The Vatican tribunal weighing a monetary fraud case heard from an uncommon witness Thursday, when a secret recording of Pope Francis was performed to the court docket concerning the Holy See’s funds to free a nun held hostage by al Qaeda-linked militants.
The broadcast of the pope’s personal voice within the courtroom marked a surreal new chapter in a trial that has already seen loads of twists as Vatican judges attempt to decide who, if anybody, is criminally chargeable for dropping tens of hundreds of thousands of euros in Holy See property.
Vatican prosecutors launched the recording into proof Thursday, saying it was a part of a trove of fabric just lately obtained from Italian monetary police who’re investigating a Sardinian charity linked to Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a onetime shut Francis collaborator who is without doubt one of the 10 defendants within the Vatican trial.
Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio through Getty Images
Vatican prosecutors revealed that the Sardinian proof has additionally been added to a brand new Vatican investigation through which Becciu is beneath investigation for alleged legal conspiracy.
According to Prosecutor Angelo Diddi, Becciu and a household affiliate secretly recorded Francis on July 24, 2021 — 10 days after Francis left hospital following colon surgical procedure and three days earlier than the Vatican trial opened, when Becciu spoke to him by cellphone from his Vatican condominium.
While many of the defendants are dealing with expenses associated to the Vatican’s 350-million-euro funding in a London property, Becciu is on trial for alleged abuse of workplace and embezzlement in relation to his dealings with the Sardinian charity and with a self-styled safety analyst who can also be on trial, Cecilia Marogna.
In the recording, Becciu asks Francis to basically affirm that the pope had licensed the funds to a British agency that Marogna had recognized to barter the liberty of a Colombian nun who was kidnapped in 2017 in Mali.
“Did you or not give me the authorization to start the operations to free the nun?” Becciu asks within the name, in keeping with the transcript revealed by Italian media.
“For the ransom we had fixed 500,000, we said no more because it seemed immoral to give more money… that would go into the pockets of the terrorists… I think I had informed you about all this… do you remember?”
According to the transcript, the pope stated he “vaguely” remembered however requested Becciu to place his request in writing.
The name was recorded in Becciu’s condominium by considered one of his kinfolk, on a speakerphone, the court docket heard.
Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez was kidnapped in Mali in February 2017 by al-Qaida within the Islamic Maghreb, which had bankrolled its insurgency by kidnapping Westerners. During her captivity, the group periodically confirmed Narvaez on video asking for the Vatican’s assist.
Ivan Valencia / AP
Becciu had instructed the court docket on May 5 that he had raised her plight with Francis and that the pontiff had agreed to spend as much as 1 million euros to rent the British agency, Inkerman Group, to search out the nun and safe her freedom. She was ultimately launched final 12 months and met with the pope.
While the recording forged a questionable mild on Becciu for having secretly recorded the pope, it substantiated claims by Becciu and different defendants that Francis was certainly aware of, and in some instances accredited, among the expenditures which might be at problem within the trial. There isn’t any provision within the Vatican legislation for the pope to be interrogated throughout a legal trial, however protection legal professionals have stated they wish to ask him what he is aware of concerning the numerous monetary choices, and stated the audio recording bolstered their argument that the pope’s testimony is vital to the trial.
Prosecutors have accused Italian brokers and Vatican officers of a number of monetary crimes, together with fraud, embezzlement, corruption and abuse of workplace. In the London case, they accuse the defendants of defrauding the Holy See and of then extorting 15 million euros from the Vatican to accumulate management of the property. The 10 defendants all deny wrongdoing.
After phrase emerged of the brand new legal conspiracy investigation, Becciu’s legal professionals late Thursday stated they knew of no such investigation towards the cardinal however that regardless “he strongly asserts his innocence” and was able to make clear his place.
Franco Origlia / Getty Images
For the primary time, the Vatican court docket heard this week that the Holy See misplaced greater than 100 million euros on the transaction of the property alone, after it offered the property this 12 months for some 186 million kilos after having spent 275 million kilos to purchase it.
The Vatican official most intently related to the deal, Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, took the stand for the primary time Thursday in among the most eagerly anticipated testimony, and instantly blamed his deputy for the fiasco. Perlasca had initially been a key suspect within the investigation, however in August 2020 modified his story and is now thought of an injured occasion within the case.
AFP contributed to this report.