Senior cardinal convicted in Vatican corruption trial
Vatican CityReuters Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the most senior Catholic Church official ever to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court, was convicted on Saturday of embezzlement and fraud and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail. The Italian prelate’s lawyer, Fabio Viglione, told reporters in the courtroom he would appeal, saying his client was innocent. Becciu, […]
Cardinal, nine other defendants, await verdicts at Vatican trial
Vatican CityReuters A two-and-a-half year corruption trial that exposed infighting and intrigue in the highest echelons of the Vatican closes on Saturday with the key defendant, an Italian cardinal, praying that the court will believe his innocent plea. Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 75, a one-time Vatican power broker, is charged with embezzlement, abuse of office and […]
Second Vatican official says Pope OK’d ransom payments for nun
Vatican CityAP A second high-ranking Holy See official told a Vatican court on Friday that Pope Francis had authorized spending hundreds of thousands of euros in ransom payments to try to free a nun who was kidnapped by al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali. Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, the Holy See’s number three, told the Vatican […]
Vatican court hears secret recording of Pope on hostage fees
Vatican CityAP The Vatican tribunal weighing a financial fraud case heard from an unusual witness Thursday, when a secret recording of Pope Francis was played to the court about the Holy See’s payments to free a nun held hostage by al-Qaeda-linked militants. The broadcast of the Pope’s own voice in the courtroom marked a surreal […]
Cardinal challenges Vatican cop over hostage payments
Vatican City AP The Vatican’s fraud and corruption trial took a dramatic twist Wednesday when a once-powerful cardinal challenged the Vatican’s police commissioner on the stand about one of the more peculiar tangents of the case: the Vatican’s half-million euro payments to a self-styled security analyst who, with Pope Francis’ blessing, helped arrange negotiations for […]
Vatican airs dirty laundry in trial over London property
Vatican CityAP The Vatican’s sprawling financial trial may not have produced any convictions yet or any new smoking guns as prosecutors work through a first round of questioning of the 10 suspects accused of fleecing the Holy See of tens of millions of euros. But testimony so far has provided plenty of insights into how […]
Pope gave green light to secret deal to free kidnapped nun, court told
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis approved a secret million-euro operation to free a Colombian nun who was held captive for more than four years by an Islamist militant group in Mali before she was released in 2021, a cardinal told a Vatican court on Thursday. Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 73, the only cardinal among 10 defendants at […]
Cardinal skips Vatican trial to boycott talk of rumoured liaison with woman
Vatican CityReuters A cardinal who is a defendant in a Vatican corruption trial stayed away on Tuesday because he did not want to be in the room when lawyers spoke of rumours that he had an intimate relationship with a woman, which he has denied. The trial, in which 10 defendants are accused of fraud […]
Vatican drops Italian extradition bid in test of fair trial
Rome, ItalyAP The Vatican on Monday abruptly abandoned its extradition request for an Italian woman wanted on embezzlement-related charges in a case that could have tested whether Italy considers the Vatican a place where someone can get a fair trial. At the hearing in a Milan court, the Vatican said it no longer was seeking […]
‘Cardinal’s lady’ arrested in Milan is latest to be accused in widening Vatican scandal
Vatican CityRNS Italian police arrested Cecilia Marogna, a figure connected to recent scandals over allocations of Vatican funds, in Milan on Tuesday and accused her of embezzlement. The judicial authorities at the Vatican issued an international arrest warrant for Marogna, known as “the cardinal’s lady” by local media for her connection to Cardinal Angelo Becciu, […]