
Big Corruption Trial Opens at the Vatican
Voice of America
ROME - Proceedings have begun in what observers call the largest criminal trial in modern times involving Vatican officials. Ten people, including a once powerful cardinal, are facing charges of corruption and fraud.
The trial is the result of a two-year investigation into a failed investment of more than 400 million dollars into the London property market It is the first time such a high-ranking and powerful figure of the Catholic Church is standing trial in the Vatican for financial misconduct. Seventy-three year-old Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a close aide to Pope Francis, was chief of staff of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State when he was forced to resign last September so that he could be indicted. Charges against Becciu include embezzlement and abuse of office related to the purchase of a property in the prestigious South Kensington area of London. Becciu has always denied any wrongdoing, as have the other nine defendants, who include the former head of the Vatican’s Financial Unit, Swiss lawyer Rene Bruelhart, and two Italian investment bankers, Raffaele Mincione and Gianluigi Torzi. The London real estate deal dates back to 2014 when the Secretariat of State invested initially around 240 million dollars, much of it from church donations, into a fund operated by Mincione. Half the sum was to secure 45% of the London luxury property and the remainder for other investments. Soon it became apparent to the Vatican the investments would not only not be profitable, but that losses would be huge. Other individuals were brought in to salvage a situation that would only take a turn for the worse. Since the start of his papacy in 2013, Pope Francis has been working to clean up financial mismanagement and nepotism inside the Vatican. In April, the pope reformed the Vatican criminal code, removing privileges for cardinals and bishops so that they too could be held accountable if accused of wrongdoing. At the time, Francis explained that it was a priority to carry out the reform to ensure that all members of the church be judged equally, and their positions and dignity given the same value, without anyone receiving any special privileges. Due to still existing COVID restrictions and the number of defendants, lawyers and journalists, the Holy See has decided to hold the trial in a makeshift courtroom in the Vatican museums.
Local officials and navy personnel attend a joint Iranian, Russian and Chinese military drill in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 12, 2025. (Iranian Army Office via AFP) Chinese navy troops attending a joint naval drill with Iran and Russia stand on the deck of their warship in an official arrival ceremony at Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 11, 2025.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves as he arrives for Mauritius' 57th National Day celebrations at the Champ De Mars, Port Louis, Mauritius, March 12, 2025. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and his Mauritius counterpart Navin Ramgoolam pay homage after laying a wreath at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden during his State visit, in Pamplemousses, Mauritius, March 11, 2025. FILE - Sailors walk on the deck of the INS Imphal, a stealth guided-missile destroyer, at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, Dec. 22, 2023.

Police officers guard the Palace of the Republic after Bosnian prosecutors ordered the detention of three top Bosnian Serb officials over a series of separatist actions, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, 240 kms northwest of Sarajevo, March 12, 2025. FILE - Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, 240 kms northwest of Sarajevo, Dec. 29, 2023.