Leaking Vatican will not deter me from my reforms says Pope

Leaking of the Vatican’s financial documents will not deter reforms of the roman curia, Pope Francis said yesterday. 

In an unusual move, Francis called out opponents of his financial reforms during his Sunday angelus address from the balcony in St Peter’s square. 

He described the stealing of documents as a “crime” and a “deplorable act that does not help” but stressed he was working with his advisers and the support of ordinary Catholics on a financial clean up of the Vatican. 

“I personally had asked for that study to be carried out and both I and my advisers were well acquainted with (the contents of) those documents and steps have been taken that have started to bear fruit, some of them even visible,” the Pope said. 

He went on: “I wish to reassure you that this sad event certainly does not deter me from the reform project that we are carrying out, together with my advisers and with the support of all of you. Yes, with the support of the whole Church because the Church renews itself with prayer and the daily holiness of each baptised person.”

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Last week, two books were published based on a raft of leaked documents detailing economic mismanagement in the Holy See that Francis faced after his election as Pope in 2013. Two individuals - Francesca Chaouqui and Mgr Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda - have been arrested and questioned on suspicion of leaking. 

They had both sat on a commission the Pope set up in 2013 to overhaul Vatican finances and administration. The books - by Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi - detail a lack of co-operation by parts of the Roman Curia to that commission. Nuzzi’s book also reveals a mysterious break in to the commission’s offices where documents were stolen. 

Since his election the Pope has instituted a series of financial reforms including new leadership of the Vatican bank and a new council and secretariat for the economy.