AFPThe Vatican courtroom during a hearing last month
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 06:56
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Andrea Vreede
Vatican Correspondent
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Andrea Vreede
Vatican Correspondent
After two and a half years and 85 hearings, the verdict will be announced this afternoon in the high-profile Vatican real estate trial that started in 2021. The judges’ ruling is eagerly awaited. Over time, the trial has become a test case of the Vatican legal system.
The main suspect, the Italian Cardinal Becciu, has been sentenced to years in prison. Among other things, he is said to have made a hold of a papal charity fund.
The trial is characterized by many unexpected twists. In the Vatican corridors there is talk of ‘the trial of the century’.
Millions lost on expensive property in London
It all started when Pope Francis decided to sweep the financial department of the curia, the administrative apparatus of the Roman Catholic Church, due to all kinds of abuses.
This included an investigation into an investment of 350 million euros in real estate in the London district of Chelsea. There, a former Harrods department store building would be converted into chic apartments.
The investment was made in the period 2014-2018. Partly as a result of Brexit, the matter fell apart and the Vatican ultimately had to sell the building at a loss of 140 million euros.
AFP This is the building in question on Sloane Avenue in London
Responsible for that investment was Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, then a senior official within the Secretariat of State, the Vatican Ministry of General Affairs. Also involved are some of his associates, a banker, a lawyer, a financial intermediary, an accountant and two former top executives of the Vatican regulator. The charges include embezzlement, abuse of power, corruption, money laundering, fraud and incitement to perjury.
The attention of the world press focused mainly on Becciu. He is the first cardinal ever to appear before the secular court of Vatican City.
EPAAngelo Becciu is the first cardinal to appear before the Vatican judge
Becciu and the other nine suspects deny guilt. According to the cardinal, Pope Francis had approved the real estate deal.
Prosecutors say that the cardinal used the proceeds of the Peter Medal to finance it. These are the gifts of believers for the poor. He is even said to have used money from the Pope’s personal charity fund. When the project went wrong, nothing appeared to be found in the books.
There are more charges against Becciu. He is said to have passed Vatican money on to his two brothers and financed Cecilia Marogna’s projects.
Marogna is a woman who seems to have walked out of a James Bond film. As an “expert in international relations”, she is said to have received half a million euros from the cardinal to mediate in the kidnapping case of a Colombian nun in Mali. The nun was released, but a large part of the money was spent by Marogna on Prada bags and expensive perfumes.
Internal feuds and papal intervention
During the course of the process, all kinds of internal Vatican feuds also came to light. For example, the prosecutors’ most important witness, Monsignor Alberto Perlasca (head of the financial administration under Becciu), appeared to have prepared his testimony with the help of one of Becciu’s greatest enemies. Reason for the defense to seriously question his credibility.
AFPAngelo Becciu received his cardinal hat from Pope Francis in 2018
Meanwhile, Pope Francis, with four legal decrees, gave prosecutors more powers to investigate, just for this trial, without having to ask permission from the judge.
According to some of the lawyers, this has damaged the rights of the suspects and the trial should be annulled. The public prosecutor rejects the accusations and speaks of a fair and just trial.
Pope wears three hats
The papal intervention puts his finger on the sore spot in this process: the functioning of the Vatican justice system itself. In a mini-state where the Pope is absolute monarch, supreme legislator and ultimately highest judge, it proves complicated to conduct a fair trial.
What should have been a model of transparency to show the world that Francis wants to eradicate corruption, turned into a chaotic mess where honesty and transparency seem hard to find.
Prosecutors have sought prison sentences, including seven years and three months for Cardinal Becciu. A fine has also been demanded against him, as well as a ban on exercising public functions.
Whatever verdict comes, many critics are convinced that Pope Francis must thoroughly reform the legal system of Vatican City. Because anyone who advocates transparent justice in the modern world cannot behave like a medieval monarch.
2023-12-16 05:56:02
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