Lettergate Controversy: Vatican communications chief Monsignor Vigano resigns

The Head of the Vatican’s Communications Department, Monsignor Vigano, resigned on Wednesday, after being accused of manipulating information in a papal letter.

“In the last few days, there have been a lot of polemics about my work,” Vigano wrote in a resignation letter to Pope Francis, published by the Vatican.

He said he was leaving in order not to “delay, damage or even block’ an ongoing reform of the Vatican’s communications machine, part of Francis’ wider overhaul of Vatican’s bureaucracy.

Vigano also released to the media a letter by former Pope Benedict XVI which put his successor Francis in a good light.

But passages in which Benedict was more critical were blurred out.