Pope hopes London building last Vatican financial scandal
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis said he hoped that the recent sale of a luxury London building at the centre of an ongoing corruption trial meant the Vatican can see the back of financial scandals. Vatican finances were one of the many church and international topics the 85-year-old pontiff discussed in an exclusive interview with Reuters […]
Some 200 witnesses to testify in ‘Vatican trial of a century’ on financial scandals
Vatican CityRNS Earlier this month, Giuseppe Pignatone, one of the judges overseeing the Vatican’s “trial of a century”, concerning corruption and money laundering by Catholic Church officials, joked that he hoped the proceedings would end by 2050. At least, it was thought to be a joke: At Wednesday’s session, the judges announced that the prosecution […]
Vatican discloses uses of Pope’s fund, hoping to reverse sagging trust
Vatican City Reuters The Vatican, in an apparent attempt to boost the confidence of the faithful in how their charitable contributions to the Pope are used, on Thursday issued the first detailed disclosure of his main fund. The Peter’s Pence fund, whose aim is to help the Pope run the church, is made up of income […]
Broker blames “irrational” Vatican choices for London losses
Vatican CityAP One of the principal figures in the Vatican’s bungled London real estate venture testified Monday that the Holy See would have turned a profit on its valuable investment if it hadn’t pulled its money out of a fund prematurely. Raffaele Mincione, a London-based fund manager, said it was an “irrational” decision by a […]
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 Pell praises Pope Francis’ curial reform after financial scandals
Vatican CityRNS Speaking at a Catholic event in Rome on Thursday, the Vatican’s former finance czar, Cardinal George Pell, praised Pope Francis’ reforms to improve transparency in the institution while addressing questions raised by recent financial scandals in the Catholic Church. Francis’ reforms of the Vatican’s Curia, outlined in his long-awaited apostolic constitution, Praedicate Evangelium, […]
Vatican fraud trial to resume with boost for prosecution
Vatican CityReuters The Vatican’s landmark fraud and embezzlement trial resumes after a long break on Tuesday with the beleaguered prosecution buoyed by two favourable decisions in related cases by Swiss and Italian courts. The trial, in which defendants are accused of fraud and other crimes around the Vatican’s €350 million purchase of a luxury building […]
Italian high court faults prosecutors in Vatican-linked case
Rome, ItalyAP Italy’s supreme court has faulted prosecutors for withholding evidence benefiting the key suspect in the Vatican’s fraud and embezzlement trial in a parallel case in the Italian courts. The Court of Cassation ordered the Tribunal of Review to consider that evidence before deciding whether to uphold an international arrest warrant for Gianluigi Torzi, […]
Swiss court insists Vatican suspects can get a fair trial
Rome, ItalyAP A Swiss federal court has upheld a freeze on a reported €50 million in assets belonging to one of the suspects in a big Holy See fraud trial, rejecting among other things his argument that he can’t get a fair trial in the Vatican. In a decision published this week, the Swiss Federal […]