Pope grants Vallejo Balda conditional freedom

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis has commuted the jail sentence of a Spanish priest who was convicted of leaking Vatican documents and ordered that he be released from jail. Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda was sentenced to 18 months in a Vatican jail last July at the end of a trial dubbed "Vatileaks II".

A statement from the Holy See press office said the Pope took the step because Vallejo

Balda, had already served more than half of his sentence.

It also said he would be under "conditional freedom" for the rest of his sentence.

Balda will leave the employ of the Vatican and be put under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Astorga in his native Spain.