Cardinal Becciu convicted; faces 5-1/2-year sentence

December 16, 2023

Cardinal Angelo Becciu has been found guilty on multiple charges of financial misconduct, and sentenced to a five-and-one-half year prison term.

A Vatican tribunal handed down the unprecedented verdict, giving prison sentences to the cardinal and several other defendants, after a marathon proceeding that had been dubbed the “trial of the century.” The tribunal’s president, Giuseppe Pignatone, took almost a half-hour to read the complicated verdict, involving fourteen defendants (ten individuals and four corporations) and dozens of criminal charges.

Several other defendants were convicted and given prison sentences: a 7-year term for consultant Enrico Crasso; 3 years for security consultant Cecilia Marogna; 5 years for financier Raffaele Mincione, 7 years for former Vatican aide Fabrizio Tirabassi; and 6 years for Italian financier Gianluigi Torzi. Three others were assessed fines and/or suspended sentences. Only one defendant—Msgr. Mauro Carlino, a former official of the Secretariat of State—was acquitted.

Cardinal Becciu’s lawyer promptly announced that the sentence would be appealed, as expected. Other defendants are expected to follow suit.

A powerful prelate falls

Cardinal Becciu was from 2011 to 2018 the sostituto or assistant secretary of state—the Vatican equivalent of a chief of staff—is the first cardinal ever to face criminal charges at the Vatican, and of course the first to be convicted. The tribunal’s sentence barred the 75-year-old prelate from holding any Vatican office again.

The “trial of the century” had taken well over two years, beginning with indictments handed down in July 2021. The tribunal had held 86 hearings, heard 69 witnesses, and compiled thousands of pages of documentation.

The trial stemmed from an investigation touched off by a disastrous investment by the Secretariat of State in a London real-estate venture. The investment caused a loss to the Vatican of $175 million, but the subsequent probe uncovered an unsettling series of unauthorized deals and unsupervised transfers that shook the Vatican and raised serious questions about the financial dealings of the powerful Secretariat of State.

During his term as sostituto Cardinal Becciu had managed to thwart the efforts of the late Cardinal George Pell to arrange an audit of all Vatican finances, and forced the dismissal of the auditor general—who has now brought suit for improper dismissal.

Throughout the trial, however, the cardinal has insisted that he is innocent of wrongdoing, and claimed that all of this actions were taken with the approval of his superiors.

A scapegoat?

Cardinal Becciu’s defense urged the tribunal to see the prosecution’s case as an unproven theory. The investments in question were unfortunate but not illegal, they argued. Most of the reporters covering the trial agreed that the prosecution had failed to produce a “smoking gun” to prove criminal intent.

Moreover, the defense sought to show that the cardinal and his co-defendants had kept top Vatican officials—including the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Pope Francis himself—apprised of their financial dealings. And the tribunal heard evidence that Cardinal Parolin and the Pope had indeed given approval for the investments, although the Vatican says that the Pope and Cardinal Parolin had been misled.

Defense lawyers argued vehemently that a key witness for the prosecution, Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, had himself been responsible for financial transfers. More importantly, they pointed out that Pope Francis had intervened four times in the trial, setting rules for the tribunal that favored the prosecution’s case (such as allowing wiretap evidence), while limiting the defense. Those arguments will undoubtedly be raised again as the verdicts are appealed.

Sensational details

The investigation into the London real-estate venture came to light in a sensational manner in 2019, when Vatican police raided the offices of the Secretariat of State and the Financial Information Authority, seizing documents and electronic devices. The subsequent investigation and trial produced a steady stream of further sensational reports about lavish spending, sweetheart deals, forged receipts, threats of blackmail, and inter-office spying at the Vatican.

Marogna, the security consultant convicted in the trial, was reportedly directed by Cardinal Becciu to compile dossiers of unfavorable information about his rivals within the Vatican. Italian journalists added spice to the story with speculation about the cardinal’s relationship with Marogna.

Cardinal Becciu tried—unsuccessfully—to lead Pope Francis into saying that he had authorized Becciu’s actions, in a phone conversation that the cardinal was secretly recording.

Meanwhile, outside Rome another defendant, the financier Mincione, has brought suit in England against the Vatican Secretariat of State, charging that the criminal prosecution has damaged his professional reputation. And the English court has proven more sympathetic to the defendant’s claim than its Vatican counterpart, ordering the Secretariat of State to hand over confidential internal messages about the real-estate deals. That case will proceed under the very different rules of the English judicial system, while the defendants appeal their convictions before another Vatican court.

 

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Further information:

• Cardinal Becciu guilty (Pillar)
• Cardinal convicted of embezzlement in a big Vatican financial trial, sentenced to 5½ years (AP)
• Vatican court convicts cardinal of embezzlement in corruption trial (Reuters)
• Cardinal sentenced to five and a half years in jail in Vatican ‘trial of the century’ (Crux)
• Cardinal found guilty of embezzlement in Vatican ‘trial of the century’ (Washington Post)
• Vatican court jails former Pope adviser for financial crimes (BBC)
• In the Vatican’s landmark trial, no one can win (Catholic Culture)