A small earthquake shook the Holy See on Saturday with the result of what has been described as the "judgment of the century". The Vatican City State Court has sentenced Cardinal Angelo Becciu to five years and six months in prison, to pay a fine of 8,000 euros and has prohibited him from holding public office, after a judicial process of an unprecedented two and a half years investigating financial irregularities at the Holy See.
The news has airs of history. It is the first time that a Vatican criminal court has convicted a cardinal, Becciu, a 75-year-old Italian cardinal who not long ago appeared in the crosshairs of potential popes.
Becciu, a Sardinian, was one of the most important figures in the Vatican as a substitute for the Secretary of State, de facto number three in the Vatican, but he ended up becoming the first cardinal to sit on the dock for his role in the fraud in the purchase and sale of a luxury building in London, a former headquarters of Harrods in Chelsea, when he held this position. At the moment he will not go to prison, because his lawyers have already announced that they will present an appeal before the Court of Appeal. "The evidence that emerged during the process and the origin of the accusation against the cardinal are the result of a proven conspiracy against him", considered the lawyers.
The London case is the key to the investigation focused on how the Secretary of State managed its assets, many of which were financed by the Obol de Sant Pere, the Vatican organization that collects donations from the faithful that in theory have to allocate to the most disadvantaged. The real estate operation ended up leaving a hole of around 140 million euros in the coffers of the Santa Seu and during the sessions of the long and complicated judicial process - with more than 80 hearings - it has been highlighted how this purchase and sale it ended up being used by some stockbrokers and monsignors to extort the Vatican.
Specifically, the court considers that Becciu is guilty of embezzlement for having made available to an investment fund with a high risk of speculation more than 200 million dollars, a third of the money then available to the Secretary of State . Of the ten accused, only one, Mauro Carlino, the cardinal's secretary, has been acquitted. The others, employees of the Secretariat of State, brokers and mediators of the operation accused of profiting from the scam at the Holy See have been sentenced to compensation and prison sentences of up to seven and a half years.
The Sardinian Cecilia Marogna, known in Italy as the cardinal's lady, whom Becciu presented as his niece, has also been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. This alleged expert in intelligence services is the owner of a company that has its fiscal headquarters in Slovenia and received more than half a million euros from the funds theoretically set aside to negotiate the release of a Colombian nun kidnapped by militants jihadists in Mali, but Italian police believe he used some of the money to buy luxury items and spa visits. The judge considers that the version of the nun's release "does not correspond to reality", and both she and Becciu are considered guilty of embezzlement.
The sentence is the last blow for Becciu, who has defended his innocence throughout the process. The prelate was not initially being investigated for the London scam, but was dragged into it after prosecutors found embezzlement during the investigations for having sent €125,000 from the Vatican to a charity in his native Sardinia run by his brother, a crime for which he has also been found guilty.
Pope Francis already wanted to punish him publicly by forcing him to resign as prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints and also by withdrawing the prerogatives of the cardinalate, which is why he could not enter the Sistine Chapel in the event that a conclave was held. The decision, pending appeals, closes a trial that has highlighted, beyond the lack of transparency in Vatican finances, the incompetence with which money is managed at the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and damages to your reputation as a result.
