Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published letters from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò in which he exposed corruption that caused the Holy See to pay increased prices for contracts.
During the following months, the situation intensified as documents were leaked to Italian journalists, revealing power struggles inside the Vatican due to its efforts to implement greater financial transparency and comply with international norms to fight money laundering.
The scandal was first revealed during late January 2012 by a television program named The Untouchables (Gli intoccabili), broadcast in Italy by La7,[3] and increased during May 2012 when Gianluigi Nuzzi published a book entitled His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI consisting of confidential letters and memorandums.
Viganò, formerly the second-ranked Vatican administrator to the Pope, allegedly asked not to be transferred for having exposed corruption that cost the Holy See artificially high contract prices.
[citation needed] An anonymous document described a conversation with Cardinal Paolo Romeo of Palermo, Sicily, in which he allegedly predicted the Pope would be dead within twelve months.
The three cardinals appointed by Benedict acted in a supervisory role, examining more than the narrow criminal scope of the leaks and interviewing much of the Vatican bureaucracy; they purportedly discovered a sex and blackmail scandal.
[10][11] Similar documents had been published by Italian media during the previous five months; many of them dealt with allegations of corruption, abuse of power and a lack of financial accountability at the Vatican.
[20] Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer specialist at the Secretariat of State who allegedly helped Gabriele, was arrested and convicted of obstruction of justice based on conflicting information he gave to prosecutors.
"[22] On 17 December 2012, the Pope received a report on "Vatican lobbies" prepared by Cardinals Julián Herranz, Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo, and Jozef Tomko.
[31][32] On 12 June 2013, it was reported that leaked notes of a private conversation between Pope Francis and Catholic officials at the Latin American Conference of Religious confirmed the existence of "a stream of corruption", and that "the 'gay lobby' is mentioned, and it is true, it is there.
Judge Giuseppe Della Torre, director of the tribunal of the Vatican City State, declared that "the court had no legitimate jurisdiction over Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi.