Thu 17 October 2019:
Domenico Giani, who is also the Pope’s chief bodyguard, stepped down amid a scandal stemming from an investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing.
He had signed a memo which identified five employees who had been “suspended” and barred entry into the Vatican, though not investigated or charged. It was then leaked to the media.
Pope Francis said the leak harmed the principle of presumption of innocence.
The affair, sparked by costly property dealings in London’s upscale Chelsea district, has already led to the suspension of five Vatican employees, including a senior Vatican financial supervisor, according to Vatican officials and a person familiar with the matter. So far the Vatican has kept the nature of any suspected wrongdoing secret.
The Vatican on Monday said that Domenico Giani, commander of its Gendarmerie police force and chief of the pope’s personal security detail, has stepped down because of the leak to Italian media earlier this month of a document from his office revealing the names and photos of the suspended employees.
The Vatican said Mr. Giani “bears no personal responsibility for the leak,” whose perpetrator remains unknown, and had resigned “out of love for the church and faithfulness” to the pope.
The leaked document was published the day after Vatican investigators raided and seized documents and electronic devices from the offices of the Vatican’s powerful executive, the Secretariat of State, as well as the Vatican financial watchdog that monitors the long scandal-plagued Vatican Bank.
Those raids were prompted by complaints from the Vatican Bank itself, and from the office of the Vatican’s auditor general, about the London property dealings, according to Vatican officials. The raid’s connection with the London investments was first reported by Italian magazine L’Espresso, which also published the leaked identities of the suspended officials. The Vatican has declined to provide any detail on the investigation.
The probe centers on a large building in Chelsea that was co-owned by the Vatican and an Italian business partner, London-based financier Raffaele Mincione, the person familiar with the matter said.
