Vatican media chief resigns over letter scandal
The head of the Vatican’s communications department has resigned over a scandal about a letter from the retired pope that he mischaracterised in public and then had digitally manipulated in a photograph sent to the media.
The Vatican said Pope Francis had accepted the resignation of Monsignor Dario Vigano on Wednesday and named his deputy, Monsignor Lucio Adrian Ruiz, to run the Secretariat for Communications.
The so-called “Lettergate” erupted last week after Monsignor Vigano read aloudpartofaprivateletter from retired Pope Benedict XVI at a book launch for a Vatican-published, 11-volume set of books about Francis’s theology.
Monsignor Vigano said his behaviour, despite his intentions, had destabilised communications reform.