Pope Francis condemned the recent incidents of VatiLeaks as a deplorable crime, vowing that he will continue his reform efforts.
"I know that many of you are perturbed by the recent news on the secret documents of the Holy See which were taken and published. Publishing these documents was an error. It was a deplorable act which does not help," the pope told followers at St. Peter's Square on Sunday, according to AFP.
The pope's statement comes just a week after two VatiLeaks suspects - Spanish priest Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, 54, and Italian public relation expert Francesca Chaouqui, 33 - were arrested by the Vatican's police force last week on the suspicion of leaking confidential documents to Italian media, as HNGN reported previously.
The arrests were linked with two new books on the Vatican's finances. The two books - Gianluigi Nuzzi's "Merchants in the Temple" and Emiliano Fittipaldi's "Avarice" - exposed financial irregularities and corrupt practices taking place at Vatican's financial institution, the Holy See, according to Guardian.
"This sad fact certainly does not deter me from the reform efforts which we are pushing forward with my collaborators and with the support of all of you," he said, according to Catholic News Agency.
"Yes, with the support of all the church, because the church is renewed with prayer and with daily holiness of every baptized person. Therefore I thank you and ask you to continue to pray for the Pope and for the church, without losing peace, but moving forward with faith and hope," he added.
It is not the first time the VatiLeaks scandal hit the Church. Pope Benedict XVI's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was detained in 2012 after being caught red-handed with confidential Vatican correspondence.
