Historical judgment - High-ranking cardinal sentenced to more than five years in prison at the Vatican
A court in the Vatican has sentenced a once influential Italian cardinal to five and a half years in prison for financial crimes. The 75-year-old Angelo Becciu, former close advisor to Pope Francis, was convicted of embezzlement, abuse of office and witness tampering, as court president Giuseppe Pignatone explained on Saturday. The case mainly concerned the Vatican's purchase of a luxury property in London for 350 million euros.
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.
Becciu, who was once considered a possible candidate for the papacy himself, was removed from office in September 2020 due to the financial scandal and had to give up his cardinal privileges. In addition to the purchase of the property in London, the scandal also involved the embezzlement of funds in the case of a cleric kidnapped in Mali.
Becciu always denied all accusations. In November 2022, during the trial, it became public that Becciu secretly recorded a telephone conversation with Francis, presumably to exonerate himself.
Nine other people charged with corruption in the Vatican
The criminal trial is one of the biggest 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, is 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.
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 extortion, money laundering, fraud, corruption, embezzlement and abuse of office, among other things. Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi had demanded seven years and three months in prison for Becciu and between almost four and 13 years for the other defendants.
One defendant was acquitted, two others were fined and one woman was sentenced to one and a half years' probation. Fabrizio Tirabassi, a former employee of the Secretariat of State in the Vatican who is alleged to have received commissions in the matter, received the most severe sentence of seven and a half years in prison and a fine of 10,000 euros. In addition to his prison sentence, Becciu was fined 8,000 euros.
Pope Francis draws consequences
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 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.
Pope Francis and the Vatican administration drew the consequences of the real estate scandal. The pontiff 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.
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Despite Pope Francis' efforts to combat corruption within the Vatican, allegations of embezzlement continued to surface, with Angelo Becciu, a former advisor to the Pope, being accused of misusing funds in connection to the Vatican's purchase of a property in London.
Further investigations into the London property deal uncovered additional instances of financial mismanagement and corruption, leading to charges against Becciu and nine other individuals for embezzlement, money laundering, fraud, and abuse of office.
Source: www.stern.de
