Updated

One of the Italian journalists whose expose of Vatican mismanagement has made headlines is refusing to appear before Vatican magistrates to be questioned in a criminal case over leaked confidential documents.

Gianluigi Nuzzi, author of "Merchants in the Temple," received an official summons from the office of the Vatican prosecutor to appear Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. to be interrogated in the case against a Vatican monsignor accused in the leaks probe.

Nuzzi, who has been placed under investigation in the case, said Monday he wouldn't appear for questioning. In a statement, he accused the Vatican legal system of punishing journalists and criminalizing the publishing of news.

Nuzzi and another Italian journalist, Emiliano Fittipaldi, published bombshell books last week based on leaked documents from a reform commission named by Pope Francis.