A pedophile priest caught with child pornography while working in Washington has escaped prosecution by U.S. authorities because Pope Francis granted him diplomatic immunity, according to reports.

Carlo Alberto Capella was in the U.S. as a senior Vatican diplomat when he was caught with a trove of indecent images and videos of children being sexually abused that investigators claim he was trading internationally with other pedophiles.

Described as an “open and shut case” that should have landed the pedophile priest in prison for years, the U.S. authorities were “powerless” to prosecute him after the Vatican insisted he was diplomatically immune and must be allowed to leave the country, according Reuters news agency.

After blocking the case against Carlo Alberto Capella from proceeding, the Vatican rushed the priest back Rome, where he was tried under “Canon law” and…