A high-ranking Spanish clergyman, Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, was arrested in the Vatican at the weekend over the alleged leaking of confidential Holy See documents, the Vatican said on Monday. Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, who like Balda was a former member of the COSEA commission on the Holy See's economic-administrative structure, was also arrested. Chaouqui is cooperating with investigators and was released after questioning, the statement said. Vallejo Balda remains under detention inside the Vatican.
Pope Francis has been informed of the arrests conducted by the Vatican authorities over alleged leaks and he approves, ANSA sources said.
The Vatican authorities may take legal action against books that are about to be published containing leaked confidential documents, the Holy See statement said.
The statement said the books were "fruit of a serious betrayal of the trust give by the pope and, as regards the authors, of an operation to gain advantage from the gravely illegal act of obtaining confidential documentation".
It added that the Vatican authorities were considering criminal proceedings in relation to this and, if necessary, the possible involvement of "international cooperation". The books in question are by Italian writers Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi. "Publication like this do not contribute in any way to establishing clarity and truth but, on the other hand, generate confusion and partial, biased interpretations," the statement said. "It is absolutely necessary to avoid the mistake of thinking that this is a way to help the pope's mission".
The papacy of Francis's predecessor, Benedict XVI, was hit by the so-called VatiLeaks scandal over the leaking of embarrassing confidential Church papers.
Benedict's butler was convicted over the leaks but was subsequently released from a Vatican cell thanks to a papal pardon.
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