ROME
Politico
By SILVIA MARCHETTI 11/4/15
The Holy See is about to be rocked by a second “Vatileaks” scandal.
The publication of two books Thursday — “Via Crucis” by Gianluigi Nuzzi and “Avarizia” by Emiliano Fittipaldi — promises to expose new evidence of fraud and misdoings in the Oltretevere, as Romans call St. Peter’s kingdom beyond the Tiber River.
The books appear to be linked to this week’s arrests by Vatican police of Spanish clergyman Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, secretary of a special commission set up by Pope Francis to examine the Vatican’s finances — known by its acronym COSEA — and Francesca Chaouqui, an Italian PR woman who was dubbed the “social media guru”of the Holy See.
They are suspected of leaking to journalists classified Vatican documents, including recordings of private conversations of the Pope, spiritual leader of the world’s one billion Roman Catholics, and information about Vatican finances.
Chaouqui, who collaborated with investigators, has been released, while the cleric remains in custody. Both face up to eight years in jail.
“Via Crucis” was written by a reporter who was involved in the first “Vatileaks” scandal in 2012 that cast a shadow over the papacy of Joseph Ratzinger, who as Pope Benedict took the historically unprecedented step of resigning in 2013.
In his book, Nuzzi highlights the internal fight being waged by Benedict’s Argentine successor Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, against excessive Church spending.
“Expenditures are out of control … there are traps. If we can’t keep under control the money, which is visible, then how can we look after the souls of the faithful, which are invisible?” he quotes Bergoglio as saying in a moment of private distress.
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