Two held over Vatican finances leaks

Pope Francis was this week ­facing his own version of the Vatileaks saga with the publication of two books based on confidential documents showing mismanagement of the Holy See’s finances.

The revelations in the books will shock many: securing sainthood is a process that can cost up to €750,000 (£531,000), with the money not properly accounted for, according to Merchants in the Temple by Gianluigi Nuzzi. The book also alleges that the committee set up by Pope Francis in 2013 to investigate Vatican finances, Cosea, uncovered €1.6 million (£1.1m) of inventoried stock in Vatican shops that did not exist, suggesting it had been stolen or “invented” by accountants.

This week, the Vatican announced that two individuals  had been arrested and questioned over the removal and dissemination of private information. Benedict XVI’s papacy was dogged by the scandal of the leaking of documents by his butler, Paolo Gabriele, which is widely believed to have played a part in his decision to resign as Pope.

Francis was elected at the conclave that followed, with a mandate to “clean up” the Vatican. But the latest books – the other is Avarice by journalist, Emiliano Fittipaldi – reveal problems that remain. 

The financial information obtained by Nuzzi and Fittipaldi largely relates to the Cosea commission. The two individuals questioned about leaking, Francesca Chaouqui, a 33-year-old financial PR expert, and Mgr Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, a Spanish priest associated with Opus Dei, had been members of that commission. Neither had been given positions in the new economic structures that the Pope then established. Chaouqui co-operated with police inquiries and has been released. Mgr Balda was this week being detained.

The leaking  is being viewed as an act hostile to Francis. In a statement following the arrests, the Vatican said: “Publications of this kind do not contribute in any way to establish clarity and truth …We must absolutely avoid the mistake of thinking that this is a way to help the mission of the Pope.”

Nuzzi’s book includes details of a private recording of the Pope saying that costs are out of control in the Vatican and has him quoting an old parish priest from Buenos Aires who said: “If we don’t know how to look after money, which is there for all to see, how can we guard the souls of the faithful, that are hidden from view?” It also claims to reveal how a top official at the Vatican City State administration was so keen to have a bigger apartment that he broke down a wall between his apartment and that of a priest next door who was in hospital, and incorporated one of the priest’s rooms into his own apartment. When the priest came home, he found his possessions in a box. He died soon afterwards.

Those proposing a candidate for sainthood must allegedly first hand over €50,000 (£35,000), with fees rising to an average of €500,000 (£354,000) when the work of postulators and others is included. Both authors say their books detail the level of opposition the Pope is facing in his reforms.