UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Thomas Reese | Nov. 24, 2015
The Vatican appears to be responding from the wrong playbook to the leaking of confidential documents. It is acting like a state rather than a church.
True, Vatican City is a state that can enact and prosecute laws, but it is also the central office of the Catholic church. In this case, it should act like a church not a state.
The Vatican has criminally charged five people — two journalists and three Vatican employees — with “procuring and revealing” confidential information.
The journalists, Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi, have both published books on questionable Vatican spending and financial practices based on leaked confidential documents.
At the 70-minute initial hearing in a Vatican courtroom, the reporters protested that the trial violates their rights as journalists recognized in Italy, Europe, and by the United Nations.
The International Association of Journalists Accredited at the Vatican issued a statement Tuesday expressing “consternation and worry” that two journalists were being prosecuted for publishing leaked documents when “publishing news is exactly their work.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.