Dark Mysteries of the Vatican by H. Paul Jeffers Read Free Book Online

its real value on the market,” said Ruggiero. “And of course, the vast artistic holding of the Holy See was not taken into account, since it is a priceless and non-commercial holding. (Because of it being ‘priceless,’ the value of the art treasures has been listed as ‘One Euro.’)” St. Peter’s Basilica is categorized “beyond market values.”
    In July 2008, the Associated Press reported that the Vatican ran a deficit in 2007, which the Holy See attributed to “the weak dollar in the generous collection baskets from the U.S. faithful,” and steep costs of running the Vatican’s media (a newspaper and radio station). “The Vatican issued financial figures showing a nearly $13.5 million deficit. It cited the sharp drop in the exchange rate for the U.S. dollar. The Vatican in Rome pays many of its expenses in euros, a currency that had soared in value against the U.S. dollar. The financial report, released by the Holy See’s press office, listed 2007 revenue of $371.97 million against expenses of $386.27 million.
    “The Vatican said its financial investments were hurt ‘principally by the sharp and rather marked inversion in exchange rates, above all for the U.S. dollar.’ The Vatican said rents and other income from its vast real estate holdings helped its finances. The Vatican Museums, which include the Sistine Chapel, a top tourist attraction, also helped the Holy See’s finances.”
    “The Vatican’s annual Peter’s Pence collection worldwide found that the U.S. faithful were the most generous in absolute terms of the amount donated, more than $18.7 million.”
    “No nation of Catholics gives more than Americans. A cardinals’ advisory committee on Holy See finances released a report in 2008 that showed the U.S. was the top contributor nation ($19 million, or 29% of the total) to the Holy See’s charitable spending in 2007, and came in second (after Germany) in contributions to the support of the Holy See itself.”
    In 2007, the Vatican decided to “give financial rewards to employees who were doing a good job.” “It said it would take into account employee ‘dedication, professionalism, productivity and correctitude’ when awarding a pay rise…. More than 4,000 people, from cardinals to cleaners,” were employed by the Holy See in the Vatican. “Base pay across a broad spectrum of jobs reportedly ranged from 1,100 euros ($1,634) to 2,200 euros ($3,268) a month.” A recent account gave the number of employees at 2,659, of which 744 were diocesan priests, 351 men and women in religious orders, and 1,564 laity.
    When Pope John XIII was asked how many people worked in the Vatican, he quipped, “About half.”

CHAPTER 4
Naughty Priests
    W hen a Texas lawyer was digging in Vatican archives in 2003 in the pursuit of cases on behalf of American victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, he found a document titled De Modo Provedendi di Causis Crimine Soliciciones ( On the Manner of Proceeding in Cases of the Crime of Solicitation ). Bearing the signature and seal of Pope John XXIII, it was written in 1962 by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani and distributed to senior clerics all over the world with an order that it was to be kept secret.
    The sixty-nine-page document dealt primarily with any priest who tempted anyone in the act of sacramental confession “towards impure or obscene matters.”
    Bishops who received the order were instructed to pursue these cases “in the most secretive way.” Everyone involved, including the alleged victim, was sworn “to observe the strictest secret, which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office” under penalty of excommunication. The “worst crime” was defined as “any obscene external deed, gravely sinful,” carried out by a cleric “with a person of his own sex.” The document was described as “strictly confidential” and was not to be published.
    Seven centuries before Pope John XXIII authorized the Vatican’s cover-up of sexual