“Vatican arrests ex-diplomat in child sex abuse probe” & related articles

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The Daily Monitor

Sunday 08 April 2018

Vatican City State Tribunal

The arrest warrant was issued by the investigating magistrate of the Vatican City State Tribunal. AFP PHOTO 

The Vatican said on Saturday a monsignor who was a former advisor at its US embassy in Washington has been arrested on suspicion of watching child sex abuse.

A Vatican statement said that an arrest warrant had been issued for Carlo Alberto Capella, which was carried out by the Vatican Gendarmerie.

“The accused is being detained in a cell in the barracks of the Gendarmerie Corps, available to the judicial authorities,” the statement said.
The arrest warrant was issued by the investigating magistrate of the Vatican City State Tribunal.

Capella, who was in office until last year, was recalled from Washington last September by the Vatican.

It is the latest case the Catholic Church has faced after repeated criticism for the way it has handled scandals over paedophile priests.

The US State Department notified the Vatican in August through diplomatic channels of a possible violation of child pornography laws by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See in Washington, the Vatican said in September.

The United States made “an official request” for the man’s diplomatic immunity to be lifted but the Vatican refused, said a US official on condition of anonymity.

In February, the Vatican said it had renewed its anti-paedophile panel in a bid by Pope Francis to quell the global scandal over the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The panel had come under fire from two high-profile members, former sex abuse victims who quit at what they saw as a lack of reform and obstruction at the highest level of the Catholic Church.
Victims have come forward from across the world over the past two decades accusing priests of sex crimes, unleashing one of the biggest crises faced by the Catholic Church.

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Vatican arrests own diplomat on suspicion of child abuse images

Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella, who served the Vatican in US and Canada, faces 12 years in prison if convicted

The Guardian

The Vatican said on Saturday its police had arrested one of its Washington diplomats who is suspected of possessing images of child sexual abuse in the US and Canada.

A statement identified the accused as Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella and said he was arrested on Saturday in the Vatican after a warrant was issued by the Holy See’s chief magistrate at the end of an investigation.

The Vatican statement said Capella, who was recalled from the Vatican embassy in Washington last August, was arrested according to articles of a 2013 law signed by the pope. The articles cited by the statement related to images of child sexual abuse.

If indicted, the monsignor will have to stand trial in the Vatican and faces up to 12 years in jail.

The US state department notified the Holy See in August of a possible violation of laws relating to child abuse images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington, the Vatican said in September.

A spokesman said in September that the US had requested that the man’s diplomatic immunity be waived but the Vatican refused.

Capella entered the diplomatic corps in 2004 and before serving in Washington he held diplomatic posts in Hong Kong and Italy.

After he was recalled to Rome, police in Windsor, Canada said they had issued an arrest warrant for him on suspicion of possessing and distributing images of child abuse on the internet.

Capella’s case the worst involving a diplomat since 2013 when former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski

faced charges of paying boys for sexual acts, downloading and buying paedophile material while he was the Vatican’s ambassador in the Dominican Republic.

He was recalled to Rome by the Vatican, arrested, and stripped of his duties after an investigation by Dominican magistrates. He died in hospital in 2015 at the age of 67 before his trial at a Vatican court could begin.

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Vatican arrests diplomat involved in Windsor, Ont., child porn scandal

Monsignor Carlo Capella was recalled from the U.S. last year after being caught up in an investigation into child porn that involved Canadian, U.S. and Vatican authorities. Windsor police issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for Capella last September.

The Toronto Star

Sat., April 7, 2018

St. Peter's square in the Vatican is shown in this April 4, 2018 photo. The Vatican says Monsignor Carlo Capella, who was implicated in a child porn investigation by Canadian, U.S. and Vatican officials, was being held in gendarmerie barracks inside the Vatican.
St. Peter’s square in the Vatican is shown in this April 4, 2018 photo. The Vatican says Monsignor Carlo Capella, who was implicated in a child porn investigation by Canadian, U.S. and Vatican officials, was being held in gendarmerie barracks inside the Vatican.  (TIZIANA FABI / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

VATICAN CITY—The Vatican on Saturday arrested a diplomat recalled from Washington last year amid investigations in Canada, the United States and the Vatican for possession of child pornography.

A Vatican statement said that Monsignor Carlo Capella was being held in gendarmerie barracks inside the Vatican, and that his arrest follows a Vatican investigation.

Police in Windsor, Ont., said Capella allegedly uploaded child porn to a social networking site while visiting a place of worship from over the 2016 Christmas holiday. In the statement, Windsor police accused Capella of accessing, possessing and distributing child pornography.

Windsor police issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for Capella last September. They say they were alerted by the RCMP in February 2017 and launched an investigation, eventually getting judicial permission to access relevant internet records.

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

At the time of the Sept. 15 announcement about Capella’s recall, neither the Vatican nor the State Department made any mention of a Canadian angle to the case.

Capella was a high-ranking priest in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps. He served on the Italy desk in the Vatican’s secretariat of state and was part of the official delegation that negotiated a tax treaty with Italy before being posted to the U.S. Embassy last year.

A canon lawyer, Capella is listed online as having written a 2003 paper for the Pontifical Lateran University on priestly celibacy and the church’s criminal code.

The Diocese of London, Ont., confirmed that it helped investigators who had suspicions of “possible violations of child pornography laws by using a computer address at a local church.”

It declined further comment, citing a police request.

With files from The Canadian Press

4 Responses to “Vatican arrests ex-diplomat in child sex abuse probe” & related articles

  1. bc says:

    Father Capella who is a wanted pervert in the USA and Canada has admitted that he was in possession of child pornography.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/22/vatican-diplomat-admits-he-possessed-child-abuse-images

  2. bc says:

    I’m posting this here Sylvia; it doesn’t belong in this thread…
    A sadistic french Roman Catholic priest has been suspended for assaulting a two year old child and yelling at him during his baptism. And it was all caught on video. You can view it here.

    http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2018/06/22/01016-20180622ARTFIG00299-un-pretre-gifle-un-bebe-lors-d-un-bapteme-le-diocese-le-suspend.php

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