VATICAN CITY
Europe Online
Vatican City (dpa) – The Vatican on Monday defended its decision to put on trial two journalists who published embarrassing information about the Catholic Church‘s finances, rejecting suggestions it was trampling on the freedom of the press.
Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, whose books were published last month in Italy, have been accused of maliciously soliciting leaks from Vatican officials and risk up to eight years imprisonment if found guilty.
“Many” comments about the trial, which has been dubbed VatiLeaks 2, “are inappropriate, or at times entirely unjustified,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement.
The legal system of the Vatican City State has “all the procedural guarantees characteristic of the most advanced contemporary legal systems,” and respects “all the fundamental principles” of a fair trial, Lombardi said.
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