The Vatican has criticized alleged corruption in Spain, describing a money scandal linked to Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 visit as 'ugly,' the daily El Pais said Tuesday. The pope visited the eastern city of Valencia in July 2006, and Valencian regional television paid 6.4 million euros (9.6 million dollars) to companies managing sound systems during his public appearances.
The real price, however, was only about half of what was paid, with the rest going into the pockets of the so-called Guertel corruption network, according to El Pais.
The Guertel scandal is currently rocking Spain's main opposition centre-right People's Party (PP), which has many conservative Catholic voters.
PP officials or members governing regions or municipalities are suspected of accepting bribes from entrepreneurs in exchange for lucrative contracts in several regions.
The Vatican was not involved in organizing the pope's visits on the local level, El Pais quoted Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi as saying.
'It is obvious that the pope has nothing to do with this affair,' Lombardi said. 'But as a general principle, we do not like unclear or incorrect things.'
'They can occur, because they are administrative things, but this is certainly an ugly case. Dirty business is always ugly,' the Vatican spokesman said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
SIC: M&C