VATICAN CITY
Philly.com
NICOLE WINFIELD, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
POSTED: Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Two new books are deepening a Vatican scandal with tales of mismanagement and greed, such as sainthood causes that can cost a half-million dollars and one monsignor allegedly breaking down the wall of his next-door neighbor – a sick, elderly priest – to expand his already palatial apartment.
Pope Francis has made a top priority the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy known as the Curia, a hive of intrigue and gossip, and appointed a commission of eight experts in 2013 to gather information and make recommendations after an earlier expose helped drive his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, to a historic resignation.
The leaks in the new books are seen as part of a bitter internal struggle between the reformers and the old guard. This week, the Vatican arrested two former members of the commission in an investigation into stolen documents.
A new book by Gianluigi Nuzzi, a journalist whose revelations have driven the scandal, makes some startling allegations, including the charge that Vatican “postulators” – the officials who promote sainthood causes – bring in hundreds of thousands of euros in donations for their causes but are subject to no oversight as to how the money is spent.
In his book “Merchants in the Temple,” obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press two days ahead of publication, Nuzzi estimates the average price tag for a beatification cause at around 500,000 euros ($550,000), saying some have gone as high as 750,000. Causes of saintly candidates who don’t inspire rich donors, meanwhile, can languish.
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