ITALY
Europe Online
Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi speaks to dpa after his Vatican scandal revelations prompt a top cardinal to return 150,000 euros for misusing funds intended for a children‘s hospital.
Vatican City (dpa) – Emiliano Fittipaldi revealed last month how former top cardinal Tarcisio Bertone used a 200,000-euro (217,000-dollar) grant from a Vatican children‘s hospital to renovate his retirement penthouse.
The Italian journalist, who is facing a Vatican criminal trial for publishing a book on the Bertone affair and other financial shenanigans, spoke to dpa after it was announced that the cardinal would return 150,000 euros.
dpa: What do you think about this development?
Fittipaldi: It proves that even in Italy investigative journalism, reporting on real and verified information, can make a difference. Now I hope that was what wrongly taken away from the hospital will be invested in the right way, namely on medical research.
I also hope this will only be the starting point. My book also talks about the hospital‘s secret bank accounts worth 500,000 euros at the IOR [Vatican bank] and at [the Vatican central bank] APSA, invested on multinationals like PepsiCo. This has nothing to do with its mission.
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