Vatican detains suspect in unauthorised leaks probe
bbc.co.uk | May 25th 201225 May 2012 Last updated at 09:56 ET
Vatican detains suspect in unauthorised leaks probe
Pope Benedict has faced a spate of embarrassing leaks from within the Vatican Continue reading the main story Related Stories
The Vatican has said it has detained a person it suspects of leaking a series of confidential documents and letters to the media.
The leaks have described alleged corruption, mismanagement, and internal conflicts among top Holy See officials.
The Vatican said the person was being questioned by Vatican magistrates, but gave no further details about their identity.
The "Vatileaks" scandal, as it is known, has enraged the Holy See.
Last month, Pope Benedict XVI set up a special commission of cardinals to investigate the leaks.
"The inquiry carried out by Vatican police... allowed them to identify someone in possession of confidential documents," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists.
"This person is currently being questioned."
An unnamed Vatican source told Reuters that the person was not a priest.
The news of the discovery comes just a day after the president of the Vatican bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was ousted by its board.
The official reason for his departure was his failure to fulfil the "primary functions of his office", the Vatican has said.
But, according to reports, he was also suspected of being involved in the leaking of the documents.
The Vatileaks scandal has filled Italian media - dominating the columns of Italian newspapers and filling TV programmes and magazines.
The BBC's David Willey, in Rome, says the leak of a string of highly sensitive internal documents from inside the Vatican's Secretariat of State, including personal letters to Pope Benedict XVI, has been an evident embarrassment to the Pope, prompting the rare investigation.
The leaked documents include a letter to Pope Benedict by the Vatican's current ambassador to Washington alleging cronyism, nepotism and corruption among the administrators of Vatican City.
Others concern "poison pen" memos criticising Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the pope's number two, and the reporting of suspicious payments by the Vatican Bank.
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