Cardinal Becciu proclaims innocence as trial nears a close
November 28, 2023
» Continue to this story on Pillar
CWN Editor's Note: “I continue to proclaim my innocence and I can say that I have never stolen,” Cardinal Angelo Becciu told an Italian television interviewer as his lawyers wrap up their closing arguments in the Vatican’s financial-misconduct trial.
Cardinal Becciu insisted that he sought no personal profit from the investments that he handled for the Secretariat of State. “My intent was only to create advantages for the Holy See,” he said. Other witnesses have charged that the cardinal—who handled large transactions with minimal supervision—made deals to advance the interests of friends and family members.
The cardinal acknowledged that he had told Pope Francis “that certain people did not deserve to be in the Vatican”—an apparent reference to the former auditor, Libero Milone, who is now suing the Secretariat of State for improper termination. The Pillar reports that lawyers involved in that case “increasingly see Becciu’s criminal conviction for abuse of office as presenting a ‘gentlemanly way of resolving’ of the suit for all sides.”
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