Pope Francis said the recent stealing and leaking of confidential documents from the Holy See was not only a “sad event” – it was also a crime.

Vatican Radio is reporting on remarks made by the pope at the end of his Sunday Angelus address in which he deplored the leaking of documents related to financial irregularities in the Vatican which were already known and being dealt with via reforms.

“I know that many of you have been upset by the news circulating in recent days concerning the Holy See’s confidential documents that were taken and published,” the pope said on Sunday.

“For this reason I want to tell you, first of all, that stealing those documents was a crime. It’s a deplorable act that does not help. I personally had asked for that study to be carried out and both I and my advisers were well acquainted with (the contents of) those documents and steps have been taken that have started to bear fruit, some of them even visible,” he informed.

“Therefore I wish to reassure you that this sad event certainly does not deter me from the reform project that we are carrying out, together with my advisers and with the support of all of you. Yes, with the support of the whole Church because the Church renews itself with prayer and the daily holiness of each baptized person.”

He concluded by thanking the faithful and asking them to “continue to pray for the Pope and the Church, without getting upset or troubled but proceeding with faith and hope.”

Two members of the former Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See, Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, and Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, whose background is in public relations, were arrested for the leaks. Much of the information found its way into two recently released books – Merchants in the Temple by Gianluigi Nuzzi, and Avarizia (Greed) by Emiliano Fittipaldi.

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