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Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images
Members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard have long given Vatican employees their permission to enter. Starting in January, electronic cards will handle some of that duty.
ROME — The Vatican is the only fully fortified state in the world, protected by 40-foot-high walls. The few porte, the arched access gates into Vatican City, are manned by Swiss Guards dressed in their colorful Renaissance uniforms and carrying swords.
Visitors are asked to sign in and are allowed only upon invitation. But for Vatican employees, usually a nod of recognition will do. The Vatican is the smallest state in the world, and pretty much everybody knows each other.
But things are quickly changing.
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This month, the Vatican is introducing an electronic badge for some of its thousands of employees. Workers will be expected to swipe in and out when entering and exiting.
Some of the world's media have linked the step-up in security directly to the "Vatileaks" scandal, the unprecedented security breach in which Paolo Gabriele, the pope's former butler, photocopied and leaked confidential documents to the Italian media.
Ex-butler sentenced in Vatican leaks case
So is the Holy Father turning into Big Brother?
No, a Vatican employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told NBC News: "I haven't received my card yet, but I have seen swiping machines being installed at Porta Sant'Anna," the main gate for Vatican employees. "This is not a case of Big Brother, more like the Vatican coming in line with the modern world and issuing a badge like any other big company."
The Vatican employs roughly 3,000 people and generates tens of millions of dollars in revenue, mainly from tourism and donations. If it were a company, it would be a midsize business with a healthy income and solid assets, despite having recorded a $19 million loss in 2011. But unlike most private companies, the Vatican has allowed some employees an unprecedented degree of flexibility in their working hours.
Robert Mickens, the Rome Correspondent for The Tablet newspaper and a former employee at Vatican Radio, says that this self-governance in some cases has been abused: "When a journalist asked Pope John XXIII how many people work in the Vatican, he replied: 'About half'."
"The Vatican has tried hard to check that people stick to their working hours for years," Mickens said. "At Vatican Radio they introduced electronic badges years ago because people would go for their coffee break and return hours later. So I think that this is more of a case of the Vatican trying to check that its employees do their job than to prevent them from leaking information."
Whether the new system is aimed at preventing a new Vatileaks or merely keeping tabs on employee hours, the Vatican's ancient walls are about to receive a modern twist.
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Leave a Comment:
Badges are passe. They should have gone straight for the thumbprint reader plus PIN technology.
The vatican is an example of the most useless institution on the planet. There is NOTHING Christian about it.
They have a guy in charge that wears a beenie and a dress with matching designer shoes pretending he is helping the poor.
Eventually, in some distance future, the people will shut that place down and the wealth destributed to the poor and sick as Jesus intended. Islam and the rest of them including our televangialists and the rest of the scammers will be gone and we can get to real spiritualism that does not have some phoney God figure that can't possibly exist.
If you claim to be a Christian, you should follow the teachings of Jesus, a Hippy from way back that had it figured right.
Screw that! Give the pope a V-chip in his arse, or forehead. Same difference.
You mean the Pope has a long chain around his neck with his access card attached? :)
Further proof that organized religion is big business.
This says it all. "Like any other big company"
Their God is the almighty dollar. Christ wasn't interested in personal wealth. His main concern here on this "God forsaken planet" was the poor, the sick, and to teach us to love our neighbor.
He never took the money from his followers and built a big humongous church to house him and his disciples in. His church was the people. All monies brought into his church were divided equally amongst the people no matter what your ranking in his church. Sounds nothing like the greedy world we live in now.
Stop fighting .
His views were far from what our religious institutions preach today.
Why do they need security at all? If something bad happened at the Vatican, wouldn't it be "God's Will"?
That's what the vaseline is for!
They don't need locks to keep people out. They need locks to keep cardinals in.
Surely God the Almighty creator of heaven and earth will use his powers to protect the Vatican, right?
Nice that they have the huge amount of money required for this project. Just means a little less for the truly needy and less fortunate in the world. Great system of priorities! No cliff for the vatican.
I thought I read something about the Vatican being in the financial red zone, and now they are spending money. Is it money they had or did they borrow it?
Breaking news, I also changed the locks on my door.
Call them "holy cards" and Sister Mary Elephant can pass them out.
I left the Catholic Church about 5 years ago and never looked back. Glad I did. The Catholic Church has had a history of corruption so terrible in the past that if anyone did their homework they would run from that institution. The corruption is still alive and well. But it’s not only the Catholic Church but literally all the spinoffs as well. Very difficult to find the perfect church in today’s world. Almost all still worship on Sunday and observe pagan holy days started by the Catholics. This is the day that God created all of the angels including Lucifer. So the Catholics decided to desecrate the Sabbath to appease the pagans and or worship his resurrection from the dead. Both are wrong things to do in the sight of God. There are many other errors as well. Try to go into any church that claims they follow the true word of God and tell them that they should keep Saturday holy instead of Sunday and see how far you will get. Hypocrites all of them. So let them have their false doctrine sooner or later God will deal with them.
I will still continue to pray for you, 'hey day in heaven'...amen!
The Vatican Is not what they make themselves to be, something sinister lurks beneath the waters - Do your research people; Dig, dig, dig.
We will pray for you too, 'Orly 4376386'....amen!
come clean
I will still continue to pray for you, 'hey day in heaven'...amen!...
come clean
We will pray for you too, 'Orly 4376386'....amen
How righteous or is it self righteous? Careful...
The Catholic Church has always been the largest money making orginization on the world. This is no secret.
BTW I need not your prayers , save them for when you go into your closet and pray.
Control of the world via intimidation and promise of avoiding punishment for being born (if you execute the proper ceremonial procedures and give lotsa moolah).