Powerful cardinal sentenced to prison in historic Vatican trial

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 75, a former adviser to Pope Francis and once considered a possible candidate for the top job at the Vatican, is the most senior cleric in the Roman Catholic Church to be put on trial in a criminal case, according to AFP.

The cardinal's lawyer, Fabio Viglione, said they respected the sentence handed down on 16 December - which included the prison sentence and €8,000 fine - but would appeal and continue to maintain Mr Becciu's innocence.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu in 2018

AFP reported that Mr Becciu was indicted on charges of embezzlement, abuse of office and influencing a witness. He was one of 10 defendants in the trial focusing on the Vatican's scandalous investment in a luxury building in London (UK).

The ten defendants, including financiers, lawyers and former Vatican employees, were all found guilty on December 16, except for one, Mr Becciu’s former secretary Mauro Carlino.

More than two and a half years after the trial began, court president Giuseppe Pignatone handed down sentences ranging from fines to more than seven years in prison. The court also ordered the confiscation of 166 million euros from those convicted and ordered them to pay more than 200 million euros in compensation to civil parties.

The Vatican has declared itself the "injured party" and four entities, which are civil associations in the Vatican, have claimed hundreds of millions of euros in damages, including moral and reputational damage.

At the heart of the trial is a transaction involving a building in London's upmarket Chelsea district, which led to a loss of money that the Vatican says affected its charitable budget.

Mr Becciu was convicted of embezzlement after deciding to invest $200 million in 2013-2014 in a fund run by financier Raffaele Mincione, which judges said was extremely risky. Some of the money was used to buy part of the building, a deal that left the Vatican with losses of between 140 million and 190 million euros, according to prosecutors.

Mr Mincione was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison while another broker involved in the London deal, Gianluigi Torzi, was sentenced to six years.

Cardinal Becciu, who traveled the world as a Vatican diplomat , was number two in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, the office that works most closely with the pope, from 2011 to 2018. He was moved to head the department involved in sainthood, and eventually abruptly resigned in September 2020, after being informed of an investigation into him.

Initially, the investigation was into a €125,000 Vatican donation to a charity in his native Sardinia, Italy, run by his brothers. Mr Becciu was later investigated over a London deal.

Mr Becciu was also convicted over a €570,000 payment to a Sardinian woman, Cecilia Marogna, which he claimed was to help negotiate the release of a Colombian nun kidnapped in Mali. Ms Marogna was eventually sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

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