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Former Pope Benedict says in his memoirs that no-one pressured him to resign but alleges that a "gay lobby" in the Vatican had tried to influence decisions, a leading Italian newspaper reported on Friday. The book, called "The Last Conversations", is the first time in history that a former pope judges his own pontificate after it is over. It is due to be published on Sept. 9... In the book, Benedict says that he came to know of the presence of a "gay lobby" made up of four or five people who were seeking to influence Vatican decisions. The article...

VATICAN CITY, July 1 (Reuters) - Former Pope Benedict says in his memoirs that no-one pressured him to resign but alleges that a "gay lobby" in the Vatican had tried to influence decisions, a leading Italian newspaper reported on Friday. The book, called "The Last Conversations," is the first time in history that a former pope judges his own pontificate after it is over. It is due to be published on Sept. 9. Citing health reasons, Benedict in 2103 became the first pope in six centuries to resign. He promised to remain "hidden to the world" and has been living...

VATICAN CITY -- Two former members of a Vatican commission have been arrested on charges of stealing and leaking information in connection with two soon-to-be released books alleged to contain confidential information surrounding Pope Francis' pontificate. Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Francesca Chaouqui were taken into custody after being questioned on Saturday and Sunday by the Vatican Gendarmerie, according to a Nov. 2 statement released by the Holy See Press Office. The Vatican office of the Promoter of Justice on Monday confirmed the arrests of the Spanish official and the Italian PR woman who had both previously served on...

"On flight from Rio de Janeiro to Rome" Journalists fired improvised questions at the Pope for one hour and twenty minutes. The Pope agreed to hold the press conference straight after take-off, despite how tired he was after an eventful World Youth Day week in Brazil. Francis surprised journalists with his willingness to answer all questions put to him, even those which touched on really thorny issues like the reform of the Vatican Bank (IOR), the Ricca case, the gay lobby, Vatileaks and even the content of the black leather bad he carried on to the plane which flew him...

The pope has transferred a top official from the Vatican's secretariat of state to Colombia amid swirling media speculation about the contents of a confidential report into the Vatican's leaks scandal. Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, insisted Friday that the transfer of Monsignor Ettore Balestrero had been months in the works and had nothing to do with the leaks investigation or what the Vatican considers baseless reporting. Balestrero was named undersecretary of the Vatican's Foreign Ministry in 2009 and, among other tasks, has been a lead player in the Holy See's efforts to get on the "white list" of...

Concerning the open wounds of the Church by Gianluigi Nuzzi "Traitor," some call him. Because he has made public in his book "Sua Santità" operations that the Holy See would have rather have kept in the dark- failures in dealing with cases of sexual abuse, for example. The journalist and author Gianluigi Nuzzi tells the SZ why the publication of the Vatileaks will make the Church better. Pope Benedict XVI is to meet Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano - and Monsignor Mamberti, the "foreign minister" of the Vatican Secretariat of State is preparing a note to Ratzinger. He cites a number...

MILAN (Reuters) - Pope Benedict got no rest on Sunday from a leaks scandal when an Italian newspaper published documents showing that his butler was not the only person in possession of confidential correspondence indicating a Vatican in disarray. Benedict, 85, ended a weekend trip to Italy's industrial and financial capital Milan with a closing mass for an international gathering in which he praised traditional Catholic family values and re-stated his opposition to gay marriage.But in its Sunday edition, the Rome newspaper La Repubblica published documents it said it had received anonymously after the arrest of the pope's butler on...

The Gemelli Hospital in Rome, owned by the Church, has a hole in theie accounts of one billion. This has been revealed in a letter to Cardinal Bertone: "There is danger of bankruptcy" A few days ago the Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone received a report with devastating content regarding the healthcare operations of the Catholic University of Sacred Heart which controls the Gemelli Hospital, showing a total debt of nearly one billion (750 to banks and 170 million to suppliers), and the risk of a crash is very close. "L'Espresso" has read the confidential memo dated May 17, 2012...

Clever work by Msgr Gänswein

Also other articles relating to Vatileaks

The priest who is the Secretary to the Cardinal's Commission.