In a historic decision, that is without precedent in the last 500 years, a Vatican tribunal has condemned Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu to five years and six months in prison. It also prohibited him from ever again holding public office, and imposed a fine of 8,000 euros on him at the end of a trial that lasted two and a half years. His lawyer said he will appeal the verdict.
The sentence was read out by Judge Giuseppe Pignatone, the famous Italian anti-mafia prosecutor, who was president of a Vatican tribunal composed of three lay judges, without a jury, in the afternoon of Dec. 16.
He said the tribunal found the cardinal guilty of “embezzlement” and “illicit use” of Vatican funds, “in violation of the dispositions for the administration of ecclesiastical goods (especially canon 1284 of the Code of Canon Law),” to the sum of $200 million which “was about one third of the amount at the disposal of the Secretariat of State at that time.” He said the tribunal found that the money was then at the disposal of then-Archbishop Becciu who chose to invest it in a hedge fund (Athena Capital Commodities) held by Raffaele Mincione, an Italian broker living in London. He said the hedge fund had “highly speculative characteristics” that involved “a big risk” for the investor who had no control over its management.
At the end of a trial that involved 86 hearings and heard from 69 witnesses, the tribunal found that Cardinal Becciu and Mr. Mincione were together guilty of embezzlement.
At the end of a trial that involved 86 hearings and heard from 69 witnesses, the tribunal found that Cardinal Becciu and Mr. Mincione were together guilty of embezzlement, as they were directly involved in getting the money from the Secretariat of State without the necessary checks regarding its use, and they were able to do this with assistance from two other Italians involved in the trial—Enrico Crasso, who had been a financial consultant to the Vatican for 20 years, and Fabrizio Tirabassi, who was working in the Secretariat of State’s office of administration. Both Mr. Crasso and Mr. Tirabassi were found guilty of other charges as well and received prison sentences also of seven years, and seven years and six months respectively.
The tribunal concluded that the two Italian brokers involved in the trial were also guilty of various charges. It found that Mr. Mincione, with whom the then-Archbishop Becciu first invested the Vatican’s money, was guilty of self-laundering of money and corruption. It found that Gianluigi Torzi, whom the Vatican engaged to buy out the property from Mr. Mincione, was guilty of fraud and extortion. It sentenced Mr. Mincione to five years and six months in prison and prohibited him from public office for life. It sentenced Mr. Torzi to six years in prison, and also prohibited him from holding public office.
On the other hand, the tribunal acquitted Tomasso Di Ruzza and René Brulhart—the director general and president respectively of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority—of abuse of office. But it found them guilty for not having denounced to the prosecutor the suspicious financial operations related to the London property, and imposed a monetary fine on both.
“We respect the sentence, but we will certainly appeal it. We reaffirm the innocence of the cardinal.”
The judicial investigation into the London property case also uncovered two other criminal actions by Cardinal Becciu.
The first involved Cecilia Marogna, a Sardinian woman and friend of his family who is an expert in the field of intelligence. As chief of staff in the Secretariat of State, he had hired her to help the Vatican obtain the liberation of a nun who was then being held captive by kidnappers in Africa. He transferred 570,000 euros from the funds of the Secretariat of State to her, through a company she had set up for this purpose, but the judges concluded that the rationale provided for this money transfer “was not true.” (A police investigation found that she had used the money for personal ends.) The tribunal found them jointly guilty for this financial crime that contravened Vatican legislation. It sentenced Ms. Marogna to three years and nine months in prison and prohibited her from holding public office for the same period.
The second criminal act for which the tribunal found Cardinal Becciu guilty was one of embezzlement. This related to his having transferred 125,000 euros from the Secretariat of State funds to an account of the Caritas-Diocese of Ozieri in Sardinia, for use by a cooperative called SPES of which his brother Antonio was president. It ruled that this constituted a conflict of interest, contrary to the Vatican’s legal code, and was also against canon 1298 of the Code of Canon Law, which prohibits the alienation of ecclesiastical goods to relatives up to the fourth degree.
Cardinal Becciu, 75, who has always claimed his innocence, was not present in the courtroom when the sentence was read out. His lawyer, Fabio Viglione, who was present, said: “We respect the sentence, but we will certainly appeal it. We reaffirm the innocence of the cardinal.” Cardinal Becciu can now go to the court of appeal, and then to a third and final level. But an informed source in Rome said all that could take another two years. It is unlikely that Cardinal Becciu will ever go to prison because of his age and, moreover, at the end of the day the pope could give him a pardon.
The trial will go down in history because it is the first time in 500 years that a cardinal was put on trial in the Vatican on penal charges.
His condemnation today, however, sends a strong signal to all who work in the Vatican that there is no room for mismanagement when it comes to Vatican finances. It also shows that no matter how high the position in the Vatican, no one is above the law.
Before being made cardinal by Pope Francis in 2018, Cardinal Becciu held the post of “substitute,” that is chief of staff, under two popes, and was one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican for seven years (2011-2018). He was trusted with administration and finances in the Secretariat of State first under Benedict XVI from 2011 to 2013, and then under Pope Francis from 2013 until mid-2018, when Francis named him a cardinal and promoted him to be head of the Vatican saint-making dicastery.
He was convicted in what was the first important trial of its kind since the establishment of the Vatican City State in 1929. The trial was made possible because of Pope Francis, who ever since his election in 2013 has been seeking to reform and clean up all Vatican finances, and ensure maximum transparency in the handling of money in the Holy See. In 2019, Francis was informed by the head of the Institute for the Works of Religion (often called the Vatican Bank) about serious irregularities in the management of Vatican finances in regard to the London property investment. Francis urged him to denounce it to the Vatican prosecutor, and he gave the green light to allow the judicial process to take its full course, with total independence, without regard for the rank of persons, while guaranteeing the rights of the accused, including the presumption of innocence, and the reaching of a verdict based on the evidence. By doing so Francis opened the door to today’s trial.
The trial will go down in history because it is the first time in 500 years that a cardinal was put on trial in the Vatican on penal charges, and the first time this happened before lay judges. Hitherto, cardinals had immunity from this kind of trial in the Vatican, although they have not enjoyed such immunity in secular states. But, as the pre-trial investigation was drawing to a close, Francis issued a decree in the first half of 2021 removing the immunity of cardinals and bishops from prosecution in the Vatican. That enabled the prosecutor to also indict Cardinal Becciu.
The historic trial began on July 25, 2021, following a two-year judicial investigation that included unprecedented police raids on the Secretariat of State offices, and the issuing by prosecutors of a 487-page indictment accusing 10 people of numerous financial crimes, including fraud, embezzlement, extortion, corruption, money laundering and abuse of office. Most of the alleged crimes took place during the purchase and sale of the London property which, according to the prosecution, led to a loss of 139 million euros for the Vatican. The property was eventually bought for 350 million euros and sold for around 186 million euros. Furthermore, the prosecution argued that the Italian brokers and Vatican officials took millions of euros in fees and commissions from the Holy See, and extorted 15 million euros from the Vatican to cede control of the property.
