VATICAN CITY
Irish Times
Paddy Agnew in Rome
Asked about the ongoing “Vatileaks 2” trial in the Vatican, Pope Francis on Monday joked that he was glad that 15th century femme fatale Lucrezia Borgia “is not around anymore”.
The pope was speaking during his customary post-visit press conference on the papal plane on the way back from a highly successful six-day trip to Africa during which he visited Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic.
Inevitably the most difficult questions faced by Pope Francis did not concern Africa but the so-called Vatileaks 2 trial in which five people stand accused of having stolen confidential Holy See documents.
In recent days the trial has made headlines because of revelations about the intimate relations between the two major defendants, Spanish monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Vatican lay consultant Francesca Chaoqui, who both served on COSEA, a short -term Vatican economic reform commission which operated in 2013 and 2014.
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