Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts

[ReneZ]

Why did the Jesuits decide to sell those 30 books to Wiflrid? Did they really need that money that badly?  Merely telling him that those books existed would have been a huge risk.  Besides, the sale was obviously a serious violation of Italian law, that regarded those books as property of the Italian government.  The government could have excused them for keeping the collection secret ("sorry, Eccelenza, we were a bit busy for the last 70 years and we forgot to tell you about it").  Not so for selling valuable cultural Government property to a foreign dealer.

The question "why?" may be secondary, because they definitely did.
Apparently they needed the money badly enough to do it. 

If you really want to know the details about this sale, it is best to read the paper by Francesca Potenza, which is in Italian, which I know you can read, and online at academia.edu (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). If you don't have access there, let me know and I can send it. (Not sure if your unicamp E-mail is still valid)

For the whole situation about the various state confiscations of libraries of religious orders, how it was implemented, how the implementation failed, see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. This is a printed book, also in Italian, and undoubtedly not yet available online.
The author used government documents from the period in question.