VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis signed a resignation letter in 2013 and then handed it over to then-Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the pope told a Spanish news outlet on Saturday. 
The pope’s comment was made during a wide-ranging interview with the Spanish outlet <a href="https://www.abc.es/sociedad/papa-francisco-veces-posturas-inmaduras-aferran-hizo-20221218124801-nt.html">ABC</a>, which covered topics from women in positions of leadership in the Church to traditional liturgy and the handling of the sex abuse crisis.
When journalists asked about the “delicate topic” of what could happen if he were suddenly disabled due to health or an accident, the pope responded, “I have already signed my resignation. It was Tarcisio Bertone, the secretary of state … I signed it and told him, &#8216;In case of impediment for medical reasons or whatever else I don’t know, here is my resignation.&#8217;” 
Pope Francis continued, re-emphasizing that the Vatican secretary of state has control of the document, for use in case he was incapacitated. 
“They already have it. I don’t know who Cardinal Bertone gave it to, but I gave it to him when he was Secretary of State.” Pointing out that the pope had never revealed this in prior interviews, the pope stated he wanted it to be known. “That’s why I say it. Now, someone will have to go ask (Cardinal) Bertone for it: “Give me the piece of paper! (laughs). He surely handed it over to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the new Secretary of State.”
When asked if the position of “emeritus pope,” like that of Pope Benedict XVI, would be made a “well-defined statute,” the pope replied, “No. I’ve not touched that at all, nor has the idea crossed my mind. It seems the Holy Spirit has no interest in me taking care of such things.”
In July 2021, the 86-year-old Pope Francis underwent <a href="https://apnews.com/article/explaining-pope-francis-surgery-b4765f3c8d70ebb3039b87a33366ac19">surgery</a> to remove a large portion of his left colon, leaving the hospital <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/news/pope-francis-will-stay-longer-in-hospital-vatican-says">10 days later</a>. It was later reported that &#8220;<a href="https://aleteia.org/2022/05/24/i-dont-want-surgery-pope-declares-in-discussing-knee/">disagreeable side-effects</a>&#8220; of the general anesthesia left the Roman Pontiff unwilling to undergo further operations, particularly on his knee. He has been seen either with a cane or wheelchair-bound since Easter of this year.
His deteriorating health has led to several false reports and rumors that Pope Francis is imminently dying. Unsubstantiated reporting has been left mostly unchecked by the Vatican, leading to reports such as one by Newsmax <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/platinum/vatican-pope-francis-health-conclave/2021/12/07/id/1047663/">last December</a> (which has <a href="https://twitter.com/NEWSMAX/status/1468237821458718726?s=20&amp;t=QDHe9dDgQiDBo8PwmNnntg">yet to be retracted by Newsmax</a>) or a viral tweet from <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1538810945144770560">Megyn Kelly</a>, claiming media presence and increased clergy in the Vatican was due to “reports” of a pending resignation of the pope.
It seems that Pope Francis has left little doubt about his intentions, at least in case of incapacitation, during this interview.

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VATICAN CITY — The Italian company accused in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/italian-firm-peddling-rights-to-vaticans-priceless-art-attorney-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bombshell Daily Wire report</a> of improperly selling licensing rights to the Holy See’s vast trove of priceless art denied wrongdoing in a statement Wednesday even as reports suggested Pope Francis is looking into the matter.
Scripta Maneant, which a New York attorney accused of misrepresenting itself as the custodian of rights to art including masterworks by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, denied that it had ever claimed the authority to broker rights to images and video of the art owned by Vatican Museums. The denial came after the Italian press picked up the story and preceded statements from other key subjects of the unfolding story.
“Scripta Maneant has never claimed and never will claim to be able to assign any image or any image license to anyone, either for this kind of activity or for activities of a more purely editorial nature,” Scripta Maneant CEO Giorgio Armaroli said in a statement released hours after the Daily Wire report.
Armaroli said that his company, which in 2015 secured rights to Vatican art for a high-end book that sold for $22,000, had entered into talks with New York-based Museum Masters International (MMI), which sought rights to Vatican art for a virtual exhibition. MMI was at the time represented by attorney Sarah Speno, who told The Daily Wire she came to question whether Scripta Maneant had the Vatican’s permission to broker licensing rights.
The Daily Wire reported that correspondence between Speno and Scripta Maneant from over the summer revealed that the Italian company claimed to be working with Vatican Museums Vice Director Monsignor Paolo Nicolini when it sought an $82,500 advance from MMI for a mid-six-figures deal. But when Speno pressed for assurance that Scripta Maneant was indeed authorized to broker rights to the artworks, her concerns were not put to rest.
“How can we ask the Vatican on Monday to authorize us to transfer the rights of Sistina virtually for the world (their most precious and sacred asset) to a defaulting customer?&#8221; Armaroli wrote in a September 10 email obtained by The Daily Wire. &#8220;The Vatican now … asks us not to disclose the authorization letter to MMI until payment has been made … therefore I really don’t understand how to fix the problem without your making such a payment.”
Armaroli&#8217;s reaction heightened Speno&#8217;s suspicions, eventually resulting in the deal being scuttled.
The Daily Wire revealed that at least one other company had used images and video of Vatican art for an “immersive” exhibit after striking a deal with Scripta Maneant. But Nicolini told The Daily Wire he had never signed off on allowing Scripta Maneant to act as an agent of the Vatican in such deals.
In his statement, Armaroli said the aborted deal with MMI would have involved his company’s close involvement and indicated that it would have been subject to other unspecified “agreements,” although he provided no claim or evidence of an ongoing contractual relationship with the Vatican.
“In the present case, we were to produce a series of videos intended to give rise to the above-mentioned virtual exhibition,” he said. “These videos are then marketed by us through a ‘license,’ which stipulates that the use be made according to very detailed agreements.”
As Armaroli was releasing his statement, MMI chief Marilyn Goldberg released a statement of her own disavowing Speno. Goldberg said MMI fired Speno after the attorney advised MMI not to go through with the deal and said she intended to go public with her suspicions about Scripta Maneant.
“We prepared to pay the $82,500 advance refundable guarantee, [but] Ms. Speno advised us NOT to pay, because she stated that it (document submitted by Scripta Maneant, which were referenced in correspondence as ‘proof of Vatican approval’) was not an authentic signature, and that it was a fraud.”
That prompted MMI to drop Speno, who then made good on her pledge to go public with her suspicions.
“We immediately terminated her because we never approved any negativity against Scripta Maneant, Vatican Museum, or the Vatican,” Goldberg said.
The Vatican has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Speno says she acted because she believes the cash-strapped Holy See may have been deprived of substantial revenue, potentially for years. On Wednesday, the Italian newspaper <a href="https://www.ilmessaggero.it/vaticano/musei_vaticani_truffa_furto_opere_arte_ultime_notizie-7113119.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Il Messaggero</a> confirmed that a November meeting between Pope Francis and Nicolini had been prompted by a Daily Wire inquiry and concerned the sale of rights to Vatican art. Il Messaggero also reported that the Vatican is conducting an investigation into the matter, although another outlet, <a href="https://roma.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/22_dicembre_15/maxi-truffa-vaticano-diritti-cappella-sistina-51fd00c5-89cc-4c0b-8fe6-7d7cce955xlk.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Corriere della Sera</a>, quoted a Vatican Museums source saying there is no investigation ongoing.
Speno told The Daily Wire she had simply performed due diligence while serving as MMI&#8217;s attorney and sought to ensure that her client was legally obtaining rights to high-resolution digital images of artworks owned by the Vatican.
“As with any jurisdiction or country, there are always ‘bad actors’ to avoid, who pretend they own legal rights for exploitation commercially,” Speno said.
Scripta Maneant and MMI now seem to be working together to “exculpate Scripta Maneant from any exposure to the Vatican,” the attorney said.
“It is also clear that MMI/Marilyn Goldberg believes, today, that collaborating with Scripta Maneant, clearly a ‘bad actor,’ is in their best interests,” Speno said, adding that Scripta Maneant has still never demonstrated it is authorized to license images of Vatican artworks.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/italian-firm-peddling-rights-to-vaticans-priceless-art-attorney-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Related: Italian Firm Peddling Rights To Vatican’s Priceless Art, Attorney Says</a>

Pope Francis Attends His Weekly General Audience In The Pope Paul VI Hall At The Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022.

Italian Firm Denies Claims It Peddled Rights To Priceless Vatican Art After Daily Wire Report

VATICAN CITY— Rights to the Vatican Museums&#8217; priceless trove of art treasures may have been illegally sold without the Holy See&#8217;s approval in what one attorney described as a “high-tech heist,” according to a Daily Wire investigation.
The Vatican Museums own some 70,000 works of art, including works by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo’s ceiling mural in the Sistine Chapel. Its museums draw over <a href="https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/05/21/the-profitable-vatican-museums-remain-closed-look-toward-a-june-opening/">six million visitors annually</a> and bring in more than $120 million in revenue. But an Italian company is allegedly selling the rights to reproduce the Vatican artwork in six-figure deals, while claiming to be working in “collaboration with” the Vatican Museums.
“This scheme is nothing less than a pre-meditated, high-tech heist of world-class treasured art from the Vatican Museums under the disguise of bogus licenses, as if sanctioned by the Vatican,” Sarah Rose Speno, a New York attorney, told The Daily Wire.
Rights to reproduce the art could bring in needed revenue for the Vatican, which reported a deficit of more than <a href="https://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.php?ID=192954">$3 million</a> last year amid ongoing <a href="http://www.theepochtimes.com/">financial</a> and sex abuse scandals. Speno believes the parties misappropriating rights to Vatican artwork housed exclusively within Vatican Museums and under the jurisdiction of the Vatican are in effect stealing from the Holy See.
Speno said she stumbled upon the alleged scheme in March when she sought permission to use images of Vatican art for an exhibition by a client.
<div id="attachment_464793" style="width: 527px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-464793" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-464793" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-16-at-10.10.01-AM-300x269.png" alt="Speno, an attorney who has done contract work for decades, said the Italian company's demands raised her suspicions." width="517" height="463" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-16-at-10.10.01-AM-300x269.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-16-at-10.10.01-AM-643x576.png 643w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-16-at-10.10.01-AM-768x688.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-16-at-10.10.01-AM.png 824w" sizes="(max-width: 517px) 100vw, 517px" />Speno, an attorney who has done contract work for decades, said the Italian company&#8217;s demands raised her suspicions. (Sarah Speno)</div>
“We discovered that a large table book had been published with high-resolution images of the interiors of the Vatican, including the Sistine Chapel,” Speno said. “We very much wanted to pursue an opportunity to license these images, as soon as possible.”
Speno, who has worked on licensing contracts for more than 30 years, contacted <a href="https://www.scriptamaneant.com/sm/negozio/la-cappella-sistina-3-volumi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scripta Maneant</a> — the Italian publisher that licensed the photos in the book. Scripta Maneant claimed authority to broker the publishing rights via its “collaboration” with Vatican Museums vice director, Monsignore Paolo Nicolini. Scripta Maneant wanted $550,000 for the rights — with a portion being paid to the Vatican through Nicolini, according to Speno. Although Scripta Maneant claimed the fee would be shared with the Vatican, Speno said she later became suspicious.
“The Scripta Maneant scheme became obvious when the Scripta principals demanded a cash wire in the amount of $82,500 no later than their return from summer holiday in late August,” Speno said. “They said that they would produce Vatican approval for our Italian Renaissance Immersive project ‘if and only if’ the fee were wired to the Scripta bank account they provided. It was at this point that grave suspicion entered my mind.”
Ultimately, Speno said, “we terminated the deal when Scripta could not provide us with documented consent by the Vatican.”
According to the contract Scripta Maneant provided Speno, the company had been given exclusive access to the Sistine Chapel by the Vatican Museums back in 2015. But documents reviewed by The Daily Wire suggest that the deal only covered access to take high-resolution images of Vatican artwork for a limited edition book, priced at over $22,000 a copy. Vatican Museums told The Daily Wire that Scripta Maneant’s licensing rights to the images obtained in 2015 were contractually restricted — limited solely to their company, for one project. No exclusive, unlimited, worldwide rights were provided, and no rights to sub-license the photos of Vatican Museums artwork to third parties were granted, officials said.
Nicolini, whom Scripta Maneant cited as its authorizing Vatican contact, told The Daily Wire he never gave Scripta Maneant approval to broker rights to Vatican art images. He denied Scripta Maneant’s claims it had rights to reuse or sub-license images from the 2015 contract. He also adamantly denied handling any funds related to the Vatican’s dealings with Scripta Maneant.
Communications reviewed by The Daily Wire indicate Scripta Maneant sold licensing rights over a year ago to <a href="https://lighthouseimmersive.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lighthouse Immersive</a> for its “<a href="https://immersivevatican.com/home-old/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Immersive Vatican</a>” exhibition, which launched in October. Speno suspects that exhibition was facilitated by a Scripta Maneant contract much like the one she rejected.
“At the same time my investors received their &#8216;exclusive license agreement&#8217; from Scripta, Lighthouse Immersive announced their ‘Immersive Vatican Exhibition in collaboration with The Vatican,’” Speno said.
“Immersive Vatican” appears set to follow Lighthouse Immersive’s other events, such as “<a href="https://immersive-kingtut.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Immersive King Tut</a>,” nationwide. According to its website, visitors in Boston paid up to $79.99 to experience “the art world’s best-kept secrets” and “iconic and rarely seen masterpieces brought to life.” The site touted the event as being conducted in “collaboration with the Vatican.”
Nicolini denied any knowledge of Lighthouse Immersive or Scripta Maneant’s dealings with the company. He said no contracts permitting rights to artwork exist between Lighthouse Immersive and the Vatican Museums, or through Scripta Maneant on behalf of Lighthouse Immersive.
Lighthouse Immersive creative consultant <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-ouzounian-842b204/?originalSubdomain=ca" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richard Ouzounian</a> told The Daily Wire his company obtained the high-resolution images and rights to use them from Scripta Maneant. When The Daily Wire asked to what extent Lighthouse Immersive was “in collaboration with the Vatican,” as stated on advertisements and their website, Ouzounian said that Vatican officials &#8220;did not have to approve it.&#8221; “They did not have veto power over it,” said Ouzounian.
Ouzounian said his company’s deal via Scripta Maneant gave Lighthouse Immersive rights to “reproduce artwork from the Vatican Museums, which include all paintings, sculptures, frescos, architecture, blueprints and artifacts.” He declined to say how much his company paid Scripta Maneant.
The Daily Wire reached out to Lighthouse Immersive co-founder Svetlana Dzoretsky and Operations and Special Projects Manager Natasha Abramova to seek clarification of their claims to licensing rights.
“Please know that at Lighthouse, we work very carefully to obtain all the appropriate documents when producing our exhibits,” Dzoretsky replied.
Lighthouse Immersive declined further inquiry and did not provide additional documents.
Scripta Maneant head of logistics, Francesco Iori, told The Daily Wire his company has done nothing wrong.
“I can assure that all the materials used have been approved and we have all the documents needed,” Iori wrote in an email.
When asked to provide documentation of its licensing rights, Iori said he would need approval from the Vatican. Although he proposed coordinating a three-way call between him, The Daily Wire, and Lighthouse Immersive officials, he declined to follow through when The Daily Wire insisted the call be recorded and on the record.
Scripta Maneant subsequently threatened to sue The Daily Wire for defamation.
Speno said she raised her concerns to Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, who told her he would report the allegations to the Secretariat of State. Cardinal Farrell did not respond to a request for comment. On November 7, Pope Francis met privately with Nicolini, according to the <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2022/11/07/221107a.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Holy See Press Office Bulletin</a>. It is not known what the two discussed.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/italian-firm-denies-claims-it-peddled-rights-to-priceless-vatican-art-after-daily-wire-report">Italian Firm Denies Claims It Peddled Rights To Priceless Vatican Art After Daily Wire Report</a>

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Pope Francis Says He Wrote Resignation Note In 2013

Italian Firm Denies Claims It Peddled Rights To Priceless Vatican Art After Daily Wire Report

Italian Firm Peddling Rights To Vatican’s Priceless Art, Attorney Says