VATICAN CITY--Anonymous letters have been delivered to Pope Francis from Vatican employees, accusing their supervisors of immobilism, mobbing, and creating a bad working environment. The authors of the missive signed it “employees of what remains of the State of the Vatican City, unfortunately managed by snakes masquerading as doves, while the Gospel recites be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves, Matthew 10:16.”

 At the centre of their complaints is the main Vatican structure, the Governorate, on which depend various offices- the numismatics, the gardening departments, the Floreria, the gendarmerie, the storerooms, the cleaning, the functioning of the courthouses. And it is in that 18^th century palace that these problems have occurred over the last three years, namely structural problems, irregularities in management, lack of humanity in personal relations and lack of transparency in decision making.

 The authors of the letters, who are “tired” of this situation, hide behind the veil of anonymity for fear of the consequences.

 Only two weeks ago, Pope Francis had to intervene in person, given the seriousness of the situation. One of the main issues to resolve was that of Eugenio Hassler, accused of bad management and bullying of his subordinates. The Pontiff asked the heads of the Governorate to fire him and find a suitable replacement from elsewhere, but neither cardinal Bertello, nor the Argentine monsignor Vergez took the initiative.

 The letter, sent in the last few days, makes it clear that for the workers, not even getting rid of Hassler would be enough to right what they describe as the misdoings of an oligarchy.

 Despite attempts to downplay what’s written in the letters, on the part of some of the representatives of the Vatican hierarchies, they have created unease, tensions, awkwardness, and bad feeling.

 The letter is on the pope’s desk, who has already asked for measures to improve the environment and the structure, but, seeing as no one has acted, the responsibility lies with him. 

TM