VATICAN CITY
Reuters
VATICAN CITY | BY PHILIP PULLELLA
A Vatican prelate on Monday admitted in court he had leaked confidential documents to the media and said he had been manipulated into it by a woman co-defendant who claimed she was a spy.
After an adjournment of more than three months, Spanish Monsignor Angel Lucio Vallejo Balda was questioned at the resumption of the so-called “Vatileaks II” trial.
Vallejo and four other people are on trial in the case, which centers on the publication last year of two books based on leaked documents that depict a Vatican plagued by graft and where Pope Francis faces stiff resistance to his agenda.
Pressed by the prosecution and the court president on whether he had leaked documents, Vallejo said “yes”. He also said he had given the author of one of the books some 85 passwords to access electronic documents and email accounts in the Vatican.
Most of the three hours of the questioning of Vallejo, a 54-year-old Spaniard, revolved around his relationship with Francesca Chaouqui, 35, a married public relations consultant.
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