Pope backs more defense time in Vatican leaks trial

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) – Pope Francis has acknowledged criticism that the Vatican’s trial over leaked documents has been rushed, saying the defendants and their lawyers must have time to mount a proper defense.

Francis spoke to reporters en route home from Africa after a Vatican judge on Tuesday adjourned the trial until Dec. 7 to give one of the defendants time to prepare after she engaged a new attorney late last week. Several of the suspects had complained that they hadn’t had time to find lawyers, much less study the case file before the trial began Nov. 24.

In a startling acknowlegment of his involvement in the process, Francis said he had wanted the trial to be finished before the Dec. 8 start of his Jubilee Year of Mercy.

“But I think this can’t be done now, because I want all the defense lawyers to have time to defend, that there is the freedom of defense,” he said.

Three members of a papal reform commission are accused of leaking documents to two reporters who published blockbuster books detailing Vatican waste, mismanagement and greed among some cardinals and bishops. The two reporters are also on trial for having published the material – accusations that have drawn scorn from media rights groups around the world.

The groups have urged the Vatican to drop the charges against reporters Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, who face eight years in prison if convicted.

Francis acknowledged that journalists have an important role to play in uncovering injustice and corruption.

“It’s a beautiful work,” he said. “Because if there is corruption there, then those responsible must do something, make a judgment or hold a trial.”

But he also insisted that journalists must be professional, and not fall into what he called the common “sins” of the media: disinformation in telling only one part of the story and defamation.

Francis didn’t refer specifically to Nuzzi and Fittipaldi. However, the Vatican has previously criticized them for painting what it called a one-sided picture of the reform effort.

In addition to the journalists, the defendants are Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda, who was the No. 2 in the reform commission; Francesca Chaouqui, a communications consultant he brought in; and Nicola Maio, Balda’s assistant. They are accused of leaking confidential information and of forming a criminal organization.

Judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre adjourned the trial until Dec. 7 to give Chaouqui’s new lawyer time to formally lodge any observations or potential objections after studying the case.

“I don’t understand anything. There is not one bit of evidence against me,” Chaouqui told a small pool of reporters allowed to attend Monday’s 15-minute hearing. “We have to discover in these five days why I am here” as a defendant.

In recent days, Italian newspapers have published documents from the court files detailing the questionably close relationship between Vallejo and Chaouqui amid questions about how she was named to the commission. Francis appointed the commission to get a handle on the Vatican’s financial holdings and propose reforms to administer them more efficiently.

Chaouqui, who in interviews drops names of cardinals, aristocrats and businessmen who have helped her career, has said Vallejo recommended her to the commission.

Asked Monday if it was a mistake to appoint them, Francis said: “I think an error was made.”

He suggested that the leaks may have occurred because the two were bitter that they didn’t get promotions after the commission finished his work.

During an investigative crime show he conducts on Italian TV, Nuzzi made public a series of WhatsApp messages between him and Vallejo, with the priest insisting he acted with “honesty” in his role and that there was “open war” to control the workings of the Vatican bureaucracy.

Chaouqui, who is pregnant, has claimed she is a scapegoat. Maio hasn’t publicly commented.