"I could no longer afford a small powerful group to expose my person for their shady games," he said, explaining that he had always had a good relationship with the Pope, but for a year and a half prior to his resignation, he had been isolated and alienated from the Pope and other Vatican personnel.
Although he declined to give details due to non-disclosure agreements, Milone voiced his belief that he had been targeted after launching an investigation into a possible conflict of interest involving an Italian cardinal.
Describing his version of the chain of events that leading up to his resignation, Milone said he was called to the office of Archbishop Giovanni Becciu, the Vatican's deputy Secretary of State, on June 19 and told that the Pope had lost faith in him and had requested his resignation.
When he asked why, Milone said he was given a series of explanations, "some of which seemed incredible." When he asked to see the Pope, Milone said he was sent to Domenico Giani, head of the Gendarmeria, the Vatican's police force, where he was interrogated for several hours.
After relocating to Milone's office, the auditor said Giani yelled at him and demanded to have access to his computer and certain documents. Eventually Giani produced two receipts for payments he had made to the outside contractor that had checked security on the computers in his office.
The former auditor said one of the receipts was "a fake," and voiced his belief that they had been fabricated as a result of a security check he had done after discovering unauthorized access to his computer and that spyware had been planted on his secretary's computer in 2015.
After more questioning, Milone said he finally decided to sign a letter of resignation in order to "protect my family and my reputation."
Milone said that when he offered to draft the letter, he was informed that one had already been written up, and was handed a letter dated for one month before his actual resignation took place, raising suspicious that the entire affair had been "staged."
He also suggested that it might not be a coincidence that his own exit happened to coincide with the abuse charges recently raised against Cardinal George Pell, the architect of the Pope's financial reform, the allegations of which started to come out around the same time that his efforts for reform were becoming increasingly controversial within the Vatican.
However, in comments to Reuters, Giani said there was "overwhelming evidence" against the former auditor, though he did not offer details.
Also in comments to Reuters, Archbishop Becciu said Milone had gone against "all the rules and was spying on the private lives of his superiors and staff, including me." If he had not agreed to resign," Becciu added, "we would have prosecuted him."
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Milone said he sent a letter to Pope Francis through a "secure channel" in July saying he was framed and "amazed" that his departure took place at the same time as that of Cardinal Pell, but has not received a response.
Elise Harris was senior Rome correspondent for CNA from 2012 to 2018.