VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register
by Edward Pentin 11/21/2015
The Vatican has charged five people over the leaking of confidential documents concerning financial reform of the curia.
In a statement released today, the Vatican said the Court of Vatican City State had summoned Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, Francesca Immaculate Chaouqui, Nicola Maio, Emiliano Fittipaldi, and Gianluigi Nuzzi to attend preliminary hearings beginning on the morning of Nov. 24.
The defendants are accused of “wrongful disclosure of information and confidential documents”.
Spanish Msgr. Vallejo and Italian PR expert Francesca Chaouqui were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of leaking the documents. Journalists Nuzzi and Fittipaldi were questioned after they published books containing leaked information.
Msgr. Vallejo and Chaouqui were both members of COSEA, a special commission set up by Pope Francis to advise him on economic reform within the Vatican. Maio worked as secretary to Msgr. Vallejo Balda on the commission which was disbanded to make way for the new Vatican Secretariat for the Economy.
Fittipaldi said he was shocked by the Vatican’s move. “Maybe I’m naive but I believed they would investigate those I denounced for criminal activity, not the person that revealed the crimes,” he told Italy’s ANSA news agency.
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