The machine of justice is hard at work in the Holy
See to dispel all doubts surrounding the Vatileaks scandal. “Justice
needs to be done with humility and truthfulness,” said the Vatican
Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, during the opening of the Judicial
Year, celebrated in the Vatican City.
Present at the inaugural ceremony
were a number of figures who played key roles in last autumn’s trials
against the Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele and Vatican IT
technician, Claudio Sciarpelletti (both of whom were recently pardoned
by the Pope): President Giuseppe dalla Torre, associate judges Marano
and Pellettier, investigating judge Piero Antonio Bonnet and lawyers
Cristina Arrù (who defended Paolo Gabriele) and Gianluca Benedetti
(Sciarpelletti’s lawyer).
During the ceremony, the Secretary of State,
Tarcisio Bertone, urged faithful to “desist from self-promotion”. He
criticised people’s desire to “show off” and suggested faithful should
deflate their ego and allow their love for Jesus to grow in them and in
others.
Nicola Picardi, the over-eighty-year-old promoter
of justice who had led the Vatileaks inquiry in recent months and was a
also prosecutor in the Gabriele and Sciarpelletti cases, did not attend
this morning’s ceremony.
The deputy Promoter of Justice, Pierfrancesco
Grossi, who replaced Picardi, gave a speech in which criticising lawyers
for their inadequate knowledge of Vatican law: “unfortunately,
experience shows that in many cases they do not have an adequate enough
knowledge of basic and trial-related Vatican law, with obvious
consequences.”
In addition, external professionals are completely
ignorant in the field of Canon law which is the primary source of law in
the Vatican. Grossi recalled that the founding patrons of the Vatican
Tribunal were Consistorial lawyers whose college was closed by John Paul
II in 1988.
Today, “our tribunal’s defence is handled by lawyers of the
Roman Rota who have graduated in civil law as well,” they appear in the
“relevant lawyers’ register.”
“In exceptional cases, external
professionals may be authorised” to work in the Vatican as well.
Grossi called for the introduction of
“specialisation courses” and “refresher courses” “as a condition for
appearing in the list of accredited lawyers who have authorisation to
practice in our tribunal.”
At the end of the opening ceremony, the Holy See
Press Office stressed that the “Vatileaks inquiry remains open” and
further investigations into the confidential documents that were leaked
from the Roman Curia dicasteries and the Pope’s apartment.