Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the highest
ranking Catholic cleric to be put on trial for financial crimes,
is now being probed for conspiracy to commit crime in relation
to a social cooperative run by his brother in the cardinal's
native Sardinia, Vatican sources said Thursday night.
The case is not directly related to the alleged mismanagement of
Vatican funds including in the purchase of a London property for
which the cardinal is on trial in the Vatican, the sources said.
It has also emerged that Becciu recorded a phone call from Pope
Francis on July 24, 2021, three days before the Vatican trial
opened and 10 days after the pope left hospital after a colon
operation.
Becciu's defence team said Thursday night that they had not
received news of fresh charges against their client, who was
however ready to clear anything up.
Becciu is among 10 people on trial in the Vatican for fraud,
including in relation to the loss-making acquisition of a London
property on Sloane Avenue when he was the Substitute for General
Affairs in the Secretariat of State.
Earlier this month Becciu was ordered by a Como court to
compensate a a former Vatican financial official and key witness
in the Holy See funding case for "persecutory acts" against him
and a female friend.
The Como court condemned Becciu to compensate Mons. Alberto
Perlasca, former head of the Administrative Office of the
Secretariat of State, and the latter's friend Genoveffa Ciferri.
It found the cardinal guilty of an "abuse of the procedural
instrument" in the case brought by the two for non-pecuniary
damage from crime, or persecutory acts.
Becciu was sentenced to reimburse the court costs of Perlasca
and Ciferri (over 20 thousand euros each) and to compensate for
the damage suffered by Perlasca to the tune of nine thousand
euros.
In the funding case, Becciu has said he is comforted by the
knowledge that Pope Francis believes in his innocence.
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