A Vatican diplomatic official with ties to Windsor has been convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for possessing and distributing child pornography.
Monsignor Carlo Capella was sentenced in a Vatican tribunal Saturday in the first such trial of its kind inside the Vatican.
Capella was recalled from the United States by the Vatican secretary of state last year after a three-nation investigation tied him to child pornography.
Windsor police allege Capella uploaded child porn from a social networking site while visiting a place of worship in December of 2016.
Capella admitted to viewing the images during what he called a period of "fragility" and interior crisis sparked by a job transfer to the Vatican embassy in Washington.
On top of the sentence, Capella is fined the equivalent of just over $7700 Canadian.
Capella will serve the sentence in the Vatican barracks, where he has been held since his arrest earlier this year.
He apologized to his family and the Holy See, and appealed for leniency by saying the episode was just a "bump in the road" of a priestly vocation he loved and wanted to continue.
Now that the criminal prosecution is over, Capella will be subject to a canonical trial, which could result in him being defrocked.
Capella could still be arrested if he tries to re-enter Canada as the nationwide arrest warrant still exists.