News Alert. Prayer Alert.
An envelope addressed to Pope Francis containing three bullets was intercepted near Milan late on Sunday night, according to Italian media reports.
Quoting a report from the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the Catholic News Agency said that the piece of mail, which had no return address but carried a French stamp, was addressed to "The Pope - Vatican City, Piazza S. Pietro in Rome.“
The envelope contained three pieces of 9 millimeter ammunition of the kind used in a Flobert gun.
It was the manager of an Italian post office branch in the town of Peschiera Borromeo, about seven miles southeast of Milan, who found the suspicious piece of mail during sorting on the night of Aug. 8 and alerted authorities.
Il Messaggero reports that the items were taken by the carabinieri—one of Italy's two main police forces—and are being examined as part of an ongoing investigation.
Message on Financial Operations
According to Milan-based newspaper Affaritaliani, there was also reportedly a message about financial operations at the Vatican.
The office in the Roman Curia that acts as the Vatican’s “central bank” and responsible for administering the real estate and movable assets owned by the Holy See to fund the Vatican bureaucracy is the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA).
This year, the Pope transferred to APSA “the ownership of the funds and bank accounts, movable and immovable investments, including shareholdings in companies and investment funds, hitherto held in the name of the Secretariat of State.” Vatican analysts said that in effect, Pope Francis transferred the "power of the purse" from the Secretariat of State and transferred it to the APSA.
It will be recalled that Pope Francis named former Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle as a member of the APSA last February 22, along with Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana.
Let us pray for the protection, safety and guidance of Pope Francis and all those related to financial operations at the Vatican.
- MS