VATICAN CITY
NRP
Two journalists and three former Vatican officials have been formally charged with “criminal misappropriation” and other crimes, the Vatican says, in a case tied to allegations of financial misdeeds by Catholic Church officials.
Those arrested include Spanish Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda and Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, who served on a special Vatican commission on economic reform that was assembled by Pope Francis shortly after he was elected in 2013.
Vatican police arrested the pair earlier this month; Chaouqui was released after a brief detention, due to her cooperation with the authorities.
Also facing charges are Vallejo’s secretary, Nicola Maio, as well as Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi — two journalists who published books this month that promise a rare glimpse into scandals and corruption in the Roman Catholic Church.
Fittipaldi’s book, Avarice, is currently No. 3 on the list of bestsellers on Amazon’s Italian site, just behind Nuzzi’s Way of the Cross.
Nuzzi was also involved in the original “Vatileaks” scandal of 2012, when he published a book containing private Vatican documents and letters. Some say that scandal contributed to Pope Benedict’s resignation.
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