VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome

In what has become a near-daily occurrence, more confidential Vatican documents were leaked today, including a memo from the cardinal in charge of financial oversight warning that a new law against money-laundering could be seen as a “step back” from reform, potentially creating “alarm” in the international community and among regulatory agencies.

The memo was addressed to the President of the Institute for the Works of Religion, the so-called “Vatican Bank,” and to the Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. It was published along with another memo along the same lines, this one written by the president of a Vatican court.

In the inimitable style of the Italian press, the documents appeared under the headline, “The Papers that Nail the Vatican.”

Speaking on background, Vatican officials today played down the significance of the documents, suggesting they…