Papal advisers arrested over leaks
2 linked to new books about Vatican fraud, bungling, tensions
BERLIN — The Vatican said Monday that it arrested two members of a papal commission on suspicion of leaking classified information.
Meanwhile, two upcoming books — including one by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, whose 2012 book on a “Vatileaks” scandal rocked the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI — are set to make fresh revelations about fraud and mismanagement, as well as challenges to Pope Francis’ push for changes that reach into the Vatican’s inner workings.
In a statement, the Vatican appeared to tie any bombshells in the books to two sources: the Rev. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, a Spanish priest and former secretary of Francis’ financial and bureaucratic reform committee, and Francesca Chaouqui, an Italian public relations executive who was tapped in 2013 to bring a touch of modern thinking to the Holy See and who became known in some circles as “the pope’s lobbyist.”
The Vatican said both were brought in for questioning over the weekend and were later placed under arrest. Chaouqui was released Monday after she pledged to cooperate with the investigation, the Vatican said. Balda was still being detained.
Both were arrested after a monthslong criminal investigation carried out by the Vatican gendarmerie and face potential charges under a 2013 law that made it illegal to disclose con-
fidential Holy See documents and information.
Balda, a 54-year-old monsignor and veteran of Vatican affairs, was hand-picked by Francis to help guide his bid to overhaul the Vatican bureaucracy, known as the Curia.
He is among those who tapped Chaouqui, 33, to join Francis’ reform commission. She became a lightning rod in Vatican City after posting alluring photos of herself on Facebook and sending critical tweets about the Vatican, calling one official “corrupt.”
In an interview with the Boston Globe last year, she said enemies of the pope were responsible for the criticisms against her.
Francis, according to Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, was briefed on the arrests before they were carried out. The investigation was managed by the Vatican’s gendarmerie corps, which controls most security, law enforcement and firefighting coordination in the city-state apart from direct papal protection, which is handled by the Swiss Guards.
The gendarmes work closely with Italian authorities under a more than 85-year-old treaty that defined modern Vatican City. The corps also has general autonomy and does not need papal approval to make arrests, although high-profile actions and investigations are likely to have high-level Vatican oversight.
Asked whether the pope would intervene in the judicial process, Lombardi said only that Francis “respects the competence of Vatican institutions.”
In announcing the arrests, the Vatican also suggested that it may pursue legal action against the books’ authors.
“As for the books announced for publication in the next few days, let it be clearly stated at this time, as in the past, that such actions are a serious betrayal of trust granted by the Pope,” the Vatican statement said.
It called the authors part of “an operation that takes advantage of a seriously unlawful act of unlawful delivery of confidential documents — an operation whose legal implications and possibly penalties are under study.” Both books are due out Thursday.
The books appear to touch on the Vatican’s internal tensions from Francis’ push for more openness within the vast network of offices and panels that guides the administration of the church, whose operations have been widely veiled for centuries.
The Vatican’s bureaucracy covers major decisions such as how money is spent and how church jobs are apportioned, as well as smaller details such as operations of the Vatican postal service and funds from church collections.
Nuzzi’s book, Merchants in the Temple, draws on documents, interviews and recordings of Francis speaking in closed meetings, according to Nuzzi’s publisher, Chiarelettere.
The pope is quoted as dressing down his “top brass,” saying “costs are out of control” and demanding transparency after finding “unofficial budgets” that detailed funds allegedly misused by Vatican officials, according to Chiarelettere. The book also claims to look at attempts to sabotage Francis’ revamps and curb other initiatives aimed at toning down the lavish lives of some cardinals and controlling misuse of money collected in church offerings.
The second book, Avarice: Documents Revealing Wealth, Scandals and Secrets of Francis’ Church by Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi of L’Espresso magazine — whose Vatican leaks include a draft of a papal encyclical on the environment in June — deals with financial and other scandals inside the Vatican.
In an interview Monday, Fittipaldi claimed the two people arrested by the Vatican were not his sources.
“I wish that [the arrested individuals] will prove to the gendarmes that they did not commit those crimes, of which I have no awareness except for what I read [in the Vatican] press release,” Fittipaldi said.