MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Another 'money-sin' in the Vatican: this time involves a former cardinal's penthouse

The Vatican said it is investigating two former officials over claims money meant for a children’s hospital was used to refurbish a cardinal’s luxury apartment. Costly work at former Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s flat, (seeming to clash with Pope Francis’s recommendations that church officials live as modestly as he), caused a scandal when allegations emerged that the Bambino Gesu Hospital foundation had helped foot the bill.

 Giuseppe Profiti, former manager at the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesu, and its ex-treasurer Massimo Spina are being investigated, Vatican press officer Greg Burke said, confirming a report in Italian magazine L’Espresso.

Efforts to track down the two men, who no longer work at the hospital, were not immediately successful. The Vatican said the investigation was ongoing but did not say when it began.

A lawyer for Bertone, who is not being investigated, said in a statement the cardinal had never asked for or authorized any payment from the hospital foundation relating to his penthouse apartment.

Pope Francis has made cleaning up Vatican finances a priority of his papacy, as allegations of financial crimes have continued to emerge, including two major investigations into the handling of real estate and investments opened since late 2014.

Vatican investigators are looking into allegations the former hospital managers were involved in embezzling and misusing funds, according to L’Espresso. The work on Bertone’s residence cost some 422,000 Euros (US$481,000), the magazine reported.

In another case involving the Bambino Gesu, Italian media reported in June that magistrates suspected a cardinal may have diverted 30 million Euros in state funds destined for the hospital to save a different church-owned institution.

Bertone was formerly the secretary of state, the Vatican’s number official, under Pope Benedict XVI and for the first months of Francis’ papacy. Now 81, he no longer holds any top Vatican post.