Information security

Scapegoat or Spy? Vatican Consultant Commands Attention at Leaks Trial

Her accusers call her an ambitious schemer, even a spy. The presiding judge has wondered aloud whether she is “full of hot air.”Vatican prosecutors want her in jail for as many as 15 years, charging that she stole and leaked state secrets.

She calls herself a scapegoat, claiming she is the target of a vendetta and a plot by her enemies to discredit her with Pope Francis.

Whatever the truth, Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui (pronounced CHOW-kee) has emerged as the central protagonist in what is being billed here as the “Vatileaks 2” trial, and become a lightning rod of intrigue and criticism.

A hero to some and a villain to others, Ms. Chaouqui — Calabrian born, 34 years old and more than eight months pregnant — stands accused with two others of leaking confidential documents to two journalists who wrote separate tell-all books about Vatican mismanagement and corruption.