Vatican: The reason it has one of the highest crime rates today

It’s really hard to imagine that Vatican, home of one of the world’s most respected religious leaders, Pope Francis, has one of the highest crime rates in the world.

According to grunge.com, the exact number of crimes per person in the recent history of the city-state ranged from 1-1.5 crimes per person each year. So how did the Vatican City end up with one of the highest crime rates per capita in the world?

How the Vatican ended up with one of the highest crime rates in the world

First of all, the Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, both in size and population. The area hosts about 1,000 people, according to a 2019 estimate, while the The vast majority of its inhabitants are priests and nuns associated with the Catholic Church. It sounds like a very safe place, but add to this equation the 18 million tourists who travel there every year to visit its world-famous attractions, such as St. Peter’s Basilica or the Sistine Chapel.

The popularity of his city Vatican and the fact that it attracts millions of tourists each year also attracts people with criminal intentions. In fact, many of the crimes recorded in the Vatican are related to theft. Crowds in St. Peter’s Square are every wallet’s dream, and shoplifting, even among Vatican residents, is another common crime. And of all the reported crimes, a staggering 90% are never prosecuted, according to Crime and Punishment Worldwide, grunge.com reports.

How the Vatican justice system works

The Vatican has its own separate police and criminal justice system. A large part of its population consists of its main military force, the Swiss Pontifical Guard Corps. The Swiss Guard mainly cares for the Pope’s security and its ranks consist of Swiss Roman Catholic men aged 18 to 30.. Then there is the Vatican City Gendarmerie, an additional police force that provides additional security, handles various traffic problems and conducts investigations whenever necessary.

According to grunge.com, Vatican City has only one prison and it is only used to hold detainees before the trial. All trials are conducted by judges and not by jurors, and the judiciary has three levels. Initially, the accused appears before the judge, then he can appeal to the Tribunale (consisting of three judges) and, finally, to the Supreme Court of Appeal. Also, the Vatican City and Italy have a special treaty on legal issues and some cases are handed over to the Italian authorities, including the crimes that took place in St. Peter’s Square, according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Pope Francis’ hope to cleanse the Vatican of corruption

In recent years, however, crime in the Vatican City has gone far beyond wallet grabbing in St. Peter’s Square. Serious alleged crimes by people working in the Vatican have made headlines, as in 2020, when a former aide priest while attending seminars accused a colleague of rape and sexual assault from 2007 to 2012, grunge.com reports. The accused later became a priest, while the rector of the seminary during the alleged attacks was also accused of trying to cover up the facts by lying to Vatican investigators.

Even more recently, 10 people linked to the Vatican, including a cardinal, have been charged with financial crimes. The charges included money laundering, extortion and embezzlement, according to a Reuters report. Cardinal Angelo Betsiu, once a close associate of Pope Francis, stepped down as Pope in September 2020 as details of the financial fraud surfaced.. Betsyou allegedly used $ 412 million in church funds to buy real estate in London, and also invested church money in businesses linked to his brothers.

But, as everything shows Pope Francis seems to have committed to cleansing the Vatican of corruption. In April 2021, he made changes to church rules to allow cardinals and bishops to be prosecuted by the Vatican City Secular Criminal Court, according to the Associated Press. an appellate court consisting of three other cardinals.