Cardinal Bertone Returns $200,000 to the Bambino Gesù — Baby Jesus — Children’s Hospital
by Christopher A. Ferrara
Bertone |
Cardinal Bertone, the former Vatican Secretary of State, was the Vatican’s go-to man for managing the Third Secret cover-up, as I document at great length in my book on the subject
Well, it seems Bertone has been involved in another cover-up — not that I am surprised. La Stampa reports that he has just made a $200,000 “gift” (€150,000) to the Bambino Gesù — Baby Jesus — Children’s Hospital. Why? Because that sum was paid out by the hospital foundation for the renovation of the lavish penthouse apartment, a combination of two smaller apartments, in which Bertone resides.
That’s right: the coffers of a children’s hospital were raided to pay for Bertone’s penthouse, which he insists is not “his,” technically, because he only lives there.
Top apartment with view of St Peters Square |
That’s right: the coffers of a children’s hospital were raided to pay for Bertone’s penthouse, which he insists is not “his,” technically, because he only lives there.
This outrageous misuse of charitable funds was revealed, says La Stampa, in the course of “Vatileaks 2 and the publication of Gialuigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi’s books ‘Merchants in the Temple’ and ‘Avarice.’” Caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Bertone has now replaced the cookies in a big hurry — or rather, will put them back a few cookies at a time, with installment payments, as BBC reports. Think of it as a kind of mortgage on Chez Bertone!
The hospital’s statement on this scandal is a classic of artful Vaticanese: “Cardinal Bertone did not receive any money directly, however, he acknowledged that all that which happened damaged our hospital and our foundation … and thus he is making amends to us with a donation.”
A picture says a thousand words! |
Translation: The hospital’s money went into Bertone’s penthouse, not literally into his pocket. In other words, the money was effectively stolen from ailing children — indirectly, of course. Which is why Bertone is “making amends” for “damage to the hospital” — that is, making restitution of what was misappropriated to his benefit.
To quote the BBC story: “Cardinal Bertone said he had paid for the work on his residence himself. However, documents leaked to reporters earlier this year allege the €200,000 came from the Bambino Gesu Foundation.” The BBC story notes that, even as he returns the money, Bertone has the audacity to insist that he didn’t take it: “It’s not reimbursement, because I personally haven’t done any damage…” That’s like a child telling his parents he didn’t steal from the cookie jar, his hand did.
Back in May 2014, I reported here that Bertone was under investigation “‘for a discrepancy of around 20 million (€15 million) that somehow made it from the Vatican Bank (known as the Institute for the Works of Religion) to a private television company called Lux Vide,’ which is operated by one of Bertone’s friends.” It would seem the penthouse affair is the tip of a very large iceberg.
Man proposes - God disposes ! |
But let us not forget Bertone’s co-conspirator in the Third Secret cover-up: his predecessor, Cardinal Sodano, who “interpreted” the execution of “the Bishop dressed in White” outside a devastated city filled with the dead, as seen in the visional aspect of the Secret, to signify John Paul II not being executed in 1981, so that the Secret “belongs to the past.” Right. This is the same corrupt prelate who “was instrumental in covering up for decades the immense scandal involving Father Marcial Maciel Degollado.”
How fitting it is that the two foremost promoters of a corrupted Message of Fatima in the hierarchy today are also involved in the corruption that Pope Francis vowed he would expunge from the Vatican. But, nearly three years into this “hope and change” pontificate, it appears to be business as usual, as Bertone escapes punishment by giving back what he took a little at a time — and then only after the incriminating documents appeared in a book. This too is no surprise.