UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald
by Edward Condon
posted Monday, 23 Nov 2015
Edward Condon is a canon lawyer working for tribunals in a number of dioceses. On Twitter he is @canonlawyered
The announcement that five people, including two journalists, allegedly responsible for latest round of leaks are to be charged under the laws of the Vatican City State, has generated considerable reaction and looks likely to generate more.
Last week, before the charges were even announced, the magazine Commonweal posted an article by Paul Moses calling the action “an effort to intimidate journalists from reporting the truth” and the “criminalising [of] investigative reporting”.
There will be a great deal of ink spilled in the coming weeks about a Vatican vendetta against truth and transparency, and how this shows that the Curia still considers itself above scrutiny. Cutting through the hyperbole, the decision to include the journalists in the indictments is seriously ill-judged and distracts from the real breach of law and trust that was committed by the leakers themselves.
Most governments seek to find a balance between respecting a free press and reserving the right to keep fundamental issues of governance confidential. In the case of the ongoing financial reform of the Curia we are talking about a wholesale restructuring of a state and a global Church, and these are fundamental issues of governmental integrity. For this reason the leaking of sensitive documents of state is and should be a criminal offence.
While it is seriously unlikely the journalists will actually be convicted, exactly because of the concerns that are being voiced, allowing the focus of attention to shift away from the leakers and on to issues of a free press shows a worrying blindness by the Vatican authorities to the real scandal.
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