Francesca Chaouqui to reveal more Vatican sleaze and corruption

By Tom Kington
Australian
December 03, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/francesca-chaouqui-to-reveal-more-vatican-sleaze-and-corruption/story-fnb64oi6-1227631590713

The Italian woman on trial at the Vatican for leaking embarrassing details of sleaze at the Holy See has claimed the scandal is nothing compared with what she plans to reveal next.

PR expert Francesca Chaouqui said two books filled with tales of Vatican corruption and greed that she allegedly helped to supply information for contained only “15 per cent” of what she knew. She added that in eight months she would be freed from the secrecy clause in her Vatican contract. “Gay lobby? It’s worse than that,” she said, giving no more ­details.

Ms Chaouqui, 33, risks being jailed for eight years if she is convicted by a Vatican court of leaking sensitive information collected by a committee that was formed in 2013 by the Pope to root out corruption at the Vatican.

Also on trial is Father Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, a Spanish priest and fellow committee member, as well as two authors who turned committee documents into best-selling books.

The Pope said on Tuesday that it had been a mistake to hire Ms Chaouqui and Father Vallejo Balda, but joked: “Thank God ­Lucrezia Borgia is no longer around!” a reference to the daughter of a 15th-century pope who ­reputedly poisoned her enemies.

“I am no Lucrezia Borgia — I have never poisoned anyone,” Ms Chaouqui said yesterday, adding she was three months pregnant.

While Ms Chaouqui blames the leaking of committee ­documents on Father Vallejo Balda, she and her husband, who is an IT specialist, are said in a separate case to be under investigation by Italian magistrates for hacking.

She said she was suing Father Vallejo Balda for claiming that she had bullied him into releasing the documents and that she had ­seduced him at a convention in Florence.

“How is that possible? He shared a room with his 85-year-old mother, whom he adores,” she said. “He is either subservient to women or hates them.”