Vatican Diplomat Carlo Capella sought in Canada on child porn charges

Canadian police filed an arrest warrant on Thursday for Vatican envoy Carlo Capella, a 50-year-old monsignor from Italy, for allegedly accessing, possessing and distributing child pornography during his stay in the country.

Police say Capella is accused of downloading the pornographic material from a social media site while he was staying at “a place of worship” from Dec. 24-27.

According to the police statement, “Investigators believe that the offenses occurred while the suspect was visiting a place of worship in Windsor. Investigators have determined that the suspect has returned to his residence in Italy.”

On Aug. 21, the U.S. State Department informed Vatican officials that Capella was the center of an investigation over “possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images.” The state department did not identify Capella by name in that communication but Windsor police did specifically mention the name and incident when it announced that it was issuing an arrest warrant.

The Catholic News Service reports that “Capella had worked since the summer of 2016 at the Vatican nunciature in Washington. Prior to that, he worked on the Italy desk at the Vatican Secretariat of State. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1993 for the Archdiocese of Milan.”

The Vatican says an internal investigation was already underway over the Capella’s alleged offense in the U.S.and that it has asked for additional information from U.S. investigators.

Agencies/Canadajournal