Vatican leaks scandal

The Vatileaks scandal^[1][2][3] is a scandal initially involving leaked Vatican documents, exposing alleged corruption; in addition, an internal Vatican investigation purportedly uncovered the blackmailing of homosexual clergy by individuals outside the Church.^[4] The scandal first came to light in late January 2012 in a television programme aired in Italy under the name of The Untouchables (Gli intoccabili). Further information was released when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published letters from Carlo Maria Viganò, formerly the second ranked Vatican administrator to the pope, in which he begged not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions in higher contract prices. Viganò is now the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. The name "VatiLeaks" is a play on the word WikiLeaks, a not-for-profit media organisation whose goal is to bring important news and information to the public; providing an anonymous way for sources to leak information to their journalists.

Over the following months the situation widened as documents were leaked to Italian journalists, uncovering power struggles inside the Vatican over its efforts to show greater financial transparency and comply with international norms to fight money laundering. In early 2012, an anonymous letter made the headlines for its warning of a death threat against Pope Benedict XVI.^[2] The scandal escalated in May 2012 when Nuzzi published a book entitled His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI consisting of confidential letters and memos between Pope Benedict and his personal secretary,^[5] a controversial book that portrays the Vatican as a hotbed of jealousy, intrigue and underhanded factional fighting.^[6] The book reveals details about the Pope's personal finances, and includes tales of bribes made to procure an audience with him.^[7]

Vatican internal investigation

Pope Benedict appointed a commission of cardinals to investigate the leaks in March 2012. The Vatican probe into the leaks worked along several tracks, with Vatican magistrates pursuing the criminal investigation and the Vatican secretariat of state an administrative probe. The three cardinals appointed by Benedict acted in a supervisory role, looking beyond the narrow criminal scope of the leaks to interview broadly across the Vatican bureaucracy; they purportedly uncovered a sexual and blackmail scandal.^[4] They reported directly to the pope, and could both share information with Vatican prosecutors and receive information from them, according to Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi. The group was headed by Cardinal Julian Herranz, an Opus Dei prelate who headed the Vatican's legal office as well as the disciplinary commission of the Vatican bureaucracy before retiring.^[1]

Arrest of Paolo Gabriele

Paolo Gabriele, who had been the pope's personal butler since 2007, leaked the stolen information to Gianluigi Nuzzi. He was arrested on 23 May 2012 after confidential letters and documents addressed to the pope and other Vatican officials were found in his Vatican apartment. The arrest was made by Vatican police, who claimed to have found classified documents in his apartment that Gabriele shared with his wife and three children.^[5][8] Similar documents had been published in Italian media over the previous five months; many of them dealt with allegations of corruption, abuse of power and a lack of financial transparency at the Vatican.^[9]

Papal response

On 30 May 2012, Pope Benedict made his first direct comments on the scandal in remarks at the end of his weekly general audience.^[10] The Pope said the "exaggerated" and "gratuitous" rumours had offered a false image of the Holy See,^[10] commenting "The events of recent days about the Curia and my collaborators have brought sadness in my heart...I want to renew my trust in and encouragement of my closest collaborators and all those who every day, with loyalty and a spirit of sacrifice and in silence, help me fulfill my ministry."

On 26 July, Pope Benedict held a meeting of the commission of cardinals. Included in attendance, were the head of the Vatican police, those judges involved in the case, and representatives of the Vatican secretariat of state, according to a report from Federico Lombardi.^[11]

Trial of Paolo Gabriele and papal pardon

Piero Antonio Bonnet, the Vatican's judge, had been instructed to examine the evidence of the case and to decide whether there is sufficient material to proceed to trial. Prior to conviction, Gabriele faced a maximum sentence of 8 years for the illegal possession of documents of a head of state.^[12]

Paolo Gabriele was indicted by Vatican magistrates on 13 August 2012 for aggravated theft.^[13] The first hearing of the trial of Paolo Gabriele and Claudio Sciarpelletti took place on 29 September 2012.^[14]

Gabriele's trial began on 2 October 2012.^[15] He claimed to have stolen the documents to fight "evil and corruption" and put the Vatican "back on track".^[15] Multiple evaluations of Gabriele's mental health provided conflicting results: concluding in one report that, Gabriele suffered from a "fragile personality with paranoid tendencies covering profound personal insecurity"; yet another report found that Gabriele showed no adequate signs of a major psychological disorder nor posing any serious threat to himself or others.^[16] Vatican police seized encrypted documents and confidential papers that the Pope had marked "to be destroyed" when they raided the apartment of his butler, the court heard.^[17]

On 6 October, Paolo Gabriele was found to be guilty of theft, and was sentenced to a reduced sentence of 18 months. Gabriele was also ordered to pay legal expenses.^[18][19] However, Gabriele served his sentence in the Vatican itself, as opposed to the usual arrangement of sending prisoners to serve time in an Italian prison due to concerns that he might leak further secrets.^[20] Gabriele was personally visited and pardoned by Benedict XVI on 22 December 2012.^[21][21][22]

Aftermath of the investigation

On 17 December 2012 the Pope received a report on "Vatican lobbies" prepared by cardinals Julián Herranz, Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo, and Jozef Tomko.^[23] Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, speaking on Vatican Radio on 23 February 2013, strongly criticized media coverage^[4][24] of the report ^[25] as a financial scandal which purportedly became, upon the cardinals' internal investigation, a gay sex and blackmail scandal as well.^[26]

Although the dossier was available only to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and the investigators themselves, the latter were free to discuss the results of their investigation with the Cardinal electors of the March 2013 Papal Conclave, and the dossier itself was to have been given to Benedict's successor as Pope, Francis.^[27] On 1 March 2013, Fr. Lombardi reported that "two or three phones" had been tapped.^[28][29]

On 12 June 2013 it was reported that leaked notes of a private conversation between Pope Francis and Catholic officials at the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR) confirmed the existence of "a stream of corruption", and that "The 'gay lobby' is mentioned, and it is true, it is there … We need to see what we can do". According to The Economist "Vatican investigators had identified a network of gay prelates".^[30] CLAR confirmed that its leaders had written a synopsis of the pope's remarks, although not for publication. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi made no comment on the remarks made in "a private meeting".^[31]

See also

• Vatican money laundering investigation
• Financial Information Authority
• Carlo Maria Viganò
• Ettore Balestrero
• Index of Vatican City-related articles

References