Vatican Sues Journalists Who Leaked Catholic Church’s Confidential Information

The Vatican is to sue five people, including two
investigative journalists and their informers, in connection with the recent
VatiLeaks 2 scandal, it announced on Saturday.

The Catholic Church accuses the five of publishing
confidential documents and information relating to “the fundamental
interests of the Holy See and the state.” If found guilty, they could face
between four and eight years in prison, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

Among the accused are journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and
Emiliano Fittipaldi, who have published books on Catholic Church scandals based
on leaked documents. In particular, they have accused the church of
irresponsibly wasting the money of its faithful.

The other three are their informers, who are all connected
to the Vatican commission Cosea, which was set up by Pope Francis to help
reform the state’s economic and administrative structures. They are also
accused of forming a criminal organization.

Former Cosea secretary Lucio Vallejo Balda has been in
custody since early November. The other two are PR expert and Cosea adviser
Francesca Chaouqui, who was briefly arrested earlier this month, as well as
Balda’s colleague Nicola Maio.

The Vatican is a sovereign state with its own judicial
system. Should the accused not appear in court, the trial would go ahead in
their absence, the Vatican said.

Fittipaldi had given a statement to the police earlier this
week, while Nuzzi ignored a summons, citing significant shortcomings in the
Vatican’s legislation on press freedom.

Nuzzi had already published a book based on leaked
confidential information out of the Vatican in 2012, triggering the first
VatiLeaks scandal.

His main informer at the time was a valet of the then pope
Benedict XVI. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison and pardoned by the pope
shortly after.