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Civil court case against 73-year-old Italian cardinal and nine others accused of financial fraud got underway Tuesday in the Vatican
By Loup Besmond de Senneville | Vatican City
It came like an unexpected earthquake, to put it mildly.
Just a few minutes after 8:00 pm last September 24th, the Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Francis had summoned Cardinal Angelo Becciu and demanded he resign immediately.
The statement said the cardinal, a former deputy Secretary of State who was then serving as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, had also renounced all his "cardinal's prerogatives".
This included the right to participate in a conclave to elect the next pope.
There were rumors concerning the reason for his sudden ouster.
But it did not become clear until early July when Vatican magistrates indicted Becciu and nine others on financial fraud charges related to the purchase of a luxury property in London.
Their trial opened on Tuesday before the Vatican City State Tribunal.
After two days of preliminary hearings, it is expected to be adjourned until October when two court sessions a week will be held.
The powerful position of "Sostituto" in the Secretariat of State
But who is this 73-year-old cardinal?
Born in Sardinia, Angelo Becciu is first of all a diplomat.
After studying canon law, he joined the papal diplomatic service in 1984. He served in several African countries, as well as in the United Kingdom, France and the United States.
His last diplomatic posting was in Cuba where he was papal nuncio from 2009-2011.
Then Benedict XVI called him back to Rome to be Sostituto or deputy-Secretary of State for the general affairs of the Church, a powerful post that is the equivalent of Interior Minister in a state government.
The Sostituto's office on the second floor of the Apostolic Palace offers a magnificent view of the Aventine Hill across the Tiber River. It is a place of transit.
Not only officials of the Secretariat of State come to meet with the Sostituto, but also superiors of religious communities, prefects of Roman Curia offices and the many journalists -- mostly Italians -- with whom Cardinal Becciu continues to have a close relationship.
Those who worked directly with him say he was a superior who was always available, always quick to move a file forward, even in a system where a letter (or an email) can go unanswered for months.
"He answered messages himself, always finding a solution," explained one of them.
Indictment suggest a relatively minor role
When Becciu was created cardinal in May 2018, the official Vatican media identified him as "one of the most important figures in the Roman Curia".
A member of the Focolare Movement, he was touted as a man who gained the trust of the pope, especially because he handled the smooth transition between the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis.
After this apparently exemplary career, his forced resignation came as a shock to Vatican officials.
What is Becciu being accused of?
In reality, the nearly 500-page indictment suggests he played a relatively minor role compared to the other nine accused.
The charges, which offer bracing details of an investigation that started in the summer of 2019, cast intermediaries as the real culprits -- those who got the Vatican to make investments that resulted in the loss of several hundred million euros.
Nonetheless, the Vatican magistrates accuse the cardinal of managing these investments, even after his departure from the Secretariat of State.
They also suspect he encouraged one of the key witnesses in the affair to go back on his word.
And they are looking into allegations that the cardinal embezzled €800,000, which he supposedly gave to a brother in his native Sardinia.
The brother insists the money was donated to a charity project, while investigators say it was used to finance the purchase of a property in Rome by a niece of the cardinal.
"Paying a price for the system"
People close to Cardinal Becciu have come to his defense, saying he is "perhaps a little naive" and "probably financially incompetent". They insist that the devious intermediaries deceived him.
"He's paying a price for the system," said a source in the Curia.
After the pope celebrated Mass in Becciu's apartment on Holy Thursday evening, some also argued that the cardinal was involved in what amounted to money laundering.
Becciu has not remained silent.
For the past several months, he has responded to articles published about him in the Italian press, offering his own version of events through press releases issued by his lawyer.
For instance, in November, he filed a lawsuit against the weekly news magazine L'Espresso.
His attorneys are asking 10 million euros in damages for loss of reputation and even "loss of opportunity" to be among those eligible to be elected pope.
More recently, the cardinal has claimed that he is the "victim" of a "conspiracy".
And he's also welcomed this week's trial, insisting it will give him the opportunity to finally clear his name.
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