A senior Vatican official who was transferred after he exposed a web of corruption begged to be allowed to continue his crusade and denounced a "vulgar and insolent" cleric behind a plot to destroy him, according to a leaked letter today.
The letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who is now the Vatican's ambassador to Washington, will increase consternation in the Vatican which has been put on the defensive by the growing scandal.
The archbishop wrote on May 8th, 2011, to Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone imploring "your eminence to radically change your opinion of me", according to the letter published by the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, one of two news organisations which have been leaked the correspondence.
He wrote that letter nearly two months after Cardinal Bertone, the second-most powerful man in the Vatican after the pope, informed him that he was being removed from his position three years before the scheduled end of his tenure.
Letters broadcast on Wednesday by the investigative programme The Untouchables on the private television La7 showed Dr Vigano was transferred against his will after complaining to Cardinal Bertone and Pope Benedict about corruption and mismanagement.
The Vatican has not contested the authenticity of the letters, which sometimes read like a Renaissance drama of court intrigue, but has criticised the media's handling of them.
As deputy governor of the Vatican City for two years from 2009 to 2011, Dr Vigano was the number two official in a department responsible for maintaining the tiny city-state's gardens, buildings, streets, museums and other infrastructure.
The archbishop said in one of the earlier letters that when he took the job he discovered corruption, nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to outside companies at inflated prices.
In one letter, he writes of a smear campaign against him by other Vatican officials who were upset that he had taken drastic steps to clean up the purchasing procedures.
In the May 8th, 2011, letter published today Dr Vigano, who has not yet commented on the letters, makes a desperate attempt to keep his job and salvage his reputation.
Reuters