https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/former-vatican-diplomat-arrested-child-pornography

Vatican officials have arrested an Italian monsignor who was recalled from service at the apostolic nunciature in Washington in August 2017 under suspicion of possessing or distributing child pornography.

In a brief note April 7, the Vatican press office said the city-state's prosecutor had issued an arrest warrant that morning for Msgr. Carlo Capella, who was subsequently detained by the Vatican Gendarmerie.

The note said Capella is being held under the authority of a set of 2013 Vatican criminal norms that specify that those who possess or distribute child pornography be subject to up to five years imprisonment and 50,000 Euro in fines.

Capella had worked at the nunciature, or embassy, in Washington since mid-2016. He was recalled to the Vatican in August 2017 when the U.S. State Department notified the Holy See of his possible violation of laws relating to child pornography.

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Carlo Alberto Capella: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know https://heavy.com/news/2018/04/vatican-arrests-carlo-capella-child-pornography/

The Washington Post reported that during the late summer of 2017, the State Department told the Vatican law enforcement had uncovered “evidence implicating Capella in a child pornography case.”

The Post reported that Capella returned to the Vatican, who said it would investigate the matter. A source within the State Department told the Washington Post that American officials had “asked the Vatican to waive Capella’s immunity so that he could be prosecuted here. The Vatican refused.”

“Critics are noting Rome’s apparent double standard in addressing child abuse in the wake of last week’s Vatican-sponsored, three-day conference on child pornography, while seemingly protecting a priest who’s wanted for allegedly trafficking in child porn,” the online news magazine said.

At issue was the Church’s protection of Capella from prosecution because he had diplomatic immunity.

Born in Capri, Capella was ordained in 1993, studied canon law, began a career as a Vatican diplomat serving in Asia, and the Vatican, before being posted in the Holy See’s Apostolic Nunciature or embassy in Washington in 2016.

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Vatican: Canada did not seek extradition for diplomat with porn charges http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/vatican-canada-did-not-seek-extradition-for-diplomat-with-porn-charges.cfm

"The Holy See, following the practice of sovereign states, recalled the priest in question, who is currently in Vatican City," the press office said Sept. 15. The press office said that the Vatican promoter of justice, the chief prosecutor for Vatican City State, had opened an investigation into the matter and that it had begun "international collaboration to obtain elements relative to the case."

While the Associated Press had reported that the U.S. State Department had asked the Vatican to lift the official's diplomatic immunity and that that request was denied, the Vatican said no extradition request had come from Canada.

The latest Vatican statement came after ANSA, the Italian news agency, cited unnamed sources Oct. 12 saying that Msgr. Capella would not be extradited to Canada because of the suspect's diplomatic immunity and that he would be tried in a Vatican tribunal.

Criminal charges against the Vatican diplomat were made possible after Pope Francis approved new and expanded criminal laws in 2013, which are applicable to all Vatican employees around the world. Any direct employee of the Holy See, which includes those working in a Vatican office or nunciature, can face a criminal trial at the Vatican as well as face criminal prosecution in the country where the crimes occurred.

The new amendments, which went into effect in September 2013, brought Vatican law into detailed compliance with several international treaties like the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Vatican's updated laws define and set out penalties for specific crimes against minors, including child prostitution, sexual violence against children and producing or possessing child pornography.

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First thing I wondered was just how many priest are abroad with diplomatic immunity, truth be told, I never thought of it before

Will have to check back on this to see what happened

With the way the Pope handled Peru, I think his new amendments in 2013 is total BS

Makes you also wonder, what happens to the priests, with immunity, that abuse children themselves

Priests with Immunity, scary thought