What You Need to Know

By Conor Gaffey
Newsweek
November 23, 2015

http://europe.newsweek.com/vatican-leaks-what-you-need-know-397215?rm=eu

Five people will go on trial in a Vatican courtroom on Tuesday in relation to the leaking and publication of confidential church documents alleging financial mismanagement and widespread corruption in the Catholic Church.

The Vatican issued a statement via its press office on Saturday detailing the charges against two journalists and three church officials. The five have been charged in connection with the “unlawful disclosure of information and confidential documents” and are accused of forming a “brotherhood of crime” to undermine the Catholic Church, AFP reported. The journalists also stand accused of applying pressure to church officials to extort information and documents.

The scandal is the second concerning leaks of sensitive information from the Vatican after a series of confidential documents were leaked to journalists in 2012 under the former pope Benedict XVI. It is particularly embarrassing because Pope Francis has made financial reform of the church a priority since he was elected in March 2013.

Who is facing charges?

Italian journalists Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi both released controversial books in November based on leaked Vatican documents. They are both now in court with charges against them representing the first time in history that any journalist has been put on trial by the Vatican court, according to AFP.