A Rome appeals court on Monday acquitted a cardinal and another top Vatican official in a trial focusing on charges that transmitters used by the Vatican's radio station caused electromagnetic pollution.
Cardinal Roberto Tucci, the former head of Vatican Radio's management board, and Father Pasquale Borgomeo, the former general director, had received 10-day suspended sentences in a lower court ruling.
The appeals court ruled that laws punishing people or organisations responsible for emitting dangerous substances did not apply to electromagnetic pollution.
"This sentence clarifies and resolves what was a problem of law," said lawyers for the Vatican.
The ruling ignored the question of whether electromagnetic pollution existed, limiting itself to rejecting the prosecution's claim that 'electrosmog' was covered by pollution laws.
Concern over the impact of the Vatican transmitters, located near the village of Cesano just outside Rome, exploded in 2001 when it emerged that 'electrosmog' produced by them exceeded levels allowed by Italian law.
News reports at the time also referred to a study by the regional health authority which found children in the Cesano area were six times more likely to develop leukemia than their peers elsewhere.
The Vatican subsequently cut the strength of its transmission signals and brought the electrosmog within permitted levels.
