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Vatican Arrests 2 in Connection With Leaked Documents Vatican Arrests 2 in Connection With Leaked Documents
(about 4 hours later)
ROME — The Vatican announced on Monday that two members of a commission set up by Pope Francis to study financial overhauls at the Holy See had been arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to journalists. ROME — The Vatican announced on Monday that two members of a commission set up by Pope Francis to study financial operations at the Holy See had been arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to journalists.
The arrests come just days before the publication of two books — “Avarizia,” or “Avarice,” by Emiliano Fittipaldi, and “Merchants in the Temple” by Gianluigi Nuzzi — purporting to raise the lid on old and new scandals at the Vatican. The arrests immediately added to the intrigue and infighting that appear to be intensifying around Francis, whose push to liberalize certain aspects of the Roman Catholic Church and to shake up the Vatican’s administrative body, or Curia, has met with stiff resistance from traditionalists and vested interests inside the Vatican and beyond.
They also immediately added to the intrigue and infighting that appear to be intensifying around Francis, whose push for a more open Roman Catholic Church has met with stiffening resistance from traditionalists within the Vatican and beyond. The arrests came just days ahead of the publication of two books — “Avarizia,” or “Avarice,” by Emiliano Fittipaldi, and “Merchants in the Temple,” by Gianluigi Nuzzi — purporting to raise the lid on old and new scandals at the Vatican.
The two people arrested — Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Francesca Chaouqui, a laywoman — were taken into custody by the Vatican police over the weekend, the Vatican said in a statement. Ms. Chaouqui was released on Monday after she agreed to cooperate with the investigation, the Vatican said. Both books claim to offer glimpses of the turmoil surrounding Francis as he pursues his reforms of Vatican finances, the operations of the Curia and the Vatican bank. Those institutions had long been plagued by scandal and corruption that contributed to the resignation in 2013 of Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years.
The two were members of a commission the pope set up shortly after his election to examine the Vatican’s financial holdings and economic structures. The commission was dissolved last year after it had carried out its mandate. The problems were then bequeathed to Francis, who shortly after his election set up a commission to examine the Vatican’s financial holdings and economic structures.
Monsignor Vallejo Balda holds one of the top posts at the Vatican’s prefecture for economic affairs. Ms. Chaouqui is a public relations specialist. The two people arrested — Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Francesca Chaouqui, a laywoman — were members of that commission, which was dissolved last year after completing its mandate.
Divulging confidential documents has been considered a crime in the Vatican since July 2013, after the leak of a cache of Vatican documents, including personal papers belonging to Pope Benedict XVI, which Mr. Nuzzi published in a best seller, “Sua Santità,” or “His Holiness.” Monsignor Vallejo Balda holds one of the top posts at the Vatican’s prefecture for economic affairs. Ms. Chaouqui is a public relations specialist. They were taken into custody by the Vatican police over the weekend, the Vatican said in a statement. Ms. Chaouqui was released on Monday after she agreed to cooperate with the investigation, the Vatican said.
Divulging confidential documents has been considered a crime in the Vatican since July 2013, after the leak of a cache of Vatican documents, including personal papers belonging to Benedict, which Mr. Nuzzi published in a best seller, “Sua Santità,” or “His Holiness.”
After the publication of that book, the pope’s personal butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested on charges of leaking the documents to Mr. Nuzzi. Mr. Gabriele was tried and was sentenced in October 2012 to 18 months in prison. He was pardoned two months later by Benedict.After the publication of that book, the pope’s personal butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested on charges of leaking the documents to Mr. Nuzzi. Mr. Gabriele was tried and was sentenced in October 2012 to 18 months in prison. He was pardoned two months later by Benedict.
The revelations of widespread infighting and power struggles at the Vatican are considered to have helped precipitate the resignation of Benedict in 2013 — the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years. The revelations of widespread infighting and power struggles at the Vatican are considered to have helped precipitate Benedict’s resignation. Echoes of that scandal, called “VatiLeaks” by the news media, reverberated last month when an Italian newspaper announced that Pope Francis had a treatable brain tumor, a report that the Vatican denied and called an attempt to undermine him.
Echoes of that scandal, called Vatileaks by the news media, reverberated last month at the Vatican, when an Italian newspaper announced that Pope Francis had a treatable brain tumor, a report that the Vatican denied.
The Vatican said on Monday that the coming books were “the fruit of a grave betrayal of the pope’s trust.” The authors of the books have been warned that the Vatican’s legal offices are considering legal action.The Vatican said on Monday that the coming books were “the fruit of a grave betrayal of the pope’s trust.” The authors of the books have been warned that the Vatican’s legal offices are considering legal action.
“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,” the Vatican said in the statement. “We must absolutely avoid the mistake of thinking that this is a way to help the mission of the pope.”“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,” the Vatican said in the statement. “We must absolutely avoid the mistake of thinking that this is a way to help the mission of the pope.”
Mr. Nuzzi’s book will be published in several countries on Thursday. The book purports to “tell from the inside” the struggles that Francis and his closest advisers are undertaking to overhaul the church, based on “unpublished documents and tape recordings,” according to a news release for the book. In an interview, Mr. Fittipaldi, the author of “Avarice” and an investigative journalist for the newsweekly L’Espresso, called the arrests on Monday “abnormal” and said that it was no coincidence that they had taken place just before the publication of two books that probe the inner workings of one of the world’s most secretive institutions.
“Never before had a journalist been able to listen to the tape recordings of several private meetings between high ranking Vatican officials and the pope,” the news release read. “The arrests are a way not to talk about the content of the books, but about moles and intrigue, and whether they are the sources or not,” Mr. Fittipaldi said in a telephone interview.
“The book refers to situations that the Vatican would prefer the world not to know,” he added. “For 2,000 years, the Vatican has washed its dirty linen in private. They don’t like it when the washing becomes public.”
His book, he said, described a Vatican that is very different from Pope Francis’ vision of a church for the poor. Mr. Fittipaldi declined to give details from his book ahead of its publication, but noted that he had looked into the lavish lifestyles of cardinals, and financial investments in companies in the United States and Luxembourg.
Besides reporting on the church’s vast financial holdings, Mr. Fittipaldi said he had also discovered that money given to the church for the poor was actually used for other purposes.
The bottom line, he said, was that in the Vatican “there is still considerable resistance against Francis’ revolution.”
Mr. Nuzzi’s book, which will be published in several countries on Thursday, purports to “tell from the inside” the struggles that Francis and his closest advisers are undertaking to overhaul the church, based on “unpublished documents and tape recordings,” according to a news release.
The book suggests that the Vatican’s finances were in such chaos that Benedict had no choice but to resign. The book also promises to reveal the “poisons of those who would sabotage the pope’s vigorous revolution.”The book suggests that the Vatican’s finances were in such chaos that Benedict had no choice but to resign. The book also promises to reveal the “poisons of those who would sabotage the pope’s vigorous revolution.”
“I am certainly surprised that the Vatican responds to the imminent publication of a book with handcuffs,” Mr. Nuzzi said in a telephone interview on Monday, particularly “when handcuffs aren’t used to stop the thieves in the Vatican.”
“I understand the book is embarrassing, but that should concern the people who acted wrongly, not those who publish the wrongdoings,” he said. “If someone steals 1.6 million euros worth of goods from the Vatican’s Governorate, it is right to make the news known. If the Vatican has slush funds, privileges, corruption, it’s a journalist’s job to make it known.”
The book describes “dramatic stories, of a Curia that couldn’t be farther from Francis’ words,” he added, referring to the Vatican’s administrative body. “There are people in the Vatican who don’t want him to reform. I say who those people are, who is trying to stop him.”
Mr. Nuzzi said that as an Italian, he felt the Vatican could not pursue him legally. “In Italy, the publication of news is protected by the Constitution,” he said.