A historic trial over a major financial scandal has begun in the Vatican. Ten people, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, are charged with embezzlement and abuse of office. It is the first time a cardinal has been charged by the Vatican prosecution. Becciu served as the equivalent of a chief of staff for Pope Francis until his release in September 2020.
At the center of the proceedings is a ruinous real estate deal in London: the purchase of a 17,000 square meter ex-warehouse to be converted into luxury apartments. According to the Vatican, the completely inflated price of 350 million euros meant “considerable losses” for the state treasury and was partly paid with funds “which were intended for the personal charitable work of the Holy Father”.
The Vatican had borrowed more than $ 200 million for the property purchase and invested it in a Luxembourg fund run by the financier Raffaele Mincione. Half of the money went towards buying part of the said London property.
The Vatican had no control over how the balance was used and Mincione used the funds for high-risk deals. In 2018, the Papal States hired Gianluigi Torzi to cut ties with Mincione and finalize the purchase of the London property. Allegedly, however, Torzi made common cause with Mincione. He also added a clause in the contracts that gave him control of the property.
Pope ban
Pope Francis reacted quickly to the grievances that the bad investment exposed in London. He forbade the State Secretariat to continue administering money. The tasks were taken over by the asset management APSA (Administrazione del Patrimonio della Santa Sede). Their fortune goes back, among other things, to the 1929 Concordat between Mussolini’s Italy and the Holy See. At that time, a situation was resolved that had been in limbo since 1870, when troops of the Italian king marched into Rome and put an end to the papal state that had existed until then. The “compensation” for the Vatican: 750 million lire in cash and one billion lire in government bonds.
Vatican: Billions of dollars
Meanwhile, the Vatican has published an overview of some of its assets for the first time, as well as an in-depth analysis of the budgetary position of the Holy See after the crisis year 2020. From the published data it can be deduced that the gross assets of the Vatican are worth around 3.8 billion euros for accounting purposes are. However, there are great uncertainties when it comes to valuing assets.
The figures for the end of 2020 speak of gross assets of around 1.4 billion euros and net assets of 883 million euros.
