A Paris court has convicted a former Vatican ambassador to France of sexually assaulting five men in 2018 and 2019.
The path for the prosecution of 76-year-old Luigi Ventura was cleared after the Vatican lifted his immunity in July 2019.
His trial in absentia started on 10th November and he was not present for the verdict on Wednesday.
Ventura has been handed a suspended eight-month prison sentence, less than the 10 months the prosecution had sought.
Five men alleged they had suffered Ventura's "hands on the buttocks" during his public diplomatic duties in France.
The case erupted in February 2019 amid multiple sex scandals affecting the Catholic Church.
Ventura has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Sexual assault is punishable in France by up to five years' imprisonment and fines.
The former envoy had produced a doctor's note saying it was too dangerous for him to travel from Rome to Paris for the trial amid France's resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic.
Article by Press Association
Reporting courtesy of Press Association.
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