Vatileaks - Vatican Arrest Shows That The Butler Really Did Do It!

[Judee]

Good for the butler!!

The Pope's butler arrested following Vatileaks investigation

Mr Gabriele, who has been at the Pope’s side for six years, is one of the German born pontiff's closest members of his inner circle which totals just four lay people and four nuns and he is always at his side
By Nick Pisa in Rome
25 May 2012

Vatican police have arrested Pope Benedict XVI's personal butler following an investigation into the leaking of sensitive church documents.

The butler, identified as Paolo Gabriele, 40, was held by gendarmes after a special commission of three top senior cardinals had been appointed by the Pope to identify the source of the leaks which have caused severe embarrassment.

Mr Gabriele, who has been at the Pope’s side for six years, is one of the German born pontiff’s closest members of his inner circle which totals just four lay people and four nuns. Vatican sources said the Pope had been ''deeply pained and struck'' by the arrest of the man who has been a constant presence at his side

It is believed that Mr Gabriele, who is known by the nickname Paoletto (little Paul) was held as he arrived for work at the Papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace behind St Peter’s and on Friday he was being held in custody – the first time in years the Vatican jail had been used.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said a man had been detained with “documents in his possession” adding that he was not supposed to have them and he went on to describe him as “a lay person and not a member of the clergy”.

The arrest comes a month after Pope Benedict appointed a special commission to investigate the series of damning and embarrassing leaks of sensitive Catholic Church documents from the Vatican as it still tries to recover from the priest sex abuse scandal.

Dozens of documents including private letters to the Pope have found themselves into the hands of the Italian media in what has been dubbed Vatileaks, a play on the WikiLeaks website.

The documents show how contracts were awarded to favoured companies and individuals and also highlight allegations of internal power struggles with the Vatican’s bank known as the Institute for Religious Works.

Legal experts said Mr Gabriele could face up to 30 years in prison because the illegal possession of Vatican documents was the equivalent of breaching state security.

If he is charged and the case proceeds to court, it will take place inside the Vatican along the lines of the Italian system with a first trial then two appeals before a verdict and sentence is confirmed. If imprisoned, he is likely to be held by Italian authorities as was the case with Ali Agca, the Turkish hitman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.

By coincidence on Thursday the head of the bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who is already under investigation for money laundering resigned after a vote of no confidence and initially there were rumours that he was the person responsible for the leak of documents.

The scandal began in January with the publication of leaked letters from the former deputy governor of the Vatican City Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, in which he pleaded not to be transferred after he had exposed what he said was corruption over the awarding of contracts.

Archbishop Vigano was deputy governor from 2009 until las year when he was moved to Washington DC to be papal nuncio in the United States. He had written to the Pope protesting the fact adding that it would bring an end to his efforts to “clean up” the Vatican.

Earlier this year there was even a report leaked which claimed a plot to assassinate Pope Benedict had been uncovered although this was dismissed as “absurd” by Father Lombardi who threatened to take legal action against the TV station that screened the documents.

The Pope was said to be “shocked and saddened” at the constant leaks and it led to him appointing the three cardinal commission and who worked with the Vatican gendarmes which lead to the arrest.

Sources said that sensitive Vatican documents had been recovered from father of three Gabriele’s home inside the Vatican, but some have questioned if Mr Gabriele was perhaps being made a scapegoat.

Paolo Rodari, an expert on Vatican affairs, said: “I know Gabriele. He is a nice guy but I don’t think he would be behind this. I think he may have been imprudent and taken the odd document home but he is not the main person.”

“If you ask me he has been made a scapegoat just to satisfy the media. The documents found at his house were from the Pope’s personal correspondence but a lot of the leaked documents have come from the Secretary of State’s office and he would not have had access to those.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ation.html

[Alpha]

About time and not enough...nowhere close to enough. I hope there is more

[Judee]

Missed this... Seems the Vatican is having all sorts of problems!

24 May 2012

Mr Gotti Tedeschi is under investigation for suspected money-laundering

The director of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, has been removed from his post for dereliction of duty, the Vatican says.

The bank's board of directors unanimously passed a no-confidence vote in Mr Gotti Tedeschi, a statement said.

It said he had failed "to carry out duties of primary importance", but it did not elaborate.

In 2010 Italian police launched an investigation against Mr Gotti Tedeschi as part of a money-laundering inquiry.

Members of the board believed his dismissal was needed to "maintain the vitality of the bank", the Vatican statement said.

The board will now look for a new director to restore relations with the international financial community, "based on mutual respect for accepted international banking standards".

Mr Gotti Tedeschi declined to comment on his dismissal. He told journalists: "I'd rather say nothing, otherwise I'd say ugly things."

Transparency

But in remarks to the Reuters news agency, he said: "I have paid for my transparency."

The moves comes as Moneyval, the Council of Europe body tasked with counteracting money laundering, prepares to rule at the beginning of July on whether the Vatican meets international standards on financial transactions.

Memos leaked earlier this year suggest there are serious differences among Vatican officials over how far to go in ensuring financial transparency, according to media reports.

The Vatican Bank, known officially as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), was created during World War II to administer accounts held by religious orders, cardinals, bishops and priests.

It lost £250m in a scandal involving the collapse of one of Italy's biggest private banks - the Banco Ambrosiano - in 1982, with which it had close ties.

The Vatican Bank has been headed by Mr Gotti Tedeschi, 62, a trained economist, since 2009.

When Mr Gotti Tedeschi was placed under investigation in 2010, the Vatican said it was "perplexed and astonished", and expressed full confidence in him.

It said the matter was the result of a misunderstanding, and that none of its employees was involved in any wrongdoing.

As part of the inquiry, Italian tax police seized 23m euros ($29m, £18.4m) that the Vatican Bank had tried to transfer from a small Italian bank called Credito Artigiano.

A month later, the Vatican set up a new financial authority to combat money laundering and make its financial operations more transparent, ahead of an EU deadline.

The move was aimed at winning inclusion in the European Commission's "white list" of states which comply with international standards against tax fraud and money-laundering.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18200083

[Alpha]

for tonight's show:
June 3-4, 2012, Alex Jones/Bilderberg Update, Tom Horn/Prophecy of the Popes, George Noory/Host

[Alpha]

Why Benedict ‘really’ quit, Reports of Vatican ‘gay blackmail’ scandal


Monday, February 25, 2013

By ANDY SOLTIS
23 February 2013
With AP and Post Wire Services



With five days to go before Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation, the Vatican is being rocked by an explosive report that he decided to quit after learning of a network of influential gay prelates who were being blackmailed by gay outsiders.





SACRILEGIOUS: Pope Benedict XVI commissioned a probe that unearthed evidence of gay clergy members within the Vatican being blackmailed by gay laity.



The revelation stems from Benedict’s ordering a committee of three cardinals to investigate the unauthorized release to journalists of Vatican papers — the "Vati-leaks" scandal — and to make the findings for his eyes only.



Ironically, the two-volume, red-leather-bound cardinals’ report running nearly 300 pages was itself leaked.



Italy’s leading newspaper, La Repubblica, reported this week that the report was turned over to Benedict on Dec. 17 and he decided that day to resign.



The cardinals questioned dozens of Vatican officials and concluded the Holy See was corrupted by rival factions.



"Everything revolves around the non-observance of the Sixth and Seventh Commandments," the report said, according to La Repubblica.



That’s a reference to "Thou shall not steal" — for the alleged pilfering of the Vatican bank — and "Thou shall not commit adultery," which alludes to homosexuality.



La Repubblica added that members of one faction were "united by sexual orientation."



"Some prelates are ‘externally influenced’ — we would say blackmailed — by laity who are linked by bonds of a ‘worldly nature,’ " the paper said.



A similar report appeared in Italy’s news weekly Panorama, which named a Roman sauna where gay encounters allegedly took place.


Other Italian news media reported that Benedict was shocked by the findings.



Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi had indicated the pope may meet with the cardinals who compiled the document before he steps down next Thursday.



The newspaper La Stampa said Benedict was considering handing the report to the College of Cardinals when they begin their conclave to choose his successor.



Lombardi yesterday rebuffed efforts to get official reaction to the media reports.



One of the three cardinals who investigated Vati-leaks, Julian Herranz, hinted at the findings.



"There will be black sheep, like in all families," he told El Pais.



On Saturday, a day before Benedict's final Sunday blessing in St. Peter's Square, the Vatican secretariat of state said the Catholic Church has for centuries insisted on the independence of its cardinals to freely elect their pope — a reference to episodes in the past when kings and emperors vetoed papal contenders or prevented cardinals from voting outright.



"If in the past, the so-called powers, i.e., States, exerted pressures on the election of the pope, today there is an attempt to do this through public opinion that is often based on judgments that do not typically capture the spiritual aspect of the moment that the church is living," the statement said.



"It is deplorable that as we draw closer to the time of the beginning of the conclave ... that there be a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories that cause serious damage to persons and institutions."



Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi was asked how specifically the media was trying to influence the outcome; Lombardi didn't respond directly, saying only that the reports have tended to paint the Curia in a negative light "beyond the considerations and serene evaluations" of problems that cardinals might discuss before the conclave.



nypost.com

Source

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