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Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella

ROME, June 12, 2018 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Holy See has announced that it will prosecute a priest and Vatican diplomat on child pornography charges later this month, following his arrest by Vatican police in April.

Msgr. Carlo Alberto Capella was recalled from his diplomatic post in the United States last year after Vatican authorities were informed by the U.S. State Department in August that he was under investigation for having committed “a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images,” in the words of the Holy See Press Office.

Canadian police then announced in September that they had issued an arrest warrant for Capella for accessing, possessing, and distributing child pornography, while spending time at a place of worship in Windsor, Ontario, according to the Catholic News Service. 

The Holy See announced that same month that it had begun “international collaboration to obtain elements relative to the case.” 

Capella will be prosecuted under a Vatican City law created in 2013 by Pope Francis that establishes that those who “distribute, divulge, transmit, import, export, offer, sell, or possess” child pornography or “distribute or divulge news or information with the purpose of the sexual exploitation of minors” may be penalized with up to 5 years in prison and tens of thousands of Euros in fines, although the penalties may be increased if there are aggravating circumstances.

The Vatican has stated that the charges against Capella do include the “aggravating circumstance” of “a large quantity” of pornography involved, which could increase the penalty to up to 12 years of imprisonment if the priest is convicted. 

Capella is currently being held in a prison cell under the supervision of the Vatican Gendarmerie, the Holy See’s police force. His indictment was made on May 30 following his arrest, and his trial is scheduled to begin on June 22, according to the Holy See. 

Before his post in the United States, the career diplomat was involved with Vatican relations with Italy, and was cited for his work in establishing an agreement for fiscal cooperation between the Holy See and the Italian government. 

The charges against Capella come in the wake of severe criticism of Pope Francis for defending a bishop accused of permitting the sexual abuse of minors in Chile and for failing to respond to witness testimony against the bishop. Francis recently reversed his stance and is now stating that bishops should be careful to exclude homosexuals from seminaries.