(LifeSiteNews) — Father Carlo Alberto Capella, a career Vatican diplomat who previously served at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C., before being convicted of possession and distribution of child pornography, was allowed to work as a senior clerk in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State’s Section for Relations with States after serving his prison sentence, a recent report revealed.

The Pillar reported on July 16 that Capella was given the new assignment after completing a five-year prison sentence in 2023. In 2018, the priest was convicted by the Vatican City State Tribunal of “publishing, transmitting, offering, and holding” child pornography.

Per an anonymous source, Capella was initially allowed to work as a speechwriter in the diplomatic department without official designation as an “act of mercy.”

“The intention was that (Capella), who had not been laicized but clearly could not return to his diocese or serve in a parish, could collaborate in the office, and remain in the Vatican where he is effectively secluded, but without a formal office,” the source told The Pillar.

The Vatican City works in mysterious ways.
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Fr. Carlo Alberto Capella during his 2018 Vatican City trial. Credit: Vatican media.
Father Carlo Alberto Capella, formerly a high ranking diplomat in the apostolic nunciature in Washington, D.C., was in… pic.twitter.com/0wBLXeftsu

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However, the priest is listed in the diplomatic section of the 2025 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the Holy See’s annual directory, several times alongside key department heads.

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“This is the opposite of what was supposed to be the point, (which was) that he could do some useful service while living a closed life, not giving scandal,” another anonymous source told The Pillar.

The Vatican’s office of the Secretariat of State did not return LifeSiteNews’ request for comment as of publication time.

In 2017, then-Msgr. Capella was recalled from his diplomatic post in the United States after Vatican authorities were informed by the U.S. State Department that he was under investigation for having committed “a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images.” About a month later, Canadian police announced that they had issued an arrest warrant for Capella for “accessing, possessing, and distributing child pornography” while spending time at a place of worship in Windsor, Ontario.

American prosecutors had sought to have Capella stripped of diplomatic immunity so that he could be prosecuted under U.S. law, but the Vatican exercised its right to recall the priest and try him in its own courts.

In 2018, Vatican prosecutors charged the priest with “publishing, transmitting, offering, and holding” child pornography in the form of cartoons, photos, and videos, which he had downloaded on his phone. After a two-day trial before the Vatican City State tribunal, Capella was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison and a 5,000 Euros (5,830 USD) fine, including 4,000 Euros as a penalty and 1,000 Euros in court costs.

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Gian Piero Milano, the prosecutor in the case, reportedly asked for a longer prison sentence and a higher fine due to the large number of images and videos, 40 in total, found on Capella’s cell phone. Under a Vatican City State law created by Pope Francis in 2013, those who are convicted of possession and/or distribution of child pornography can be fined up to 50,000 Euros and be imprisoned for up to 12 years.

In a separate ecclesiastical trial before the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in which Capella faced suspension or laicization for his crimes, the priest lost his “Monsignor” rank but was allowed to remain an active priest.