Lord Stirling's News Blog EUROPE

Spanish Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, (a ordained Catholic priest with the rank of Monsignor), aged 54, whose important position is ‘Secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See’ and an Italian woman and public relations expert Francesco Immacolata Chaouqui, aged 33, were both arrested this Monday.  Mrs. Chaouqui, who is pregnant, was released Tuesday after cooperating with Vatican police investigators.  Monsignor Balda remains in the small Vatican City jail.  Both are facing eight years in prison for disclosing confidential information to journalists! 

Vatican Arrests Portend New Banking Scandal ~ link 
Two ‘moles’ arrested as fresh scandal hits Vatican ~ link ~ Vallejo Balda, who is currently languishing in a Vatican jail, belongs to a priestly society linked to conservative Catholic movement Opus Dei, which expressed “surprise and pain” at his arrest.
A furious Vatican also denounced the expected publication this week of two new books believed to be based on leaks from hackers releasing information regarding the famously murky world of its finances.
Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi, who is releasing “Avarice: Documents Revealing Wealth, Scandals and Secrets of Francis’ Church”, writes for L’Espresso newsweekly, an avid publisher of leaks in recent years.
“Merchants in the Temple”, by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, follows his 2012 book which was based on information gathered from Benedict’s butler in a scandal some believe was the reason behind the pontiff’s historic resignation. 

Facing bombshell books, the Vatican retaliates first ~ link
Vatican Is A “Black Hole” Of Mismanagement And Greed Claims New Book ~ link  
Vatican leaks scandal grows: Book exposes resistance, waste ~ link ~  Citing confidential documents, it exposed millions of euros in potential lost rental revenue, the scandal of the Vatican’s saint-making machine, greedy monsignors and a professional-style break-in at the Vatican.
With the scandal still fresh, Francis was elected in 2013 on a mandate from his fellow cardinals to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and clean up its opaque finances. He set out promptly by creating a commission of eight experts to gather information from all Vatican offices on the Holy See’s overall financial situation, which by that time was dire. Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, a high-ranking Vatican official affiliated with the Opus Dei movement, and Francesca Chaouqui, an Italian public relations executive, were both members — and now are accused in the leaks probe.
  

Vatican scandal heats up with revelations of greed, intrigue ~ link
Vatican suspects key investment office was used for money laundering ~ link