Updated

An Italian journalist has testified that he never pressured a Vatican monsignor to give him confidential documents and says it was his obligation as a journalist to publish them because they were in the public interest.

Gianluigi Nuzzi was the fifth and final defendant to testify in the Vatican's trial over leaked documents that exposed greed, waste and mismanagement in the Holy See administration.

Nuzzi and another journalist, Emiliano Fittipaldi, wrote blockbuster books based on confidential Vatican information. They are on trial along with a former high-ranking Vatican official accused of leaking the documents and two other people. All five face up to eight years in prison if convicted.

Nuzzi told the court Wednesday: "I chose to be a journalist and when you are given information, it's your duty to publish it."