Vatican defends transfer of alleged whistleblower

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An Italian television programme has claimed that a former top Vatican City official was moved to another post, against his will, after he complained about the way contracts were being awarded.

The programme: 'The Untouchables' broadcast by the La 7 channel on Wednesday night, showed several letters sent last year by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, when he was deputy-governor of Vatican City, to superiors, including Pope Benedict, about the corruption.

The Vatican issued a statement Thursday criticizing the methods used in the journalistic investigation. But it seems to have confirmed that the letters were authentic by expressing "sadness over the publication of reserved documents."

As deputy governor of the Vatican City for two years from 2009 to 2011, Vigano was the number two official in a department responsible for maintaining the Vatican gardens, buildings, streets, museums and other infrastructure.

Vigano said in the letters that when he took the job, he discovered a web of corruption, nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to outside companies at inflated prices.

In one letter, Vigano tells the Pope of a smear campaign against him (Vigano) by other Vatican officials who wanted him transferred because they were upset that he had taken drastic steps to save the Vatican money by cleaning up its procedures.

"Holy Father, my transfer right now would provoke much disorientation and discouragement in those who have believed it was possible to clean up so many situations of corruption and abuse of power that have been rooted in the management of so many departments," Vigano wrote to the Pope on 27 March, 2011.

In another letter sent to Pope Benedict on April 4, 2011, Vigano says he discovered the management of some Vatican City investments was entrusted to two funds managed by a committee of Italian bankers "who looked after their own interests more than ours."

Vigano says in the same letter that in one single financial transaction in December, 2009, "they made us lose two and a half million dollars."

The program interviewed an anonymous man it identified as a member of the bankers' committee who said Vigano had developed a reputation as a "ballbreaker" among companies that had contracts with the Vatican, because of his insistence on transparency and competition.

In one of the letters to the Pope, Vigano said Vatican maintenance workers were demoralized because "work was always given to the same companies at costs at least double compared to those charged outside the Vatican."

Even though, Vigano's cost-cutting and transparency campaign helped turned Vatican City's budget from deficit to surplus during his tenure, in 2011 unsigned articles criticizing him as inefficient appeared in the Italian newspaper Il Giornale.

On March 22, 2011, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone informed Vigano that he was being removed from his position, even though it was to have lasted until 2014.

In early April, Vigano wrote to the Pope, telling him that he had worked hard to "eliminate corruption, private interests and dysfunction that are widespread in various departments." In the same letter he said: "no-one should be surprised about the press campaign against me" because he tried to root out corruption and had made enemies.

Despite his appeals to the Pope that a transfer, even if it was a promotion, "would be a defeat difficult for me to accept," Vigano was named ambassador to Washington in October of last year after the sudden death of the previous envoy to the United States.

Yesterday, the Holy See Press Office director Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, issued a statement in which he questioned the journalistic methods in which the programme had been made, and expressed his "disappointment at the revelation of reserved documents", noting that such things often form part of the "biased coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church".

He pointed out that two considerations "had not given space in the course of the debate". Firstly, he said: "the activities of Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano as secretary general of the Governorate of Vatican City State certainly had many positive aspects, as he contributed to the efforts being made to ensure administrative rigour, economisation and the improvement of what was a difficult overall economic situation. ... However, a fairer evaluation would have taken account of the trends of the market, the investment criteria adopted over recent years, and other important circumstances."

He continued: "Certain accusations - some very serious - made during the course of the programme, especially those concerning the members of the Finance and Management Committee of the Governorate and the Secretariat of State, will lead both the Secretariat of State and the Governorate to adopt all measures (including if necessary legal measures) to protect the honour of morally upright and highly professional people who serve the Church, the Pope and the common good."

"In any case, the positive criteria of correct and transparent management which inspired Archbishop Vigano certainly continue to guide the current directors of the Governorate. ... This is in keeping with the policy to which the Holy See is committed of increasing transparency and attentively monitoring of economic activities".

Secondly, he said: "the difficult process of discerning the various aspects involved in managing a complex institution such as the Governorate - which are not limited to administrative rigour - was presented in a superficial and biased manner, highlighting the evidently negative aspects with the simplistic result of presenting the structures of government in the Church as being, not so much affected by human frailty (which would be easily understandable), as profoundly characterised by arguments, divisions and power struggles. ... Yet, all this disinformation will certainly not obscure the daily and serene efforts towards increasing transparency in all Vatican institutions. ... In this context, it must be decisively affirmed that entrusting Archbishop Vigano with the role of apostolic nuncio to the United States - one of the most important roles in Vatican diplomacy given the importance of the country and of the Catholic Church there - is proof of unquestionable respect and trust".

Source: VIS/La7