Ex-diplomat convicted of child porn distribution

VATICAN CITY — A tribunal convicted a former Holy See diplomat Saturday and sentenced him to five years in prison for possessing and distributing child pornography in the first such trial of its kind inside the Vatican.

Monsignor Carlo Capella admitted to viewing the images during what he called a period of “fragility” and interior crisis sparked by a job transfer to the Vatican’s embassy in Washington. He apologized and appealed for leniency, saying the episode was just a “bump in the road” of a priestly vocation he wanted to continue.

Tribunal President Giuseppe Dalla Torre read the verdict after a two-day trial and sentenced Capella to five years and a fine of 5,000 euros ($5,830). Capella will serve the sentence in the Vatican barracks, where he has been held since his arrest this year.

Prosecutor Gian Piero Milano had asked for a stiffer sentence because of what he called the “great” amount of material accessed, which included 40 to 55 photos, films and Japanese animation found on his cell phone, iCloud and Tumblr account, which Capella viewed even after he had been recalled by the Vatican in August 2017.

His attorney disputed that Capella had distributed the material. He denied the amount of porn was excessive and said his client had cooperated with investigators, repented and was seeking psychological help.

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

Soon after, Canadian police issued an arrest warrant for Capella, accusing him of having accessed, possessed and distributed child porn over Christmas 2016 from a church in Windsor, Ontario, using a social networking site.

His recall was immediately denounced by U.S. Catholic bishops, who, still stinging from the fallout of the clerical sex abuse scandal, saw it as an attempt by the Vatican to shield one of its own. But all along the Vatican insisted it would prosecute Capella, who was subject to the Vatican tribunal’s jurisdiction even though his crimes occurred elsewhere.

The trial was the first known enforcement of a 2013 law for the Vatican City State that specifically criminalized possession and distribution of child pornography.

Nicole Winfield is an Associated Press writer.