Ex-envoy convicted of child porn charges gets 5 year sentence

VATICAN CITY — A former Holy See diplomat who had admitted to viewing and sharing child pornography was sentenced Saturday by a Vatican court to a five-year prison term and a fine of 5,000 euros.

The punishment for MonsignorCarloCapellaapproached the maximum allowed by the code of this city-state and was the first time on record that the Vatican has convicted one of its own ex-diplomats for such crimes.

The verdict was read by a tribunal president after a two-day trial in which Capella had said he started viewing the pornography during a period of personal “crisis” that began when he was moved to a posting in Washington.

The trial came as the Catholic Church is under mounting pressure to more forcefully address the issues of clerical abuse and enact stricter punishments for those convicted of sexual crimes. The church is dealing with high-profile abuse cases around the world, and Pope Francis faces a major decision about how to handle a crisis in Chile, whose bishops have offered to resign en masse.

Capella had been serving at the Holy See’s Washington Embassy until last year, when the State Department notified the Vatican that it suspected one of its diplomats of a possible crime “related to child pornography images.” The Vatican then recalled Capella, rebuffing a U.S. request that his diplomatic immunity be dropped so he could be prosecuted in the United States.

The Vatican’s news release earlier this year about the charges against Capella mentioned a “large quantity” of material.