by NTEB News Desk
RELATED STORY: The Mark of the Beast
Vatican
clergy and employees will be issued with an identity card complete with
a microchip-tracking device in sweeping new security measures designed
to prevent a repeat of the Vatileaks scandal.
Vatican introduces new security measures after Vatileaks scandal
Much
tighter controls have already been introduced for anyone seeking access
or photocopies of the Holy See's archives, dossiers and documents.
The
Papal Apartments, which include the living quarters of Pope Benedict
XVI and the offices of his personal staff inside the Apostolic Palace,
are totally off limits to anyone without strict authorisation.
Slovenian
priest, Mitja Leskovar, an anti-espionage expert nicknamed 'Monsignor
007', is in charge of implementing the new security procedures with the
identity cards expected to be introduced from January 1.
Leskovar,
who grew up in the former Yugoslavia under Communism, is responsible
for the transmission of confidential documents between the Vatican and
its papal nuncios or diplomats inside the Secretariat of State and also
supervises all requests for document photocopying within the
secretariat.
Thousands of clerical and lay staff working inside the walls of the Vatican from the Apostolic Palace to the Secretariat of State will be affected by the tighter scrutiny that will also enable their superiors to monitor when they clock in and out.
The
security shake-up was revealed after Claudio Sciarpelletti, the
computer expert convicted of aiding and abetting the pope's former
butler Paolo Gabriele in the Vatileaks scandal, dropped his appeal on
Saturday.
The
move came as the three judges who assessed the case raised doubts about
Sciarpelletti's credibility and the friendship between the two men.
Sciarpelletti
was convicted in November of aiding and abetting Gabriele, who himself
was convicted of stealing the pontiff's private documents and leaking
them to an Italian journalist in an embarrassing security breach that
rocked the Vatican earlier this year.
According
to a report in the Italian daily La Stampa, Gabriele's replacement –
Sandro Mariotti known as 'Sandrone'– is prohibited from carrying out any
secretarial tasks or even sharing an office with the pope's personal
secretaries, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein and Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, as
Gabriele did in the past.
Vatican
spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told The Daily Telegraph these kind
of security measures had been talked about within the Vatican for years
but declined to comment on any details and said he did not know the
precise timing of the measures. source - Telegraph UK
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