“Obviously there are risks,” he said, but “we are learning.”
What’s important, according to Arrieta, is that the trial is being conducted with transparency. “Things are being done in a very obvious way. They are not being done behind closed doors,” he said, “so it’s clear that there is a chance for oversight.”
Arrieta said even the pope’s authority is limited, though it was less clear just how. “The pope is limited by natural law and divine law, it’s obvious, and by the church magisterium,” he said. “The pope can’t do whatever he pleases.”
Francis is nonetheless invoked constantly in the current trial, even though he is not present apart from his picture hanging on the courtroom wall. The defendants often cite him in their testimonies as the person who authorized certain acts or justified them afterward. Others beseech him to extend his understanding for some behavior being questioned.
But even if he’s not there in person, Francis, and his financial and legal reforms, are in their own way on trial as much as the defendants.
This article originally appeared here.
