Clergyman admits he gave classified Vatican documents to journalists

VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome

A Spanish monsignor who is on trial for disclosing classified church documents admitted on Monday that he passed information on to journalists but suggested he was coerced into it by a woman he had a relationship with.

“Yes, I passed documents,” Lucio Vallejo Balda said in response to questions from a Vatican prosecutor. “I did it spontaneously, probably not fully lucid.”

He added that he had handed “87 passwords” over to a journalist at a time when he was being treated for depression and stress.

“I was convinced I was in a situation without exit,” he said.

It was a critical admission in a trial against the Spanish prelate and four others – including two journalists – who technically face up to eight years in jail following accusations that they disseminated classified information about mismanagement of Vatican funds.

It has also pitted Balda against a former colleague on a special papal commission in which both had been tasked with the job of investigating the church’s murky finances: a laywoman and PR executive named Francesca Chaouqui.

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