Understand a case of the cardinal dismissed by the Pope who wants to participate in the conclave

Giovanni Angelo Becciu was one of the most powerful figures of the Vatican, having held the position of “Sostitutus” (“Substitute”) at the Holy Sé Secretariat of State, the equivalent of a papal chief.

In this function, he could see the Pope without the need for prior appointment and had enormous authority throughout the central government of the Church. He was even quoted for pontiff in the future.

However, Becciu was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement and fraud in 2023 in a case involving the purchase of a luxury building in London that left a break of 139 million euros in the Vatican finances. He became the first cardinal to be sentenced by a Criminal Court of the Holy See.

The cardinal always claimed innocence and filed a feature that is still under analysis. He is allowed to continue living in an apartment in the Vatican while the process is underway.

Becciu lost cardinal rights

Before the trial began, Pope Francis fired Giovanni Becciu from the position of Leader of the Vatican Department for the canonization of Santos. The Pontiff also ordered him to renounce Cardinal’s “rights and privileges”.

An article of September 24, 2020 of Vatican Newsthe Vatican Official News Agency states that the Pope “accepted the resignation to the position of mayor of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and the rights related to the cardinalato presented by his eminence Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu.”

Although he lost rights and privileges as a cardinal, he was never technically removed from the Cardinal College. Thus, you are allowed to participate in pre-competition discussions.

Giovanni Becciu denies the charges and does not accept to be absent from the cardiah official list released by the Vatican.

On Tuesday (22), the Italian attended the first assembly of cardinals and gave an interview to the newspaper L’entone Sarda, in which he argues that the Pope had no right to exclude him from the election.

“By calling myself to the last consistory [assembleia de cardeais por ocasião da nomeação de novos cardeais]the Pope recognized my cardinal prerogatives, as there was no explicit will to exclude me from the conclave, there was nor any explicit request in writing from my resignation, ”he claimed.

“The list [dos eleitores do conclave] Published by the Holy See has no value and must be considered as such, ”he said.

The decision on the eventual participation of the Italian in the conclave should be taken by the dean of the Cardinal College, Giovanni Battista Re, and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who will supervise the procedures of the conclave inside the sistine chapel.

Understand the case of the purchase of the luxury apartment

The focus of the trial involving Giovanni Angelo Becciu was the purchase of a vast property in the southwest Chelsea neighborhood of the Vatican. Originally, it was built as a car showroom for the Harrods department store.

The Holy See has spent about $ 400 million in business over several years, but ended up with damage of about $ 140 million after the sale of the asset.

Vatican prosecutors argued that the church was fooled to pay excessive property, while business officials were negligent and intermediaries profited a lot.

Initially, Santa See invested US $ 200 million in a fund managed by Raffaele Mini, a London -based Italian financier who controlled a 45% stake in Chelsea property.

This contribution was authorized when Becciu was chief of staff. The other half of the building belonged to mini -.

The plan was to turn the building into apartments, but the Vatican was dissatisfied with the investment, which, according to prosecutors, left the church with great losses.

The building, according to them, had been overvalued by MiniOe and the Vatican Secretariat of State was not informed of a £ 75 million mortgage over the property.

In 2018, Giovanni Becciu left the Secretariat of State for being appointed as mayor of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.

The new substitute of the Secretariat of State, Edgar Peña Parra, was only partially informed of the transaction already in progress. He decided to buy the building, but had to pay a high fee to mini.

Then, another financier, Gianluigi Torzi, was hired to help buy the property. He was accused of structuring the business so that he left him in control of the building, making the Vatican buy an “empty box”.

Holy senior officials said they were not properly informed about it and had to pay millions to Torzi.

In order for Becciu to be tried, Pope Francis had to change the law to allow bishops and cardinals to be tried in a Vatican court. Previously, they were immune to processes.

Condemnations

The Vatican announced that the trial would begin in July 2021. Prosecutors presented a 500 pages accusation detailing the alleged crimes. He lasted until 2023.

Both Torzi and Minionion were among the 10 defendants in the case. Most were convicted of some accusations and acquitted of others. One of them, Monsignor Mauro Carlino, former secretary of Becciu, was acquitted of all accusations.

Torzi was tried for extortion, money laundering, fraud and embezzlement and received a six -year sentence. Mincione was accused of embezzlement, abuse of power, fraud and money laundering and received a penalty of five and a half years.

Both denied the accusations against them. Mincione also filed a lawsuit against the Holy See in the London Courts.

Case “The Lady of the Cardinal”

Becciu was also accused of diverting more than € 125,000 from the Church’s funds to a sardine charity managed by his brother and to authorize € 575,000 in payments from the Secretariat of State to Cecilia Marogna, who would be a “security consultant” to help free a hijacked nun in Africa.

Vatican prosecutors argued that this money was used for personal purposes by Marogna, including more than $ 54,000 on clothes, shoes and fashion accessories for luxury brands such as Prada, Gucci and Hermès.

Marogna was nicknamed “Lady of the Cardinal” due to the connection with Becciu. During the trial, images taken by her inside the cardinal’s apartment and published on social networks with subtitles like “feeling at home” and “My Paradise”.

When Vatican police informed Becciu that the money transferred to Marogna was not being used as intended, he asked them not to inform anyone “because it would cause serious damage to him and his family.”

During an interrogation before the trial, a witness was questioned by the prosecutors if Becciu and Marogna had an intimate relationship, which he denied. Both denied any improper relationship.

Marogna was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison after being convicted of misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of euros authorized by Becciu.

She denied any irregularity and told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera who spent the Vatican’s funds on her and her employees, travel and other subsistence expenses.

She insisted that she developed a “network of relationships in Africa and the Middle East” to help Vatican diplomats and missionaries.

Also during the trial, the court heard a phone call secretly recorded by Becciu with Pope Francis, in which he sought to confirm that Opponteífice had authorized payments to free the hijacked nun.

According to a transcript, the Pope said he “vaguely remembered” a discussion about payments, but repeatedly asked Becciu to explain what he wanted in writing.

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This content was originally published in Understand the Cardinal case fired by the Pope who wants to participate in the conclave on the CNN Brazil website.

Source: CNN Brasil