The cardinal Angelo Becciu75 years old, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison by the criminal court of the Vatican. The former advisor to Pope Francis was tried along with nine other people in a case related to financial operations of the Holy See.
He is the official of highest rank of the Catholic Church to appear before this court, which administers the civil justice of the City-state. The prosecution vatican had requested a sentence of seven years and three months in prison against the bishop, as well as a fine of more than €10,000.
The latter was imposed on Becciu, but in the end it will be an amount of €8,000. “We respect the verdict, but we will certainly present a appeal“said Fabio Vignone, the bishop’s lawyer.
The case of the cardinal condemned by the Vatican
At the center of the case is the purchase, by , of a luxury building in London between 2014 and 2018 by €350,000,000, within the framework of the investments of the Holy See, which has considerable real estate assets. This case, with multiple ramifications, puts the opacity of Vatican finances.
Born in Sardinia, Becciu has always assured that he is innocent and that he is the victim of a “media lynching“. His lawyers asked for his acquittal. For its part, the Holy See invited the court to “punish all crimes“, indicated the Secretary of State and number two of the Vatican, the Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who considered the Secretariat of State as “the aggrieved party.”
At the end of the 85 hearings of this process known as the “of the London property“, the debates brought to light the opacity of some financial operations of the Holy Seewith revelations about wiretapping and procedures through a series of intermediaries.
Among the highlights of the trial are the revelations about a telephone conversation between Becciu and the Dad and recorded without his knowledge, shortly before the trial, in which he asked him to confirm that he had approved confidential financial movements.
The instruction described a tangle “almost impossible to undo” from speculative investment funds, banks, credit institutions, individuals and legal entities.
This acquisition revealed the reckless use of the Pence of Saint Peter, the great annual collection of donations destined for the pope’s charitable actions. Likewise, it generated substantial losses in the Vatican’s finances, so the Holy See finally resold the 17,000 m2 building located in the Chelsea neighborhood, at the cost of great losses.
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Courtesy CNN.
Because of the investigation, the former substitute for the Secretary of State and considered the Vatican “number 3” between 2011 and 2018, after his removal, he lost the possibility of participating in an eventual conclave, and therefore of being Pope. Currently, Cardinal Becciu retains his title, but was removed from all duties in September 2020.
The prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi, had requested prison sentences ranging from almost cfour years up to over 13in addition to financial sanctionsagainst the ten defendants who appeared for fraud, diversion of funds, abuse of power, money laundering, corruption and extortion.
Vatican: Pope Francis tries to change course
This case dealt a serious blow to the reputation of the Church and the Pope Franciscowhich multiplied the reforms to clean up the finances of the Vatican and fight fraud.
In 2014 he carried out the creation of a Secretariat for the Economy in 2014. Furthermore, since his election in 2013, the investments and activities of the Vatican Bank have been limited.
The truth is that since his arrival at the Holy See, Francis has tried correct that direction, since he also reformed the judicial system so that bishops and cardinals can be tried in secular courts, and not only in religious instances.
Source: Ambito
