Pontiff 'not losing any sleep' over Vatican corruption, says Italian daily

Pope Francis knows there is corruption in the Vatican but he doesn’t lose any sleep over it, according to a report on Thursday in Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

“There is corruption in the Vatican, but i am at peace, if there is a problem, I write a note to St Joseph and put it under a statue i have in my room,’’ the pontiff told 140 superiors of male religious orders at a November 2016 meeting.

Corriere della Sera ran excerpts of the meeting which is to be published by Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica (Catholic Civilisation) on Saturday.

“This is why i sleep well at night: it is God’s grace.’’

The pontiff went on to say that child-molesting priests are “the devil’s presence in action’’ and that paedophilia is an illness.

“As long as we’re not convinced that this is a disease, the problem can’t be solved,’’ Francis said, urging the superiors to vet applicants and make sure they have “adequate emotional maturity.’’

Francis has condemned paedophile priests but has done little to root out child abuse and its cover-ups within the Catholic Church, L’Espresso investigative journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi charged in “Lust,’’ his latest expose book on the Vatican.