Vatican wants clean-up amid corruption probe focus 06/24/2010

Vatican wants clean-up amid corruption probe

focus 06/24/2010 VATICAN CITY — Shaken to its core by revelations of paedophile abuse in the Church, the Vatican is moving to publicly clean up its finances as a top cardinal is caught up in a corruption probe, experts say. Prosecutors are investigating Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe over allegations he took kickbacks as head of Propaganda Fide, the body that handles the Vatican’s vast real estate holdings and financing much of the Church’s missionary work. The Vatican has defended Sepe’s “intense and generous” work, and the cardinal insist he was acting at the time with the full support of the Roman Catholic Church. But Vatican expert Sandro Magister says Pope Benedict XVI has acted cool toward Sepe, who left Propaganda Fide four years ago to become Archbishop of Naples. He sees this as a sign that the Pope “clearly wants to clean up” the Vatican’s earthly business. “It was Benedict XVI who moved Sepe away from Rome” in 2006, replacing him with Ivan Diaz, an Indian cardinal considered “light years away from any kind of wheeling and dealing,” Magister told AFP. On Monday, the Vatican set up a link from its website to the historical archive of Propaganda Fide in a bid to promote better transparency. And in September last year, Benedict overhauled the Vatican Bank, the epicenter of previous financial scandals, placing at its head respected banker and transparency advocate Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, Magister added.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100624com6.html

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