A Church-led summit on protecting children from online abuse opened in Rome this week as more details emerged about accusations against a Vatican diplomat accused of accessing child pornography.
The gathering, organised by the Pontifical Gregorian University Centre for Child Protection, was billed as a historic summit to address the dangers the internet poses to children and teenagers. These include child pornography, sexting, sextortion and cyberbullying.
However, days before the gathering started on Tuesday, it emerged that police in Canada had issued an arrest warrant for Mgr Carlo Capella, a 50-year-old church diplomat, for allegedly uploading child pornography to a social networking site. Police in Windsor, Ontario, allege that Mgr Capella uploaded the material while visiting a church between December 24 and 27 last year.
Mgr Capella had already been recalled to the Vatican City State in August after the United States informed the Holy See of a “possible violation” of laws relating to child pornography. The priest had worked since the summer of 2016 at the Holy See’s embassy in Washington DC and, prior to that, on the Italy desk at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.
When asked about the case, Fr Hans Zollner, the Church’s leading figure on tackling abuse, said: “Due process has to be followed. If there is a case and he or she is found guilty, they need to be punished.” The Jesuit priest, who is director of the child protection centre in Rome, said the Vatican’s decision to recall the diplomat followed normal inter-state procedures but added: “Everyone who commits a crime needs to be punished.”
Mgr Capella is in custody in the Vatican, while the alleged crimes are being investigated. Any person charged with such offences will be tried under the Vatican City State’s criminal system which, since the amendments that Pope Francis made in 2013, deems child pornography offences a crime punishable by up to 12 years in prison.
On the first day of the conference, the 140 delegates from across the world heard from the Vatican’s top diplomat, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. “To disparage infancy and to abuse children is for the Christian not only a crime, but also – as Pope Francis has stated – sacrilege, a profanation of that which is sacred, of the presence of God in every human being,” the cardinal was due to say in his address.
Those attending the “Child Dignity in the Digital World” gathering included representatives from internet companies, police forces, cardinals and political leaders. At the end of the 3-6 October gathering, they were expected to sign a formal declaration that will be presented at a meeting with the Pope.
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