind-the-scenes power struggles revealed in documents stolen by Pope Benedict’s butler.
Nuzzi’s new book, “Merchants in the Temple,” draws on documents, interviews and recordings of Francis speaking in closed-door meetings, according to Chiarelettere, his Italian publisher.
The pope is quoted as dressing down top financial officials, saying “costs are out of control,” and demanding transparency after finding “unofficial budgets” that detailed funds allegedly misused by Vatican officials, according to the publisher. The book also looks at alleged attempts to sabotage Francis’s reforms, describes the apparently lavish lifestyles of some cardinals and claims to document the misuse of money collected in church offerings.
The book also purports to unveil the full explanation behind Benedict’s surprising decision to retire in 2013.
The Associated Press and Italy’s Corriere della Sera obtained an early copy of the book due out Thursday. AP said the tome focused in part on the difficulties faced by an eight-member commission set up by Francis to study reform of the Roman curia – or the bureaucratic body of senior clerics that runs Vatican City. It documents, outlet said, millions of euros in lost revenue, the scandal of the Vatican’s saint-making machine, greedy monsignors and a sophisticated break-in at the Vatican.
In the meeting, the book says, Francis showed alarm at a letter from the Vatican auditors citing the almost total absence of transparency in the budget, both of the Holy See and the office of Vatican governance.
“Too much leeway has been left to the managers,” Francis is quoting a saying. “We need to better clarify the finances of the Holy See and make them more transparent.”
The revelations emerged a day after the Vatican announced it had arrested Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda, a 54-year-old senior Vatican bureaucrat, and Francesca Chaouqui, a 33-year-old Italian public relations maven known in some circles as “the pope’s lobbyist,” on suspicion of disseminating internal documents. The Vatican suggested that the leaked information in the two books out this week were linked to the two suspects.
Chaouqui, the Vatican said, was released after agreeing to cooperate with an investigation while Balda was still being detained.
http://www.sott.net/article/305436-Dirty-laundry-Two-senior-Vatican-officials-arrested-in-new-VatiLeaks-scandal
More details on the two books being released, on the mismanagement and excesses of the Vatican and misappropriated funds.
New books allege mismanagement, excess at the Vatican
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new-books-cite-mismanagement-excess-at-the-vatican/2015/11/03/ba0d101a-81a5-11e5-8bd2-680fff868306_story.html
The Vatican faced fresh accusations of mismanagement, excess and resistance to change as details from two new books emerged Tuesday, a day after the Holy See announced the arrest of two insiders on suspicion of leaking internal information.
The Washington Post obtained an early copy of “Avarice: Documents Revealing Wealth, Scandals and Secrets of Francis’ Church” by Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi of L’Espresso, which delves into the details of suspect accounts in the Vatican Bank, big spending by cardinals and the “saint making factory” of the Holy See.
In one incident, Fittipaldi outlines a 23,800 euro ($26,400) helicopter ride in 2012 by former Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone who was pushed aside by Francis. He also documents how a religious foundation paid to refurbish Bertone’s home.
He also cites continuing problems at the Vatican bank, which became the subject of a massive clean up effort that started under Benedict XVI and kicked into high gear under Francis.
He cites, for instance, an account at the Vatican Bank originally under the name of Lorenzo Leone, a deceased Italian bureaucrat who Fittipaldi said had allegedly amassed an illicit fortune while managing an Italian insane asylum. Earlier this year, Italian authorities were surprised, Fittipaldi said, to find out about the existence of the account containing 8 million euros and which was still being used by Leone’s relatives.
Fittipaldi cites internal documents as showing that most of the St. Peter’s Pence offerings sent to the Vatican from parishes around the world — which totaled 378 million euros, or $415 million in 2013 — wound up in an account mostly used to cover the functioning of the Holy See’s bureaucratic machine and was not used for charitable reasons.
Between July, 2014 to January, 2015, Fittipaldi, citing documents from the Vatican’s accountability office, alleges the cardinal spent 501,000 euros ($551,000) — computers, staff, business class tickets, clothing, housing, tailor made upholstery and “luxurious furniture.” In another chapter, he outlines the “saint making factory” at the Vatican and how some parishes have paid up to $482,693 to push forward the candidacy of local saints.
Also emerging this week is “Merchants in the Temple,” by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, whose 2012 book on a “Vatileaks” scandal rocked the papacy of Benedict XVI by detailing behind-the-scenes power struggles revealed in documents stolen by Pope Benedict’s butler.
Nuzzi’s new book, “Merchants in the Temple,” draws on documents, interviews and recordings of Francis speaking in closed-door meetings, according to Chiarelettere, his Italian publisher.
The pope is quoted as dressing down top financial officials, saying “costs are out of control,” and demanding transparency after finding “unofficial budgets” that detailed funds allegedly misused by Vatican officials, according to the publisher. The book also looks at alleged attempts to sabotage Francis’s reforms, describes the apparently lavish lifestyles of some cardinals and claims to document the misuse of money collected in church offerings.
The book also purports to unveil the full explanation behind Benedict’s surprising decision to retire in 2013.
The Associated Press and Italy’s Corriere della Sera obtained an early copy of the book due out Thursday. AP said the tome focused in part on the difficulties faced by an eight-member commission set up by Francis to study reform of the Roman curia – or the bureaucratic body of senior clerics that runs Vatican City. It documents, outlet said, millions of euros in lost revenue, the scandal of the Vatican’s saint-making machine, greedy monsignors and a sophisticated break-in at the Vatican.
In the meeting, the book says, Francis showed alarm at a letter from the Vatican auditors citing the almost total absence of transparency in the budget, both of the Holy See and the office of Vatican governance.
“Too much leeway has been left to the managers,” Francis is quoting a saying. “We need to better clarify the finances of the Holy See and make them more transparent.”
The revelations emerged a day after the Vatican announced it had arrested Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda, a 54-year-old senior Vatican bureaucrat, and Francesca Chaouqui, a 33-year-old Italian public relations maven known in some circles as “the pope’s lobbyist,” on suspicion of disseminating internal documents. The Vatican suggested that the leaked information in the two books out this week were linked to the two suspects.
Chaouqui, the Vatican said, was released after agreeing to cooperate with an investigation while Balda was still being detained.
