Secrets of the Vatican

{{Short description|American television documentary film}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}

{{Infobox television

| image =

| caption =

| alt_name =

| genre = {{ubl|Documentary film|Television news magazine}}

| director = Antony Thomas

| starring = {{ubl|Pope Benedict XVI|Pope Francis|Legion of Christ|Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado|Juan Vaca|Pope John Paul II|Fr. Thomas Doyle|Monica Barrett|Jeff Anderson (lawyer)|Peter Isley|Fr. Gayle Leifeld|Bishop Richard J. Sklba|Nello Rossi|Gianluigi Nuzzi|Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone|Ettore Gotti Tedeschi|Paolo Gabriele}}

| narrated = Will Lyman

| country = United States

| language = English

| executive_producer = Eamonn Matthews

| producer = Antony Thomas

| editor = {{ubl|McDonald Brown|Christopher Swayne}}

| composer = Sam Watts

| location = United States; Rome, Italy

| cinematography =

| camera = Jonathan Partridge, Jonathan Young, Mark Brewer

| runtime = 85 minutes

| network = PBS

| released = {{Start date|2014|02|25}}

| related =

}}

Secrets of the Vatican is an American television documentary film. It first aired on the PBS Channel on February 25, 2014 as an episode of PBS' Frontline TV series.

The film covers the period after the death of John Paul II until the first year of Pope Francis, and it posits a theory of what made Pope Benedict XVI resign from the papacy in 2013. It presents a return of trust in the Vatican and its new Pope, Francis, by millions of Roman Catholics after a long period of controversy regarding sexual abuse by Church authorities. It delves into reports of the existence of a "gay mafia" inside the Church and highlights the scandal involving the Legionnaires of Christ founder Marcial Maciel, who allegedly had the backing of John Paul II.

The film also tackles the papacy's struggles with cleaning up the Vatican Bank of its corrupt financial policies as an international institution by starting with Benedict XVI's hindered investigations and ending in Francis' supposedly radical initial reforms.

The film approaches the controversial topics of the documentary not from perspectives outside of the Church but with testimonies by devoted Catholics: sexual abuse victims, corruption witnesses and priest investigators.

Written, directed, and produced by Antony Thomas for the US Public Broadcasting System TV series Frontline, Secrets of the Vatican was co-produced by Jason Berry in the United States and Helen Fitzwilliam in Rome.{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/frontline-inside-the-vatican-234530666.html|work=Yahoo! News|publisher=Yahoo! Inc.|access-date=February 12, 2015|location=United States|title='Secrets of the Vatican' exposes moral crises facing Catholic Church's new pope|date = February 25, 2014}}{{Cite news|url = https://variety.com/2014/tv/reviews/tv-review-frontlines-secrets-of-the-vatican-1201115974/|title = TV Review: Frontline's 'Secrets of the Vatican'|last = Lowry|first = Brian|date = February 24, 2014|work = Variety|access-date = February 12, 2015}}{{Cite news|url = http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-02-24/frontline-documentary-exposes-vaticans-secrets-under-pope-benedict|title = A Frontline documentary exposes the Vatican's 'secrets' under Pope Benedict|last = Crossan|first = Andrea|date = February 24, 2014|work = pri.org|access-date = February 12, 2015|last2 = Haddad|first2 = Jaimee}}