The Vatican is not “a den of thieves”, and such insinuations are an injustice to employees who are proud to serve the Pope and the Church, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, a top official in the Vatican Secretariat of State, has said. Misleading reports made some staff ashamed to tell people they worked there, he told the Italian weekly Panorama. “I must reiterate firmly that we are not a bunch of corrupt and incompetent people,” he said. “The Vatican is not a den of thieves. To represent it as such constitutes an absolute falsehood. "I find it extremely unjust that our employees, proudly carrying out a service for the Pope and the Church, have got to the point, for some time now, of being ashamed to tell people they work here,” he told the weekly. Archbishop Becciu, 67, has been substitute secretary for general affairs in the Vatican Secretariat of State – a job similar to a chief of staff – since 2011. A large portion of the Q&A focused on accusations of financial mismanagement in the books by journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi. The two authors are on trial at the Vatican for “soliciting and exercising pressure” on their alleged sources in order to obtain confidential documents and news. Also standing trial on accusations of forming an “organised criminal association” with the aim of “committing several illegal acts of divulging news and documents” are Spanish Mgr Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, Francesca Chaouqui, and Nicola Maio, Mgr Vallejo’s former personal assistant. Archbishop Becciu said “stealing those documents was a crime, a deplorable act that does not help”. Regarding Mgr Vallejo and Chaouqui, the archbishop said their “betrayal was a slap in the face to the Holy Father”. “They had sworn on the Gospel to not reveal to anyone what they saw, heard or read in carrying out their assignment” as members of the commission to reform Vatican financial practices, he said. The archbishop also defended the fact that Vatican cardinals tended to live in large flats, saying that if they moved into the more modest guesthouse, like Pope Francis, another block would have to be built for priests already living at the guesthouse.