In June 2018, InfoVaticana reported the five-year prison sentence of priest Carlo Alberto Capella for possession and exchange of child pornography. Capella, a former diplomat of the Holy See in Washington, was not only not extradited—as requested by US authorities—but, after his return to Rome, he enjoyed freedom of movement within the Vatican for months before his belated arrest. Today, seven years later, we discover that this criminal’s reintegration did not consist of caring for his elderly mother in a remote parish, but rather living in San Benedetto, the residence for nuncios, just a few meters from where Pope Leo XIV himself resides.
The information, confirmed by an eyewitness who was with him in the last few hours, shows that Capella is not only free, but also protected and probably active in “internal tasks.” Of what kind? We don’t know, but in any case, it doesn’t seem that his depraved history has prevented his integration into the clerical circles closest to power. Everything indicates that there is a mafia, far from dissolving, continues to grant safe conduct to its fallen members.
Capella, 51, who admitted to the child pornography charges, performed diplomatic duties for the Vatican that took him from India to Hong Kong to the nunciature in Washington. Originally incardinated in the Archdiocese of Milan, Capella was an assistant priest when, in 2001, the influential Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the inspiration behind the so-called “Saint Gallen mafia,” proposed that he join the Holy See’s diplomatic service.
The St. Gallen mafia, to which the previous Pope owed his pontificate, appears to remain active and in power.
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