Bishops and cardinals will be tried by the tribunal …

Pope Francis has ordered bishops and cardinals to be tried in the Vatican City State Criminal Court, where Italian lay magistrates serve, not priests.

decision, What seeks to put aside the “privileges”, was announced by the Pope in a text signed this Friday, that It will come into effect on May 1 and represents a radical change, since until now cardinals and bishops appeared before the Court of Cassation presided over by a cardinal.

On the basis of this measure, however, they will be submitted to the Court at first instance, like everyone else, although the prior authorization of the Pope will continue to be necessary to try them, reported the AFP news agency. .

With this initiative, called “motu proprio” the Pontiff wishes to affirm the principle of equality before Vatican justice for all members of the Church, “without the privileges of the past”.

This court of first instance has been widely criticized for not being able to summon the highest prelates of the Church.

Several important criminal proceedings will take place in the coming months, in which are involved cardinals and bishops who have worked in the Secretariat of State (Vatican government), and for the first time they will be able to be questioned by lay judges of the criminal court.

Among them, there is a complex investigation into the opaque financing, by Italian entrepreneurs, of a luxury building in London, with the approval of the Secretary of State.

The investigation is to determine whether the senior prelates committed errors in judgment or were ultimately charged with corruption.