VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — A Vatican tribunal has sentenced Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the former second highest official in the Secretariat of State, to five and a half years in prison, in what is a groundbreaking ruling, which presents many questions for the future.
On December 16, the Vatican tribunal issued its sentence against Becciu and his fellow nine defendants, in a case which has dragged on for over two and a half years and has been held up as a litmus test of the supposed reforms which were to take place inside the Vatican.
Becciu – the former substitute (No. 2) at the Secretariat of State – was deemed by the court to be guilty of numerous counts of “embezzlement,” handed a sentence of five and a half years in jail, an €8,000 fine and a permanent ban from holding public office.
His lawyers stated they would appeal the decision, following the verdict.
The tribunal found that embezzlement had been proven for the sum of $2.5 million, which was “about one-third of the availability at the time of the Secretariat of State.”
The money had been paid “between 2013 and 2014, at the behest of the then Substitute of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, for the purchase of shares in Athena Capital Commodities, a hedge fund, referable to Raffaele Mincione, with highly speculative characteristics and which entailed a high risk for the investor on the capital without any possibility of managing control.”
Alongside Becciu and Mincione were eight other defendants: Italian businessmen and Vatican officials, involved in the affair, and who received financial penalties and jail terms. Only one was completely acquitted: Monsignor Mauro Carlino, an official at the Secretariat of State.
Becciu’s guilty verdict is perhaps not unsurprising in some ways, given that the Vatican – particularly Pope Francis and Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin – have been in need of some demonstrable evidence of having cleaned up the Vatican finances, following years of scandal, and the lawsuit by the Vatican’s former auditor general currently being brought against the Secretariat of State.
In his first intervention in the over 2 year case earlier this week, Parolin – who had been accused by defendants as being implicated in various stages of the financial corruption – gave an unnecessary but effective green light to hand out sentences against the defendants.
Parolin’s letter to the court stated that “following the position already taken by the Secretariat of State, I confirm the request to prosecute and punish all crimes which are being acted upon at the request of parties, and of which the Secretariat of State is also considered an injured party.”
What remains now are a number of questions:
- Questions regarding Pope Francis’ alleged involvement, an aspect which was repeatedly argued by Becciu but denied by Francis.
- questions regarding Cardinal Parolin’s involvement or knowledge,
- Questions regarding the procedure for future trials, now that history has been made by Pope Francis’ direct intervention allowing a cardinal to be tried and judged by lay-men, rather than by his cardinal-peers.
The London flat
The trial chiefly centered on a Vatican property investment in London which Becciu authorized. In 2014, Becciu bought a stake in 60 Sloane Avenue, a luxury London real estate development using charitable funds from the Vatican as collateral for loans of 200 million euros (around $260 million using conversion rates at the time) that were then funneled through a fund operated by Raffaele Mincione.
Mincione joined Becciu in the dock, was found guilty of “embezzlement” and money laundering, and was handed the same sentence of five and a half years in jail, €8,000 fine and a permanent ban on public office.
Mincione’s company had purchased the property in 2012 and sold a stake in it to the Vatican. When the Vatican finalized its buyout in 2018 – courtesy of Becciu and Monsignor Carlino, Becciu’s former secretary – Mincione made around £128 million from the Vatican in the process.
It was these transactions that Becciu is believed to have “personally authorized” and to have kept them hidden from attention of Cardinal George Pell, then-Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.
As controversy and scandal grew around the property in late 2020, the Vatican initiated its own corruption investigation into Becciu’s dealings in late 2020 – by which time he was prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and had been since 2018. Francis at this point accepted Becciu’s resignation, when the cardinal renounced his cardinal privileges, while retaining the title.
Becciu was then indicted July 2021 by the Vatican Tribunal with Mincione and eight others also indicted for corruption. Becciu was personally charged with “embezzlement and abuse of office, also in collaboration, as well as subornation.”
Becciu’s lawyers had claimed in 2020 that Pope Francis himself had supported the London investment deal.
In July 2022, the Vatican sold the London building at the heart of the ongoing investigation, with a reported loss of $200 million, as the AP estimated the Vatican had spent around €350 million (around $359 million) in purchasing the building originally.
READ: Vatican reportedly loses $200 million selling luxury London property at center of corruption trial
Italian financier Gianluigi Torzi – a fellow defendant – was then tasked by the Vatican to assist in the case, as the Vatican tried to disentangle itself from the property. Torzi was found guilty today of “aggravated fraud” and “extortion,” leading to a 6 year jail term over his actions, along with a €6,000 fine and a permanent ban from public office.
Ransomed nun
Another aspect of the trial was the peculiar case of a ransomed nun in Africa, and the diversion of funds from this endeavor.
In late November 2022, the Vatican’s court heard audio of a recorded telephone call between Becciu and Francis. An unnamed individual in a room with Becciu, understood to be his niece, had secretly recorded the call in the summer of 2021.
In the recorded call, Becciu asked Francis to confirm authorization of payments for the ransom of a kidnapped nun in Africa in the amount of 350,000 euros to the British firm, Inkerman Group — which was helping secure the ransom — and 500,000 euros as the ransom.
Becciu had hired “security adviser” Cecilia Marogna as a liaison between the Vatican and the Inkerman Group, transferring the €575,000 ransom money to Marogna as the intermediary.
READ: Woman arrested amid Vatican financial scandal claims she worked in ‘parallel diplomacy’
However, Marogna was accused of using nearly half the money to buy luxury goods and was consequently arrested by Italian financial police after the Vatican issued an international arrest warrant through Interpol.
The court ruled that the reason given for the transfer of fund to Marogna – to liberate the nun – did “not correspond to the truth.” The Vatican’s prosecutor Alessandro Didi had argued that Marogna should receive four years and eight months in prison for “embezzlement,” along with a permanent ban on public office and a €10,329 fine. Marogna received a sentence of 3 years and 9 months in jail, along with a temporary ban on public office for a further 3 year, 9 months.
The nun’s liberation was obtained, with some reports accrediting this to Marogna, but which quickly became disputed. The Italian government claimed it was behind her release, and further directly contradicted Marogna’s claims that she was working as an undercover operative for the nation.
Funding to Becciu’s brother
Becciu was also accused of having channeled money to his brother’s charity, using funds overseen by the Secretariat of State, some of which came from the Pope’s personal charity, Peter’s Pence.
He was accused of having transferred some hundreds of thousands of euros to his brother’s bank accounts – a fact to which Becciu replied by saying that the money was to support his brother’s charity work, and had been approved.
Throughout the trial, Becciu has protested his innocence. He has also, at various stages but particularly since summer 2022, claimed the backing and support of Pope Francis.
Such a claim was given further credence when Francis received Becciu in a private meeting in December 2022. According to Becciu, Francis renewed his support for the cardinal. “He encouraged me renewing an invitation to me to continue to take part in cardinals’ celebrations,” Becciu said at the time.
READ: Disgraced cardinal claims Pope Francis will reinstate him amid ongoing corruption trial
Becciu was publicly rehabilitated by Pope Francis at the 2022 Consistory of Cardinals and had enjoyed a more public role in the Vatican’s more public activities after that, notably being among the concelebrants for the funeral of Cardinal George Pell – the Australian prelate whose financial reforms faced strong opposition from Becciu.
Speaking after his release, Pell stated that he believed his unjust imprisonment was linked to his attempted financial reforms in the Vatican. Asked about the possibility of such a link between his sentencing and his reforms, Pell responded: “Most of the senior people in Rome who are in any way sympathetic to financial reform believe that they are.”
READ: Cardinal Pell: ‘Senior people in Rome’ believe Vatican officials linked to my imprisonment
Indeed, Becciu is reported to have been financially linked to the late Cardinal Pell’s trial. In late 2020, an Italian paper argued that Becciu spent more than $800,000 to discredit Pell during his sexual abuse trial.
Later reports stated that a total of $1.7 billion (AUS $2.3 billion) was sent to Australia from the Vatican, between 2014 and 2020. No evidence has yet connected the $1.7 billion to Pell’s trial, but suspicions were nevertheless raised, particularly given that the Australian bishops reportedly had no knowledge of the money.
The Vatican’s striking ruling today has made an international mark: what is now to be seen in the immediate future is whether Becciu in particular will avoid jail or if his legal team’s appeal will help him to avoid this fate.