A cardinal is sentenced to prison for the first time

It is one of the biggest criminal trials in the Vatican - with an unprecedented verdict: for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, a cardinal has been sentenced to prison. Angelo Becciu was involved in a real estate scandal. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

For the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, a cardinal has been sentenced to prison by a court in the Vatican in a major financial trial involving questionable deals worth millions. The Vatican Court of Justice imposed a prison sentence of five years and six months on the Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu for his involvement in a loss-making real estate scandal.

Never before had a curial cardinal been sentenced to prison by a Vatican court. Becciu's lawyers have announced that they will appeal against the sentence. The Vatican prosecutor Alessandro Diddi originally demanded a prison sentence of seven years and three months for the 75-year-old Becciu as well as a heavy fine. Nine other people were also charged with him.

The criminal trial is one of the largest in the Vatican to date. For the first time, a high-ranking cardinal stood before the court as a defendant. The trial, which has been going on for more than two years, was essentially about the loss-making purchase of a luxury property in London's Chelsea district by the Vatican Secretariat of State, where Becciu was an important department head for several years. The deal went wrong because the Vatican invested more money than planned. The end result was a loss in the hundreds of millions.

Extortion, money laundering, fraud, corruption, embezzlement and abuse of office

Meanwhile, investigations into the questionable multi-million euro deal in London uncovered further shady dealings and machinations within the Vatican. The Vatican prosecution accused the Italian churchman and nine other defendants of blackmail, money laundering, fraud, corruption, embezzlement and abuse of office, among other things.

The trial caused massive damage to the image of the world's smallest state. As a result of the accusations, the native of Sardinia lost his rights as a cardinal and would therefore not have been allowed to take part in a papal election (conclave). However, Becciu, who himself was once considered a "papàbile", i.e. a possible candidate for the papacy, was still allowed to call himself a cardinal. At the time, Pope Francis also removed him from the position of head of the Office for the Causes of Saints and Beatifications.

The pontiff and the Vatican administration drew the consequences of the real estate scandal. Francis then reorganized the responsibilities in the Curia. He withdrew the authority to dispose of assets from the powerful Secretariat of State and other authorities of the Holy See. This is now the responsibility of the Vatican Property Administration (Apsa) and the Vatican Bank IOR.