Chaouqui praises Trump's New York victory

Francesca Chaouqui, the Italian PR consultant on trial in the Vatican for leaking sensitive documents that put the Pope’s reform efforts in an unfavourable light, has tweeted a thumbs-up to the one US presidential candidate whose policies Francis has described as “not Christian”.

“And go @realDonaldTrump !!!” Chaouqui tweeted as the billionaire real estate mogul swept the New York primary on Tuesday night. Chaouqui had been on a commission tasked with advising the Pope on reforming the Vatican administration but was later charged — along with a Spanish priest on the commission— with passing internal documents to two Italian journalists. The two authors, who also face Vatican charges, wrote books based on the documents that detailed the dysfunction and corruption in the Vatican’s finances, embarrassing the Holy See.

Chaouqui’s Twitter avatar is a photo of a statue of Giordano Bruno, a Dominican monk who was burned at the stake in Rome for heresy in 1600. Chaouqui will also have noted that the Vatican hosted the socialist Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders overnight at the Pope's residence last week and then met with him briefly on Saturday morning. The Pope dismissed claims he was influencing the US presidential campaign, telling reporters: “If anyone thinks that greeting someone is getting involved in politics, I recommend that he look for a psychiatrist.”