Vatican cannot surrender internal messages, lawyer tells London court
April 21, 2023
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CWN Editor's Note: A canon lawyer representing the Vatican has told a British court that messages exchanged by top Vatican officials are covered by the pontifical secret and cannot be disclosed.
The Vatican has resisted a demand for the disclosure of messages exchanged by email and social media between Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State, and his deputy, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, regarding a troubled London real-estate deal. That investment has become the subject for a landmark financial-misconduct trial, now being heard by a Vatican tribunal.
“The violation of the pontifical secret is deemed a grave sin,” explained Father Carlos Fernando Diaz Paniagua. His testimony came in a lawsuit brought by Raffaele Mincione, one of the defendants in the Vatican case, in an English court. Mincione charges that the Vatican defamed him in the case.
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