The Vatican's criminal tribunal on Saturday (December 16th) sentenced a high-ranking Italian cardinal, tried with nine others for fraud, to five and a half years in prison at the end of a trial on the financial operations of the Holy See.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 75, a former close adviser to Pope Francis, is the highest-ranking Catholic Church official to have appeared before the Vatican's criminal court, the city-state's civil justice system, which also fined him 8,000 euros.

"We respect the verdict but we will certainly file an appeal," said Fabio Vignone, the cardinal's lawyer, assuring that his client is "innocent."

At the heart of the trial: the purchase for 350 million euros of a luxury building in London between 2014 and 2018 as part of the Holy See's investment activities.

The case has revived the debate over the opacity of the Holy See's finances, as Pope Francis has sought to clean up its functioning since his election in 2013. He also reformed the judicial system so that bishops and cardinals could be judged by lay people and no longer exclusively by their religious peers.

Dismissed from all positions

Justice promoter (prosecutor) Alessandro Diddi had requested sentences ranging from nearly four years to more than 13 years in prison, in addition to financial penalties, against the ten defendants who are on trial for fraud, embezzlement, abuse of power, money laundering, corruption and extortion.

Of the ten people prosecuted, one was acquitted, two others were fined, and another was given a one-and-a-half-year suspended prison sentence.

The heaviest sentence, seven and a half years in prison and a fine of 10,000 euros, was imposed on Fabrizio Tirabassi, a former employee of the secretariat of state who allegedly received commissions in the case.

Former number two of the Secretariat of State, the main organ of the central government of the Holy See at the heart of this transaction, Archbishop Becciu retained his title of cardinal but was removed from all his functions in September 2020.

The court found Archbishop Becciu guilty of embezzlement because he had ordered the payment of $2013.2014 million in funds from the secretariat of state to a "highly speculative" investment fund headed by Raffaele Mincione, who was also sentenced to five and a half years in prison and a fine of 200,5 euros.

The court also found the cardinal guilty of paying €125,000 to a cooperative run by his brother and paying €570,000 to an intermediary for the release of a hostage nun in Africa, but which was never used to achieve this goal.

Multiple Intermediaries

The court also ordered the confiscation of property worth €166 million to the convicts, as well as the payment of €200 million in damages to the civil parties, four Vatican institutions.

Over the course of the 86 hearings of this so-called "London Building" trial, the debates have revealed the opacity of certain financial operations of the Holy See.

Among the highlights were the revelations about a telephone conversation between Archbishop Becciu - on his own initiative - with the pope and recorded without his knowledge, shortly before the start of the trial, in which he asked him to confirm that he had approved confidential financial movements.

This acquisition at an inflated price highlighted the reckless use of St. Peter's Denarius, the large annual collection of donations for the pope's charitable actions.

The Vatican finally sold the 17,000 m2 building located in the very chic district of Chelsea, at the price of a heavy loss, estimated at between 140 and 190 million euros.

The affair has dealt a severe blow to the reputation of the Church and to Pope Francis, who has multiplied reforms to clean up the Holy See's finances and fight fraud.

In addition to the creation of a Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, the Argentine pontiff has overseen the investments and activities of the Vatican Bank, in particular through the closure of 5,000 suspicious accounts.

With AFP

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