On Monday, Vatican judges listened to the final objections by the defense teams, who called for the trial to be declared invalid on grounds that the Vatican prosecution failed to disclose all the evidence. Prosecutors dismissed the objections as “a tempest in a teapot,” claiming that they handed over all the material that wasn’t part of ongoing investigations.
On Tuesday, the Vatican tribunal rejected all the objections by the defense.
The defense teams promised to appeal that decision and have already criticized the trial for not adhering to Italian law or the European Human Rights Convention. In their 40-page decision, Vatican judges said that as an independent state the Holy See has enacted its own laws for due process and that the independence of Vatican magistrates has been recognized by Italian and Swiss courts.
Vatican judges also allowed the Vatican Secretariat of State, the Vatican department overseeing the institution’s real estate and investment funds, the Vatican bank and the Vatican financial watchdog agency to be a civil party in the proceedings.
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