The press reported on the case of Fr. Mauro Inzoli, a serial sexual abuser of children. He was ordered defrocked by Pope Benedict in 2012, but was reinstated as a priest with a lesser penalty by Pope Francis in 2014 at the urgings of Inzoli's friends Cdl. Coccopalmerio and Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto, judges in Vatican courts. The notorious "Don Mercedes" was later convicted by an Italian court and defrocked again by Francis later in 2017.

Msgr. Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca was appointed interim prelate of the Istituto delle Opere di Religione, known as "the Vatican bank", after he had been exposed for salacious conduct while a diplomat in Uruguay. Trapped in an elevator with a male prostitute, he had been found there by firemen who rescued them. Ricca was also put in charge of the Casa Santa Marta residence where Pope Francis lives.