Officials in the Vatican's
Secretariat for the Economy spent hundreds of thousands of euros
on business class flights, clothes made to measure, and
expensive furniture, according to a new book by Italian
journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi.
In "Avarice: Documents Revealing Wealth, Scandals and
Secrets of Francis' Church," due to be published on November 5,
Fittipaldi writes that a list of the secretariat's expenses was
sent to Pope Francis in January 2015, less than a year after he
established the dicastery to manage the Vatican's economic
activities.
Extracts from the book show the list included "crazy
expenses that reached more than half a million euros after just
six months of operations".
Fittipaldi also writes that the Vatican sold 27 million
euros worth of petrol in 2012, 18% of which went to "unknown"
clients.
Fuel is an important source of income for the Vatican,
according to analysis published in the book. There are two
petrol pumps in the Vatican and the price for consumers is 20%
lower than the price in Italy, the book says.
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