Vatican City, Dec 20, 2016 / 12:25 pm
Pope Francis has officially granted clemency to Spanish priest Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, who had already served half of his 18-month jail sentence for leaking confidential Vatican documents.
The Vatican announced Dec. 20 that the Pope had given Msgr. Vallejo Balda the "benefit of conditional release" and that the priest will now fall under the jurisdiction of his home diocese of Astorga, Spain.
In July of this year, after an eight-month trial weighing the guilt of five individuals in the leaking and disseminating of confidential financial documents, the Vatican reached a verdict, sentencing a Vatican official and a laywoman for the crime.
The defendants in question were Msgr. Vallejo Balda, Italian PR woman Francesca Chaouqui, Nicola Maio (Vallejo's secretary), and journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi.