Thursday, November 5, 2015

Vatican leaks lift lid on Pope Francis's financial fight

In the country he rules with absolute power, Pope Francis has chosen for himself one of the worst views.

The pontiff's small suite of rooms in the Vatican's Santa Marta guest house looks out beyond the enclave's walls on to a small street and the rear of a petrol station.
By contrast, a retired Italian cardinal living nearby enjoys a top-floor apartment in an old building with a view out over the Vatican itself.
Documents leaked to reporters allege that a charitable foundation paid €200,000 (£140,000) to renovate the apartment that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is using as his retirement home.
The leaks reveal that the Pope has been unable to persuade many of his Vatican officials to follow his own frugal example.
The documents themselves come from the private records of a reform commission set up by the Pope four months into his reign in 2013.
The Vatican accuses two former commission members, 54-year-old Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Italian laywoman Francesca Chaouqui, 33, of leaking the documents.
Over the weekend, the gendarmerie placed the pair under arrest. Ms Chaouqui has protested her innocence - "I am not a crow," she protested on Twitter.

No comments:

Post a Comment