Vatican admits secretly bugging its own clergy
The Vatican admitted on Thursday that it had secretly bugged clergy within the Holy See as part of the investigation into the Vatileaks scandal, which resulted in the Pope's butler being imprisoned for stealing confidential pontifical documents.
Like much of the rest of his papacy, Benedict's last day in office was overshadowed by claims of secrecy and intrigue.
An Italian news magazine, Panorama, claimed that Vatican authorities had conducted, and are still conducting, an extensive covert surveillance programme, tapping the phone calls and intercepting the emails of cardinals and bishops in the Curia, the governing body of the Catholic Church.
The surveillance operation was to weed out Vatican insiders who may have helped Paolo Gabriele, the butler, steal and leak to the press compromising papal documents, in a scandal that rocked the Catholic Church and reportedly contributed to Benedict's decision to resign.
The Vatican confirmed that secret surveillance had indeed taken place, but on a far smaller scale than that portrayed by Panorama.
In response to a question by The Daily Telegraph at a press briefing, Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said surveillance had taken place but "not of the dimensions described".
"In the context of Vatileaks, some intercepts and checks were authorised by the Vatican magistracy," he said.
It was investigators from the Vatican magistracy who led the prosecution against Mr Gabriele in a lightning-fast trial which resulted in his conviction for aggravated theft.
He was sentenced to 18 months behind bars but spent only a few weeks in a Vatican "secure room" before receiving a pardon from Benedict just before Christmas.
Father Lombardi said the secret surveillance operation involved the wiretapping of "two or three" telephone lines, but did not specify who they belonged to.
The Vatileaks scandal exploded last year when it emerged that the Pope's personal valet had been stealing documents from the papal apartments and leaking them to journalists in what he said was an attempt to expose "evil and corruption" within the Church.
Benedict personally appointed three elderly cardinals, including a prominent member of Opus Dei, to investigate the leaks, amid suspicions that the butler had not acted alone.
Many of the documents damaged the standing of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who as Secretary of State is equivalent to the Vatican's prime minister and is second in authority only to the Pope.
Federico Lombardi said surveillance had taken place but 'not of the dimensions described' (Getty)
Panorama claimed it was he who authorised the secret bugging operation but that was denied by Father Lombardi.
The surveillance operation was carried out by the Vatican Gendarmerie, the papal police force, which is headed by Domenico Giani, a former officer in the Italian intelligence services.
"For more than a year, emails, telephone conversations, meetings and discussions were meticulously placed under observation by the Gendarmerie," said Panorama's Vatican expert, Ignazio Ingrao, in what amounted to "a sort of Vatican Big Brother" operation.
"Everyone was spied on in the Vatican. In the shadow of the cupola of St Peter's Basilica, the biggest and most detailed wiretapping operation ever conducted in the sacred palaces was conducted," the magazine said.
"Even the email accounts of bishops and cardinals were sifted through and their phone lines placed under scrutiny." The three cardinals delivered the results of their investigation to the Pope in December, but the hunt for moles within the Holy See was still going on, Panorama claimed.
Father Lombardi has previously said that the investigation is still formally open.
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