Ousted Vatican Auditor: ‘I Need To Speak to the Pope!’, by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, Jul 30, 2025

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

“I need to speak to the Pope,” says Libero Milone, the former Vatican auditor general, who was forced to resign in 2017—because, he says, he had exposed widespread financial corruption.

In a July 30 session with journalists, Milone said that efforts to restore integrity and accountability in the Vatican’s financial affairs, led by the late Cardinal George Pell, were thwarted by a powerful bloc of officials of the Roman Curia, who ultimately arranged his removal.

Last week a Vatican appeals court dismissed Milone’s wrongful-termination lawsuit, confirming a lower court’s verdict. The former auditor now plans to take his appeal to the Court of Cassation, the Vatican’s top court. But more importantly, he hopes to arrange a private meeting with Pope Leo XIV, in which he could inform the new Pontiff about the situation that he uncovered. As Milone put it, “at the end of the day, the best thing is for two people to sit down in front of each other and talk this through.” ….

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