Vatican recruit confesses all
Author who leaked information to journalists tells how mole left notes in confessional
Secret notes hidden in a confession box in a Renaissance church in Rome fed information about Vatican intrigue to a woman who was convicted of leaking confidential information about the Holy See, a new book has revealed.
The book, published yesterday, has been written by Francesca Chaouqui, a public relations consultant who was hired by the Vatican to sit on a papal commission into economic reform.
In the first big scandal to hit the papacy of Pope Francis, Chaouqui was put on trial for leaking documents to two Italian journalists who subsequently wrote best-selling books about corruption, infighting and skulduggery inside the tiny city state. She was convicted by a Vatican court last year and sentenced to 10 months in jail in what was dubbed the Vatileaks II trial, but was given a suspended sentence because she was pregnant.
In her book, In The Name of Peter, the 35-year-old public relations executive reveals for the first time that she had a mole in the Vatican’s powerful Secretariat of State.
He kept her abreast of what was going on there by leaving secret notes in a confessional in the 16th century San Luigi dei Francesi church, which is famous for Caravaggio paintings that hang on its walls.
She describes the trepidation and fear she felt each time she entered the church to collect the messages, hidden inside a ripped cushion.
“I got down on my knees, threw a quick look over my shoulder, then inserted two fingers into the material. I felt a piece of paper rustle, and I quickly placed it in the palm of my hand,” she writes.
On one occasion, a man approached her and asked her if she was all right.
“I breathed a sigh of relief. It was just another churchgoer.”
One of the messages she received claimed that the Pope was angry that the trial had gone ahead and wanted it brought to a close quickly. “This trial has to finish, His Holiness is really irritated,” the note said.
Another secret communication informed her that her house was about to be searched by Italian police, while a third told her that one of her co-accused, Spanish monsignor Angel Lucio Vallejo Balda, had tried to commit suicide.
The priest, who had served on the same economic reform commission and was also accused of leaking documents, was held in a cell during the months-long trial, which was held in a Vatican tribunal. He was also convicted of conspiracy and served about half of an 18-month sentence. It was then commuted by Pope Francis and he was released.
The two journalists who wrote books based on the leaked documents were both cleared after the