VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
The director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, has criticised the content of an article on the Vatileak case, published in an Italian newspaper, as unfounded
Vatican Insider staff
Rome
The director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi has denied fresh claims by Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica and Germany’s Die Welt online in relation to the Vatileak issue.
Joseph Ratzinger’s three long-term collaborators – Cardinal Paolo Sardi, Bishop Joseph Clemens and Mrs. Ingrid Stampa – who were dragged in to the Vatican document leak scandal as suspected accomplices of the Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, are three “respected individuals” said the Holy See’s spokesman. Fr. Lombardi stated that the newspaper falsely and incorrectly refers to them as “accomplices” following up on a Die Welt scoop which was ignored by most of the German press because of its inaccuracies. Fr. Lombardi said the story was exaggerated.
“This morning’s article in La Repubblica newspaper on the leaked Vatican documents, copies (in some cases entire expressions, not just the final quotation) an article by Paul Badde, published on the online version of German newspaper Die Welt a week ago (15 July),” the Vatican spokesman said. La Repubblica’s article adds nothing new to the “Die Welt” article which was ignored by most of the German press precisely because of the inaccuracies it contains and the accusations it makes against certain individuals without producing any proof whatsoever. It was for this reason that I decided not to react to it so strongly.”
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