VATICAN CITY (AP) — A secretary on trial in the leaks of confidential Vatican documents has testified that he was compelled to do what his boss wanted because the monsignor reported directly to the pope and he was in no position to refuse.
Nicola Maio testified Monday that he did have legitimate access to documentation, given he was executive secretary of a papal reform commission. But he denied leaking it to two journalists, whose blockbuster books detailed waste, greed and mismanagement in the Holy See administration.
Maio said that when his boss, Spanish Monsignor Angelo Lucio Vallejo Balda, asked him to get a document, he did so: “Who was I to say no?”
Vallejo has admitted he leaked the papers.
Maio, Vallejo, another commission member and two journalists face up to eight years if convicted.
