VATICAN CITY
CBS News
ROME — The Vatican’s own police force has arrested a monsignor and a laywoman in its latest probe into the leak of confidential documents.
The Vatican said both people were members of the commission established on Pope Francis’ order to investigate the Church’s finances. They were being held on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to the media.
A statement released by the Vatican identified the suspects as Spanish priest Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Francesca Chaouqui. Chaouqui was released Monday, the statement said, and was “cooperating with the investigation. Balda remained in custody.
The arrests took place over the weekend but only became common public knowledge on Monday, two days before the slated release of a pair of new books touting new revelations of past misdeeds at the Vatican.
One of the two books is written by Gianluigi Nuzzi, whose previous book “His Holiness” contained private documents stolen from Pope Benedict’s desk by his butler.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.