A 39-year-old geopolitical expert has been arrested in connection with dubious financial flows in the Vatican.
The Italian manager is said to have had close contact with the disgraced Cardinal Angelo Becciu.
A police spokesman said there was an international arrest warrant against the woman.
According to media reports, she was caught in Milan on Tuesday.
According to the daily newspaper "La Repubblica", she was wanted for embezzlement.
Last week the manager of the newspaper "Corriere della Sera" said that she had received 500,000 euros from Becciu.
The money was paid for geopolitical consulting work to a company registered by her in Slovenia, not for designer handbags and other luxury goods, as the Italian television program "Le Iene" had claimed.
The scandal became known after the cardinal's resignation.
Pope Francis had accused the 72-year-old of using Vatican funds to support a cooperative run by his brother and dismissing him from his offices.
Becciu had resigned as prefect of the Congregation for Saints and Beatifications and also renounced his cardinal rights.
In his previous role as deputy in the State Secretariat, the most powerful Vatican agency, Becciu had access to funds for charity.
According to media reports, he is also said to have been involved in a scandal surrounding an investment by the Vatican in a luxury property in London.
Francis has been trying for a long time to rearrange the less transparent finances.
Many expenses are to be controlled centrally in the future.
A Council of Europe panel of experts recently ended its two-week scrutiny of the Vatican's financial flows.
The experts of the committee called Moneyval have for some time been examining the actions of the Papal States against money laundering and other criminal financial transactions.
The panel will present the report on the inspections in spring 2021, said the press office of the Holy See.
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