The Vatican said Monday it has arrested a monsignor and a woman in the latest probe of leaks of confidential documents at the Holy See.
It said in a statement that the two had been interrogated over the weekend, and that Holy See prosecutors upheld the arrests.
The woman was identified as Francesca Chaouqui and the monsignor as the Rev. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda. The monsignor is a Vatican employee while Chaouqui had served on a commission set up by Pope Francis in 2013 as part of his drive to reform the Holy See’s finances.
A Vatican spokesman said Vallejo Balda was being held in a jail cell in Vatican City, and that Chaouqui was allowed to go free because she cooperated in the probe.
Monday’s announcement was the latest confirmation that scandal and intrigue still swirl in the largely closed world of the Vatican’s administrative bureaucracy.
Leaks of confidential documents from retired Pope Benedict XVI’s papers in 2012 led to the arrest and trial of a papal butler and a Vatican computer technician. A 2013 Vatican law made it a crime to leak confidential documents and information.
Last week, Italian news reports said the Vatican’s gendarmeria, or police force, were investigating to see who had tampered with the computer of a top Vatican prelate who deals with financial matters.
The Vatican on Monday confirmed that there was an investigation into the tampering, but declined to say if that incident was related to the two arrests.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
The truth hurts. Can’t have that, can we, Il Papa?
Oh No. Dont tell me there are criminals in the Vatican.They are so the eye of God. Excuse me. I have to laugh undercover.
Amazing new twist! Since when can a church ARREST people?
Nothing surprises me when dealing with thieving catholics and their satanic leaders. False church full of souls that will burn for eternity.
THE CATHOLICS HAVE ALWAYS LIED AND COVERED THEIR CRIMES FROM CHILD BEATING, TO PEDOPHILIA. NOTHING IS EVER DONE. YOU’D THINK THAT PEOPLE WHO CLAIM TO BE RELIGIOUS WOULD RESPECT THE LAW.INSTEAD THEY HIDE THEIR CRIMES AND GO TO EXTREMES TO PROTEVT THE CRIMINALS. SHAME ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ALL WHO SUPPORT IT.
Yea, Isn’t she identified as the mother of harlots in the bible book of revelations?