ROME
RT
Europe’s smallest country – the Vatican, led by the pontiff – is one of the most powerful states on the planet, a moral compass for more than a billion people. However, over the past decades, the Catholic Church has suffered a number of scandals and its congregations are crying out for change. Pope Francis came with the promise of change. But while addressing issues plaguing mankind, what kind of battle is he forced to wage in the Holy See? Are the highest clergy against him, or have they joined his cause? For centuries, the Vatican has been shrouded in mystery, its internal deals secreted behind closed doors. However, one person managed to get through and came back to tell his story. Investigative journalist, author of ‘Merchants in the Temple’, Gianluigi Nuzzi, is on Sophie&Co today.
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Sophie Shevarnadze: Gianluigi, you’ve mentioned that there’s an ongoing conflict in the Vatican between the old and the new clergy. You even called it a struggle between good and evil. What is this struggle about?
Gianluigi Nuzzi: Ever since Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, was elected we have been witnessing a so-called soft revolution. The pope is trying to make the Vatican more transparent. There are many problems with its financial management. The Vatican’s accounting records have always been shady. There are still cases of money laundering through the Vatican Bank. There’s the Vatican real estate that is being rented out for free. So there are many problems that the Pope is trying to solve.
SS: We will talk about this in detail, but first I wanted to ask you this – you think that this battle against corruption in the Vatican is Pope Francis’ cross to bear. Do you believe that at this point he doesn’t really have much control over the Vatican agencies?
GN: The thing is that, in the last few centuries, popes have mostly been involved in pastoral activities – not governing the state. Bergoglio is the first pope who wants to monitor the accounts and books, everyday income and expenditure of the Vatican and the Roman Curia. This is a revolutionary change – in 2013, a special commission on the Vatican’s economic structure – COSEA – began to investigate this. It’s inspecting the Vatican’s finances and running into a lot of problems.
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