The Holy See has formally charged two former officers of Bambino Gesu Hospital, the Vatican’s pediatric medical center, on charges of illegally using funds to help finance the remodeling of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s apartment within Vatican City.
Giuseppe Profiti, former President of the hospital until 2015, and Massimo Spina, the former Treasurer, will be called to appear before Vatican judges beginning July 18.
Since the Holy See has no jurisdiction outside its territorial and extra-territorial properties, the indicted former officials cannot be arrested by Vatican authorities. However, if the two men do not present themselves to the court on the opening trial date, they will be charged with contempt by the Vatican court.
Profiti, 55, and Spina, 57, are charged with illicit use of funds belonging to the Bambino Gesu Foundation to pay Gianantonio Bandera, an Italian contractor, to refurbish an apartment belonging to Vatican City State and used as the residence of Cardinal Bertone, former Vatican Secretary of State.
The indictment charges that Profiti and Spina “were paid” more than 420,000 Euros for “completely non-institutional ends” by using the money to refurbish Vatican property in order “to benefit Gianantonio Bandera’s company.”
It said the alleged crime committed in Vatican City State spanned from November 2013 to May 28, 2014 — the time period that the contractor’s seven invoices were dated and paid for, according to news reports.
Profiti, who had been President of the hospital since 2008, resigned in January 2015, less than a year into a renewed three-year term, amid rumors of the alleged kickback scheme. The revelations emerged after Emiliano Fittipaldi, a journalist acquitted in a Vatican trial in 2016 for publishing allegedly stolen Vatican documents, published his findings in early 2016.
According to documents published by L’Espresso magazine, Profiti wrote Cardinal Bertone in late 2013, allegedly offering to pay for the remodeling using hospital foundation money in exchange for being able to use the top floor of the Cardinal’s residence for work-related gatherings.
Profiti had been sentenced with six months’ house arrest while he was still hospital President after being found guilty in 2008 of bribes and kickbacks when assigning or promising contracts to companies bidding for providing food services to public schools and hospitals in the cities of Genoa and Savona. At least four others were found guilty in the same investigation. Amazingly, Profiti was named President of Bambino Gesu Hospital that very same year he was convicted.
For his part in this scandal, Cardinal Bertone is alleged to have accepted the Profiti’s proposal, adding that he would make sure the costs were taken care of by a “third party” so that the foundation would not have to pay.
Mariella Enoc, current hospital President, told reporters in late 2015, “Cardinal Bertone never directly received money (from the hospital’s foundation), but recognized that we suffered a loss and, therefore, assisted us with a donation of 150,000 Euros.”
Cardinal Bertone repeatedly and falsely disputed news reports about the size of the apartment and its cost. He has steadfastly insisted that he personally paid the Vatican, which owns the apartment, for the work done. Until this moment, Cardinal Berton has never made mention of a "third party" contribution to cover the cost of remodeling his apartment.
Cardinal Bertone is not under investigation.
Why not?
The fact that the Cardinal continues to reside in Vatican City in a settings that rival the monarchs of Medieval Europe and in such contrast to the humble residence of the Holy Father himself is certainly a cause of wonderment to many.
The Holy Father would be well served by inviting His Eminence to take up residence elsewhere and perhaps assist him in that change of address by adding his name to the list of those indicted in this latest Vatican scandal.
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