The Vatican on Thursday
confirmed that a probe has been opened into the funding of
rennovations to the penthouse apartment inhabited by former
Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Former chairman of the Bambin Gesù pediatric hospital
Giuseppe Profiti and former treasurer Massimo Spina are under
investigation, the deputy director of the Vatican press office
Greg Burke said.
The suspects are allegedly being probed for
misappropriation.
Cardinal Bertone is not under investigation, Burke said.
The statement came after L'Espresso magazine reported that
judicial authorities at the Vatican have launched a probe into
the two ex pediatric hospital managers following revelations
made by journalist Emiliano Fittipladi in his controversial 2015
exposé Avarice examining the Vatican's financial empire.
Fittipaldi is on trial along with four others in the
so-called Vatileaks 2 case involving the alleged leaking and
publishing of confidential Vatican documents.
"Pope Francis' judges have already found documentary
evidence to show that the renovations to the apartment were paid
for by the Bambin Gesù pediatric hospital foundation," wrote
Fittipaldi in Thursday's report.
The paediatric hospital operates in the Italian national
health system but is owned and administered by the Holy See.
Cardinal Bertone has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing over
his penthouse in Via della Conciliazione near St Peter's
Basilica.
"I used my savings," Bertone wrote in Genoa-based Catholic
weekly Il Cittadino last November.
"I have the paperwork to prove I paid roughly 300,000
euros to the Vatican governorate from my own account.
"I later discovered that the Bambin Gesu' Foundation had
made a contribution for the same purpose," he continued.
"I rule out having ever given indication or authorised the
foundation to make any payment," the cardinal said.
Cardinal Bertone also denied living in luxury.
"The apartment measures 296 square metres and I don't live
there on my own. I live with a community of nuns who help me,"
the prelate told Corriere della Sera newspaper at the time.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
