Details on infrastructure, Pope Benedict's retirement, and Pope Francis plans anticipated.
The Vatican have arrested two papal reform commission members on charges of leaking classified information. The leaks have led to a week of interest in two books which potentially contain information on inside corruption.
The Washington Post reports that the books, one of which was written by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, writer of “Vatileaks”, a 2012 book that had a negative affect on Pope Benedict’s time as pope, are predicted to expose more examples of fraud and poor leadership in the Vatican. Also expected is information about the challenges faced by Pope Francis in his efforts to make changes.
A statement made by the Vatican ties any potential damaging information to two sources. The first being Spanish priest Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, who formerly served as part of Pope Francis’ financial and bureaucratic reform committee. The second being Francesca Chaouqui, a public relations executive from Italy who was hired to bring modern issues to the Vatican. Some referred to Chaouqui as the “pope’s lobbist.”
Both suspects were brought in for questioning, and were later arrested. Chaouqui was released after agreeing to assist with the investigation. Balda is still in custody.
The two were arrested after a lengthy investigation from the Vatican. They face being charged with a 2013 law that forbid the disclosure of confidential information in the Holy See.
The books are expected to approach the topic of Pope Francis’ efforts to lift the veil on the network of administration that help the infrastructure of the church. The network is responsible for major decisions as important as church spending, how jobs are assigned, and smaller, important details such as postal services and collection funds.
Details on the surprise decision from Pope Benedict to retire in 2013, after documents were wrongfully obtained by a butler, a year prior are anticipated in the book.