It remains to be seen whether the Roman principle of natural justice – that some legal notions are self-evident – has also been adopted by the Church.
The case of the papal butler, so far, gives cause for grave concern that it has not.
Paolo Gabriele, who served Pope Benedict for six years as one of his closest aides, was charged this week with aggravated theft following the leaking of substantial numbers of documents and letters belonging to the Pope.
The material was handed over to journalists and formed part of the “VatiLeaks” scandal which caused suspicion as well as deep embarrassment over the revelations of rivalries between cardinals, administrative dysfunction, financial mismanagement and allegations of corruption.
Mr Gabriele’s indictment came after he was incarcerated for 50 days without charge, spending the majority of the time in a 12ft by 12 ft cell in the Vatican police barracks and the rest under house arrest in his Vatican City State apartment.
He was kept in solitary confinement, although allowed visits from his wife and lawyer, and was permitted to attend Mass. No date for his trial, which will be conducted by three laymen judges, has been set; there is no jury.
The principle of natural justice requires that legal procedures should be fair and carried out by an objective decision maker. The person accused has the right to be heard, given the chance to present their defence, and should not judge their own case.
Those investigating and making decisions should be unbiased, and evidence should be available for scrutiny. The capacity for the Vatican system to be fair, given Mr Gabriele’s solitary incarceration in the heat of a Rome summer and his continuing house arrest until his eventual trial, is open to question.
But concern about the plight of the papal butler should not divert attention from an issue of even graver importance.
The documents revealed by the VatiLeaks affair highlighted something rotten in the Vatican system: administrative chaos, rivalries rather than partnerships between those in the highest levels of the Roman Curia, allegations of financial mismanagement.
A group of clerics, headed by Cardinal Julian Herranz, was ordered to run an investigation into the leaks alongside the police inquiry. But no similar committee has been set up – or at least, has been publicly mandated – to investigate the allegations in the documents.
The newly appointed Vatican media adviser, Greg Burke, said this week that Pope Benedict is determined to come to grips with VatiLeaks.
Admitting that the Vatican’s media relations need improving, Mr Burke used a medical metaphor, stating that VatiLeaks “is not a cancer. It’s an injured toe that will heal. The body is healthy”.
How can he be so sure?
As an ex-journalist, Mr Burke knows full well that those words, without clear evidence, will be taken by reporters – and the faithful – as mere PR spin.
The Catholic Church’s reputation has been sullied in recent times by its reluctance to be open about its handling of the child-abuse scandal.
Unless there is a transparent inquiry into the manifest flaws in its governance, that reputation may be further undermined.