Canadian police seek Vatican envoy over porn

VATICAN CITY — Canadian police have issued an arrest warrant for the Vatican diplomat who was recalled from the United States in a child pornography investigation, accusing him of accessing porn over Christmas last year from a church.

Police in Windsor, Ont., said Carlo Capella, a 50-year-old monsignor from Italy, allegedly uploaded the child porn to a social networking site while visiting a place of worship in Windsor between Dec. 24 and Dec. 27.

The Vatican recalled Capella, the No. 4 official in its Washington embassy, after the U.S. State Department notified it Aug. 21 of a “possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images” by one of its diplomats in Washington.

It never identified Capella by name and provided no details of the accusations, sparking criticism from U.S. church officials who have been under fire for decades of coverups of priestly sex abusers.

In the statement, Windsor police accused Capella of accessing, possessing and distributing child pornography.

It said it had issued a Canadawide arrest warrant for Capella, though it noted that he had returned to Italy.

Capella is in Vatican City, though the Vatican hasn’t said under what terms. The Vatican doesn’t extradite its citizens.

In explaining its decision to recall the diplomat, as is common in such cases, the Vatican said its own criminal prosecutors are investigating the case and seeking information from the U.S.