Court Jails Pope Francis’ Former Adviser For Financial Crimes

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a former adviser to Pope Francis, has been sentenced to five years and six months in jail by a Vatican court for financial crimes.

Gatekeepers News reports that the trial which opened more than two and a half years ago, focused on a disastrous investment by the Vatican in a luxury building in London.

Court president Giuseppe Pignatone read out sentences ranging from a fine to more than seven years in jail.

The Italian cardinal, 75, was once considered a papal contender himself, was the most senior clergyman in the Catholic Church to face a Vatican criminal court.

Becciu was accused of embezzlement, abuse of office, and witness tampering. Becciu was found guilty of embezzlement over the decision to invest $200 million in 2013-2014 into a fund run by financier Raffaele Mincione, which the judges said was hugely risky.

Some of this money went to buying part of the Sloane Avenue property — a deal in which the Vatican lost between 140 million and 190 million euros, according to prosecutors.

The court also ordered the confiscation of €166 million from those convicted and compensation to the tune of over €200 million for civil parties.

Becciu, a globe-trotting former Vatican diplomat, was number two in the Secretariat of State, the Vatican department that works most closely with the pope, from 2011 to 2018.

He was moved to lead the department that deals with the creation of saints, before abruptly resigning in September 2020, after being informed of an investigation against him.

Initially, this was about a probe into 125,000 euros of Vatican money he donated to a charity in his native Sardinia, run by his brother. He was convicted of conflict of interest over this Saturday.

Becciu was later drawn into investigations into the London purchase.

Becciu was also found guilty over a 570,000-euro payment made to a Sardinian woman, Cecilia Marogna, which he claimed were to help negotiate the release of a Colombian nun kidnapped in Mali. Marogna was jailed for three years and nine months.

Becciu’s lawyer, Fabio Viglione stated they would appeal, maintaining Becciu’s innocence.