Pope Leo has come under fire from Catholic bloggers, over a former Vatican diplomat, who was convicted of possessing and sharing child pornography working at the Holy See’s Secretariat of State.

Italian priest Reverend Carlo Alberto Capella was found guilty at a Vatican tribunal in 2018, following his arrest in Canada two years earlier.

He was released from prison in 2022, and reports say he returned to the Vatican to undertake admin work whilst Pope Francis was still in post.  Francis had previously implemented reforms to address clerical abuse scandals, leaving many to question why Capella had been given any role at all.

Capella’s attorney, Roberto Borgogno, insisted that the decision was based on “good behaviour” and that the priest’s duties are limited to a desk job, with no contact with members of the public.

In 2016, authorities discovered that Capella had possessed and distributed a large quantity of illegal images while serving as a diplomat at the Holy See’s embassy in Washington D.C. He was called back to Rome and served a small sentence in the Vatican’s prison – which only has the capacity for three cells.

Capella was granted immunity from prosecution in the United States, despite repeated requests from the State Department for the Vatican to waive it.

Peter Isely, a member of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said to the Washington Post: “Why not give him a job scrubbing floors, or bathrooms, at the Vatican? Why is he still an official member of the State Department? It’s wrong on every level.”