Vatican security chief resigns after uproar over leak

Record ID: 1436636

  • Title: Vatican security chief resigns after uproar over leak
  • Date: 14th October 2019
  • Summary: MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE (FILE - SEPTEMBER 4, 2019) (REUTERS) (NIGHT) VARIOUS OF GIANI LOOKING AS POPE WATCHES DANCERS ON ARRIVAL
  • Embargoed: 28th October 2019 13:43
  • Keywords: Domenico Giani Vatican's longtime security chief Pope Francis' main bodyguard
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • Country: Vatican City
  • Topics: Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA004B12M5ON
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Domenico Giani, the Vatican's longtime security chief and Pope Francis' main bodyguard, resigned on Monday (October 14) over the leak of information from an investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing in the Vatican.
    The departure of Giani, 57, a former member of Italy's secret services who had been in the Vatican post since 2006, follows an unprecedented and unexplained raid by his men on two key Vatican offices, the Financial Information Authority (AIF) and the Secretariat of State, on Oct. 2.
    Since then, the Vatican has been in turmoil over the leak of an internal police notice bearing pictures of five Vatican employees, including the number two at AIF and a monsignor in the Secretariat of State.
    Vatican sources said the pope was furious over the leak of the notice, which showed the five, including a woman, in a format similar to a "most wanted" flyer. It was issued to guards at Vatican gates telling them the five could not enter because they had been "preventively suspended".
    The pope ordered an investigation into the leak, the Vatican said. Sources said the pope was upset that the five had been branded in such a way even though they formally had not been suspected of anything specific and that the investigation, into an international real estate deal, was still in its infancy.
    Giani's resignation was announced by the Vatican.
    (Production: Gabriele Pileri, Eleanor Biles)
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