Pope Orders Investigation Into “Vati-Leaks”
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Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has commissioned three retired cardinals to investigate how a string of sensitive Vatican documents managed to the leak to the media this year – in an embarrassing scandal dubbed as “Vati-Leaks.”
Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has commissioned three retired cardinals to investigate how a string of sensitive Vatican documents managed to the leak to the media this year – in an embarrassing scandal dubbed as “Vati-Leaks.”
According to a report by Reuters on Wednesday, the pope is concerned that the leaks could see the Vatican Bank, formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion, fail to make it to the “white list” of countries that comply with European standards of financial transparency; and has vowed to “undertake an authoritative investigation and throw light” on how the leaks happened.
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Among the documents leaked included private letters to the pope from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who complained of nepotism and cronyism in the awarding of some government contracts.
Archbishop Vigano also alleged that a smear campaign was currently being run against him by other Vatican officials who were upset over Vigano’s attempts to clean up the Vatican’s finances. In his letter, Vigano begged the pope to allow him to stay in his job so that he could finish his investigations.
However, later letters soon revealed that Vigano was being removed from his post before the end of his tenure to a designation in Washington, DC.
Cardinals Julian Herranz of Spain, Jozef Tomko of Slovakia and Salvatore De Giorgi of Italy are expected to head up the pope’s investigations. This commission is also expected to support an on-going separate investigation by the Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City, or the Vatican Police, into the issue.
Any lay official found responsible for the leak could face criminal proceedings for leaking classified material, while clerics may incur canonical punishment.
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Last month, Monsignor Angelo Becciu, undersecretary in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, described those who had leaked the documents as “disloyal” and “cowardly” and promised penal and administrative sanctions for the individual/s.
Speaking to L’Ossevatore Romano, and cited by the Associated Press, Becciu also threatened legal action against the news organisation that obtained the initial documents and said that a Vatican prosecutor would head up a criminal case against the offender/s.
[quote]”The hope is to be able to reconstruct the basis of our work: reciprocal trust,” Becciu said.[/quote]
