Pope hosts top-level meeting on leaks in Vatican

Although technically on vacation, Pope Benedict XVI hosted a top-level meeting of Vatican officials involved in investigating and responding to the leak of Vatican documents.

The meeting July 26 included the commission of cardinals appointed to conduct an administrative review of Vatican offices and procedures, as well as the judges involved in the criminal case against the pope’s personal assistant. The meeting also included the head of the Vatican police and representatives of the Vatican secretariat of state, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman.

Greg Burke, the former U.S. journalist appointed by the pope to advise the Vatican secretary of state on communications strategy, also participated, he said.

“The Holy Father was informed about the conclusions” of the investigation carried out since late April by the cardinals’ commission, and about the status of the official investigation of his former valet, Paolo Gabriele, Father Lombardi said July 27.

The pope thanked the cardinals for their report and “asked the Vatican magistrates to continue their work with diligence,” Father Lombardi said in a statement.

The spokesman said the conclusions of the criminal investigation of Gabriele and the Vatican judge’s decision on whether to indict Gabriele and put him on trial are expected to be published Aug. 6 or 7. [more]

SOURCE

CNS