VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican trial involving Cardinal Angelo Becciu is coming to a close after two-and-a-half years and has revealed divisions and scheming within the highest ranks of the Vatican. The trial is expected to conclude on Saturday, with Becciu hoping that the court will believe his claim of innocence.
Becciu, a 75-year-old Italian cardinal and former influential figure in the Vatican, faces charges of embezzlement, abuse of office, and attempting to coerce a witness into providing false testimony. He is the highest-ranking Vatican official to be charged with financial crimes, and along with the other nine defendants, he has maintained his innocence. A panel of three lay judges from the Vatican’s criminal court is anticipated to deliver verdicts on Saturday afternoon.
The trial, which included 85 hearings, primarily focused on the contentious acquisition of a London building by the Secretariat of State, the Vatican’s principal administrative and diplomatic department.
Becciu was the second in command at the time the Secretariat began investing in a fund managed by Italian financier Raffaele Mincione, which secured around 45% ownership of the building at 60 Sloane Ave.
In 2018, after Becciu had moved to another Vatican position, the Secretariat of State suspected deception by Mincione and sought the assistance of another financier, Gianluigi Torzi, to force Mincione out and acquire the remaining portion of the building.
Prosecutors have accused both Torzi and Mincione of fraud, corruption, and embezzlement, contending that Torzi also defrauded the Vatican. The Vatican sold the building last year at an estimated loss of about 140 million euros ($152.71 million) amid considerable embarrassment.
Becciu, who was dismissed from his second job by Pope Francis in 2020 due to alleged nepotism but remains a cardinal, has also been charged in connection with peripheral aspects of the investigation.
The cardinal is accused of redirecting funds and contracts to companies or charitable organizations controlled by his brothers in their native Sardinia. Another accusation involves his employment of Cecilia Marogna, a self-described security analyst from Sardinia, for a clandestine project aimed at helping to secure the release of a kidnapped nun in Mali.
Marogna received 575,000 euros from the Secretariat of State in 2018-2019, with the money sent to a company she had established in Slovenia and some received in cash, according to prosecutors. Italian police reported that Marogna used much of the money for personal expenses, including luxury clothing and visits to health spas. She is facing embezzlement charges.
The other six defendants in the case include the former president and director of the Vatican’s Financial Intelligence unit, Becciu’s former secretary, Father Mauro Carlino, and three former Vatican employees. Additionally, four companies linked to individual defendants, two in Switzerland, one in the United States, and one in Slovenia, were also indicted. The companies have denied any wrongdoing.
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(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Frances Kerry)
