Vatican denies corruption charges attributed to U.S. nuncio

The Vatican this morning dismissed as “biased and banal” a broadcast on Italian television yesterday evening suggesting that a senior church official, who is today the pope’s ambassador in the United States, issued a blunt warning to Benedict XVI in March 2011 about financial corruption in the Vatican.

A Vatican spokesperson also appeared to threaten legal action against the broadcast, which named a handful of senior officials and financial advisors in the Vatican as involved in alleged mismanagement and lack of adequate financial controls.

The broadcast, which appeared on one of Italy’s leading commercial networks, focused on Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, named in October as Benedict’s new nuncio to the United States. Prior to that position, Viganò had served as the number two official in the government of the Vatican city-state, where he earned a reputation as a financial reformer.

Reportedly, Viganò’s insistence on centralized accounting procedures and accountability for cost overruns helped turn a U.S. $10.5 million deficit for the city-state into a surplus of $44 million in the span of a year.

It had already been widely reported that Viganò’s new controls produced backlash among administrators of individual departments, such as the Vatican museums and Vatican gardens, long accustomed to operating in semi-autonomous fashion. Several analysts suggested that Viganò’s transfer to the United States amounted to a face-saving way of resolving these internal tensions.

Last night’s broadcast, however, claimed to reveal a private letter allegedly written by Viganò to Benedict XVI last spring, in an effort to head off his removal. Its key line is the following: “My transfer would provoke confusion among all those who’ve believed that it’s possible to clean up so many situations of corruption and dishonesty.”

According to the broadcast, that letter was dated March 27, 2011, roughly six months before Viganò was sent to the United States. Notably, today’s Vatican statement expressed “bitterness” over the disclosure of private documents, but did not dispute the letter’s authenticity.

The program also quoted another letter allegedly sent to the pope, in which Viganò reportedly wrote of the financial procedures in the Vatican city-state, “I would never have imagined finding myself in such a disastrous situation,” which he called “unimaginable,” and further asserted that “everyone in the curia knows it.” [more]

SOURCE

NCR