Cardinal Angelo Becciu of the Curia says the consequences of the two Vatileaks scandals have been insufficiently. Leaking confidential documents would have posed Pope Francis like Benedict XVI's. very damaging.
Even at the Curia, "violations of professional secrecy should be punished with fines," said Curia Cardinal Angelo Becciu in an interview, from which the portal "Vatican Insider" reported in advance. The full interview is scheduled to appear soon in the book "I nuovi cardinali di Francesco" (Francis' New Cardinals), being produced by Italian TV journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona.
Popes have suffered from "this betrayal"
Becciu, head of the Vatican's Office for the Causes of Saints, was a substitute in the Secretariat of State from 2011 to June 2018, working in a key position in the curia's administration. There, he had called for an investigation to establish such fines; "I hope this makes progress," the cleric said. The two Vatileaks scandals in 2011/12 and 2015 saw the leaking of confidential documents from the Vatican to journalists.
Both popes, Francis as well as Benedict XVI., Have suffered greatly from "this betrayal," said Becciu, who was named cardinal in June 2018. He said there were no reasons that could justify behavior like that in the Vatileaks scandals. It is only a matter of "the logic of power", the betrayal is "fruit of frustrations, jealousy, revenge" and serves some even for profiteering, said the cleric.
For some who work in the Vatican, he said, there is a sense of belonging to the church, "the ability to know how to suffer in silence – I say this especially to priests! -, disappeared," Becciu is further quoted as saying. The papal secret and the oath that goes with it no longer meant anything to some.
"I don't want to inspire conspiracy theories"
Becciu declined to comment on the allegations made by the former Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Carlo Maria Vigano: "The pope has asked us to remain silent on this, and I am abiding by this." He did not know if there were plans to destabilize behind Vigano's accusations. "I don't like conspiracy theories and I don't want to give them wings," said the curia cardinal. Vigano has accused Francis and leading circles of the Curia of knowing about sexual misconduct by former Washington archbishop Theodore McCarrick against seminarians and doing nothing or doing something too late.
In the first Vatileaks case, the valet de chambre of then-Pope Benedict XVI had., Paolo Gabriele, confidential documents passed from the papal desk. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Vatican court in October 2012; on 22. December Benedict XVI pardoned him.
In July 2016, the former secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, Lucio Angelo Vallejo Balda, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. During the trial, the priest had confessed to passing on internal files of the papal audit commission COSEA to two journalists. Francis pardoned Spanish priest just before Christmas 2016.