Italy's anti-corruption police have tapped telephone conversations involving Pope Benedict talking to a police chief. The Daily Mail reports that Pope Benedict has become the first pontiff to be recorded during a corruption investigation by Italian police.
The pope was unwittingly recorded by officers who were listening in on a suspect's mobile phone conversations, it was revealed.
The Pontiff made four telephone calls to Italy's civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso following last year's devastating earthquake in the centre of the country which left 300 people dead.
Bertolaso is at the centre of a corruption probe involving sexual favours and back handers for reconstruction projects in the L'Aquila region which was hit by the earthquake 14 months ago.
Pope Benedict is not suspected of any wrong doing - although Vatican officials are said to be furious that he was secretly taped - while it has also emerged that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also recorded speaking to Bertolaso.
Both had called Bertolaso to offer support and thanks for the efforts of his civil protection team.
A Vatican insider said: "To think that someone recorded Pope Benedict without him knowing is outrageous even if it is part of a police investigation."
A police source said: "The tapes containing the recordings of Pope Benedict and Mrs Clinton have been destroyed as they had no significance in the investigation of Bertolaso."
SIC: CTHUSA