Pope Francis has sanctioned the trial of the five, using a little known judicial system dating back to 1889 which does not allow for freedom of expression and journalist rights which are enshrined in Italian law.
Journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi wrote two books that claim to reveal greed and corruption at the Vatican. In particular, they claim the Vatican's vast real estate holdings are losing millions of euros in lost rental income by renting out their cast estate at below market prices and millions in missing inventory from the Vatican's tax-free store.
Vatican to try five, including two journalists, for leaking secret documents https://t.co/0r6rlIDxUh pic.twitter.com/hIhY7YULgc
— SBS News (@SBSNews) November 21, 2015
The bombshell books also exposed alleged greed and mismanagement, as well as resistance to the pope's attempt to reform the Vatican's financial affairs.
Their sources are believed to be members of the all members of the Vatican committee advising Pope Francis on economic reforms. They have been named as the committee's secretary, Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, Francesca Chaouqui, a public relations expert and Nicola Maio, a lay employee of the committee who was an assistant to the monsignor.
Freedom of Expression
At the heart of the trial is the question of whether the Vatican has the powers to put on trial journalists and whistleblowers, who would otherwise enjoy freedom of speech protections under Italian law.
Fittipaldi told the London Times newspaper:
"I'm amazed. It's not a trial against me but against freedom of information. Publishing confidential documents and informing the public about the wrongdoing of the powerful is the essence of our profession. I may be naive but I thought they would investigate the people who committed the illegal acts that I denounced, rather than the person who revealed them."
The Vatican penal code is enshrined in the Fundamental Law of Vatican City State, which allows for Vatican magistrates to undertake an investigation before handing the case to a sole judge who then serves as a member of a tribunal which hears the case.
Many see the in-house judicial system as lacking transparency and depriving Italian citizens of their human rights, which they enjoy under Italian law outside of the Vatican State.
Although the Holy See has four small cells, those convicted under Vatican law normally serve their sentence in an Italian jail. The current case could see the Vatican calling for the extradition of two journalists from Italy, a trial in which their human rights are not addressed and who then could serve their sentence in an Italian jail having been convicted under Vatican law.
