(see previous)
Vatileaks 2 defendant Francesca
Chaouqui said Thursday her co-defendant Msgr Lucio Vallejo Balda
passed confidential Vatican financial documents on alleged
financial mismanagement and overspending to two journalists who
used them to write two books.
"It's true, it was me who introduced the two journalists to
Msgr Lucio Vallejo Balda, but there was never any agreement to
pass them private papers," she told a press conference at her
home town of San Sosti in Calabria.
"It was Msgr Balda who handed over those documents to show
that reform had not been put into practice," she said.
Chaouqui and Balda - who claims she had a brief affair with
him - are among five Vatileaks 2 defendants.
Vallejo Balda and PR expert Chaouqui were both members of
the now-defunct COSEA commission set up to advise Pope Francis
on the reform of the Holy See's economic and administrative
structure.
Investigative journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano
Fittipaldi and Vallejo Balda's former assistant Nicola Maio are
also on trial.
Chaouqui, Balda and Maio are charged with leaking
confidential material and Nuzzi and Fittipaldi with using it in
two recently published books - one titled Avarice, the other
Merchants in the Temple - documenting alleged Vatican waste and
mismanagement and lavish spending by clergymen.
Chaouqui defended herself at the press conference, saying
she had been trying to help Pope Francis and not bidding for a
place in the Roman Curia.
"My problem was helping the Holy Father, not getting a
place in the Curia," said the Calabrian-born PR expert.
Chaouqui arrived at the press meet in her native town of
San Sosti to the sound of Fiorella Mannoia's hit song 'Io no ho
paura' (I'm Not Scared).
Chaouqui said she would never betray confidential remarks
by Pope Francis or divulge the content of classified documents.
"No one will ever find out from me anything about
conversations I had with the pope or any documents I got and
read," she told a press conference.
"I will never betray my State secrecy," she said, "even if
my son should be born in prison".
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