The Pope’s Corruption Problems

The Pope’s Corruption Problems

Alvaro Tapia for forbes The biggest financial criminal trial in the history of the Catholic Church, scheduled to restart October 5 in a makeshift courtroom in the Vatican Museums, has been carefully positioned as a critical moment for reform-minded Pope Francis. It's a chance for him to signal that no one is above the law, and he has a two-year investigation, a 487-page indictment and charges against a once-untouchable cardinal to back it up. So far, so good, at least in terms of a branding exercise, as the world's biggest media outlets breathlessly declare it a "landmark fraud and corruption trial" and the Vatican's "trial of the century." Behind the scenes, though, this case—a soap opera in clerical robes, complete with allegations of fraud, scandal and nepotism—has a real chance to boomerang back on Francis. Forbes has spoken with dozens of Vati­can sources over the past few weeks, and what emer­ges is a striking counter-narrative—a continuation of the self-dealing, favoritism and lack of due process that leads all the way up to the Vatican's absolute monarch, the pope himself. For its largest criminal trial ever, the Vatican converted a hall in its museum into a court big enough for some