Vatican Scandals Linked to Corruption

Vatican Scandals Linked to Corruption

The Vatican faces controversy linked to corruption after an Italian television investigation announced on Thursday that a former high ranking official, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, was transferred against his will after he complained about discrepancies pertaining to awarding of contracts.

The program on a private TV station La 7 “The Untouchables” exposed Wednesday night what it said were several letters that Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano sent to superiors including Pope Benedict last year about the alleged corruption practices.

The Vatican confirmed that the letters were authentic but criticized the methods used in the investigation.

Vigano, currently the Vatican's ambassador in Washington, disclosed in the letters that when he took the job in 2009, he discovered rampant corruption, nepotism and cronyism related to the awarding of contracts to outside companies at inflated rates.

In one letter to the pope on April 4, 2011, Vigano says he discovered that some investments in Vatican City were entrusted to two funds managed by Italian bankers committee who is, allegedly, more after of their own interests than of theirs.

Vigano disclosed in the same letter that in one single transaction in December 2009, this abovementioned committee had the Vatican lost two and a half million dollars!

The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone informed Vigano on March 22 last year that he was being disconnected from his position, even though it was meant to last until 2014.

In early April, Vigano wrote directly to the pope telling him that he had worked hard to "eliminate corruption, private interests and dysfunction that are widespread in various departments," and that he deserves to retain his position.

Despite Vigano’s appeal to the pope that a transfer, even if it meant a promotion, would mean his defeat, he was named ambassador to Washington in October after the death of the previous diplomat to the United States.

Posted by James Fried on Saturday January 28 2012, 3:13 PM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0