(ROME) — The first chapter of the Vatican’s sprawling financial “trial of the century” is expected to come to an end on Saturday after 2 1/2 years and 85 hearings with the reading of the verdict.
Many Vatican observers see the trial as a test of whether Pope Francis’ attempts to reform and modernize Vatican management of its finances — after years of financial scandals — are really working. Appeals by the defendants could prolong the case which has roiled the Vatican for years.
Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a close adviser to Francis who was once touted as a possible papal contender, and 9 fellow defendants went on trial in 2021 for charges of embezzlement and other financial crimes after an investigation into a 350-million euro investment made by the Vatican Secretariat of State — the office responsible for the political and diplomatic activity of the Holy See — in a London high-end property.
Prosecutors allege brokers and Vatican officials fleeced the Holy See of tens of millions of euros in fees and commissions in connection with the investment, and then extorted the Vatican for 15 million euros ($16.5 million) to cede control of the property, the Associated Press reported.
There are also charges of embezzlement over the Italian Cardinal Becciu’s alleged donation of Vatican funds to a charity run by his brother and the mysterious payouts of around $600,000 for the liberation of a missionary nun kidnapped in Mali in 2017 by Islamic militants.
The verdict is expected around 4 p.m. local time.
The pope’s former ‘deputy secretary of state,’ Becciu is the first cardinal to be tried in Vatican City’s criminal court by lay judges. Becciu retained his title but was stripped of his rights as a cardinal, including the right to participate in a papal conclave, after being incriminated in this case. Prosecutors are seeking to sentence him to seven years and three months in prison.
The chief prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi, is seeking prison sentences from three to 13 years for each of the 10 defendants, as well as the confiscation of some 415 million euros ($460 million) in damages and restitution, the Associated Press reports.
The ten defendants have denied any wrongdoing, and their attorneys have requested full acquittals. It’s expected that if found guilty, the defendants will appeal the verdict.
Defense attorneys have insisted that the Vatican City state’s legal code deprived their clients of basic rights afforded to defendants. Pope Francis changed Vatican laws during the investigation by issuing four decrees that gave greater powers to prosecutors, but the chief prosecutor argued that these decrees protect defendants.
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