Vatican Villains

[ramonmercado]

Francis fiercely fights financial fiends.

Pope Francis has revamped the Holy See’s financial intelligence and anti-money-laundering unit following financial scandals, including an ongoing in-house corruption probe, Vatican officials said Saturday.

The changes involve the governance and organization of the unit, which has been renamed the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority, or ASIF, the Vatican said. Until Saturday, it was known as AIF or Financial Information Authority.

The revamped authority’s president, Carmelo Barbagallo, a former Italian central bank official, said the changes ordered by Francis in the form of a new statute would strengthen the entity’s financial supervisory responsibilities.

Francis is intent on bringing greater accountability and transparency to the Vatican, building on efforts forged by his predecessor, Benedict XVI.

ASIF’s activities are being divided into three units: vigilance, rules and legal affairs, and financial information. ...

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40158447.html

 

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Vatican vanquished in court case.

A UK judge has blasted Vatican prosecutors for making “appalling” misrepresentations to the court about their investigation into the Holy See’s investment in a London property deal, and determined they do not have much of a case against their key suspect.

In the remarkable ruling made public this week, Judge Tony Baumgartner of Southwark Crown Court reversed another judge’s decision to seize the British-based bank accounts of broker Gianluigi Torzi and awarded Mr Torzi legal fees. The Vatican had requested the seizure as part of its corruption investigation into Mr Torzi and other suspects whom prosecutors accuse of fleecing the Holy See of millions in fees stemming from its 350 million-euro investment in the luxury building in London’s Chelsea neighbourhood.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40251467.html

 

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Going for crime bosses this time - a Cardinal is indicted.

The Vatican’s criminal tribunal indicted 10 people, including a cardinal, and four companies on charges including extortion, abuse of office and fraud in connection with the Secretariat of State’s 350 million-euro investment in a London property venture.

The tribunal president, Judge Giuseppe Pignatone, set July 27 as the trial date, according to a Vatican statement on Saturday.

Five former Vatican officials, including a cardinal and two officials from the Secretariat of State, were indicted, as well as Italian businessmen who handled the London investment.

Also indicted on alleged embezzlement charges was an Italian intelligence expert.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40328573.html

 

[ramonmercado]

A detailed article on the latest case.

Oh dear. It was Jesus himself who advised: “No one can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Despite which, and repeatedly, some dealing with Vatican finances appear to have fallen for the undoubted charms of mammon.

The latest episode remains to be proven. Previous ones show up Dan Brown and his Da Vinci Code for its lack of imagination as well as the sad limitations of fiction.

Last Saturday the Vatican announced that 10 people, including a cardinal, were to face charges which include fraud, embezzlement, abuse of office, appropriation of funds, money laundering, self-laundering, corruption, extortion, publication of documents under the cover of secrecy, false documentation, falsified internal agreements. It followed an internal inquiry that has been continuing since 2019.

The trial before the Vatican’s criminal tribunal begins on July 27th. Most of the monies involve the Vatican’s Secretariat of State which has responsibility for managing a huge array of assets, funded in the main by Peter’s Pence collections from Catholics worldwide. ...

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and...-francis-clean-up-the-vatican-s-act-1.4615033

 

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Another whistle-blower punished.

An Indian Catholic nun expelled after she spoke out against a bishop accused of rape says she has been "denied justice" by the Vatican.

Sister Lucy Kalappura said she was disappointed by a Vatican decision to reject her appeal against her dismissal from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) in Kerala state. She said she would not leave the convent and now plans to go to court. Sister Lucy took part in protests against Bishop Franco Mulakkal in 2018.

He was later arrested over allegations he repeatedly raped a nun between 2014 and 2016. The bishop denies all the charges against him. ...

Other nuns who protested against the bishop have accused the church in Kerala as well as Vatican officials of turning a blind eye towards the rape allegations. They say they sent a letter to the Vatican's ambassador to India and even wrote to the Vatican but did not receive a response from either.

There have also been a number of punitive measures taken against the nuns who protested, including disciplinary warnings and transfer notices. While testifying in a local court, one of them told the judge that the church was attempting to "sabotage" evidence in order to protect the bishop.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50079286

Mulakkal resigns.

The Vatican has announced that it has accepted the resignation of an Indian bishop accused of raping a nun between 2014 and 2016.

Franco Mulakkal, 54, was the bishop of Jalandhar in the state of Punjab. Mulakkal, who had denied the allegations, was found not guilty last year by a trial court in Kerala state.

The Vatican's diplomatic representative in India said that an appeal against Mulakkal's acquittal had been admitted in the high court in Kerala.

On Thursday, Mulakkal confirmed his resignation and thanked his supporters for standing by him in difficult times.

Given the "still divisive situation", Mulakkal's resignation was requested "for the good of the Jalandhar diocese" and to make way for a new bishop, the Vatican's diplomatic representative said in a statement, The Times of India reported.

It was not a disciplinary action against Mulakkal, he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65784713

 

[ramonmercado]

A detailed article on the latest case.

Oh dear. It was Jesus himself who advised: “No one can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Despite which, and repeatedly, some dealing with Vatican finances appear to have fallen for the undoubted charms of mammon.

The latest episode remains to be proven. Previous ones show up Dan Brown and his Da Vinci Code for its lack of imagination as well as the sad limitations of fiction.

Last Saturday the Vatican announced that 10 people, including a cardinal, were to face charges which include fraud, embezzlement, abuse of office, appropriation of funds, money laundering, self-laundering, corruption, extortion, publication of documents under the cover of secrecy, false documentation, falsified internal agreements. It followed an internal inquiry that has been continuing since 2019.

The trial before the Vatican’s criminal tribunal begins on July 27th. Most of the monies involve the Vatican’s Secretariat of State which has responsibility for managing a huge array of assets, funded in the main by Peter’s Pence collections from Catholics worldwide. ...

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and...-francis-clean-up-the-vatican-s-act-1.4615033

It wasn't just a cardinal error.

A Vatican court has sentenced Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a former adviser to Pope Francis, to five-and-a-half years in jail for financial crimes.

Becciu, 75, was the most senior Vatican official ever to face such charges and once seen as a papal contender himself. The trial centred on a London property deal that ended in huge losses for the Catholic Church. He strongly denied charges including embezzlement and abuse of office.

Cardinal Becciu's lawyer said his client was innocent and would lodge an appeal. He was on trial with nine other defendants. All were convicted on some counts and found not guilty on others.

The trial, which exposed infighting and intrigue in the highest Vatican ranks, had been going on for two-and-a-half years. After three judges spent more than five hours considering the verdict, Court President Giuseppe Pignatone announced that Cardinal Becciu had been convicted of embezzlement. The others, who included financiers, lawyers and ex-Vatican employees, were accused of various crimes, including fraud, money laundering and abuse of office. They all denied wrongdoing.

"We reaffirm Cardinal Angelo Becciu's innocence and will appeal," stated Becciu's lawyer, Fabio Viglione, after the verdict. "We respect the ruling, but we will definitely appeal."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67738595

 

[Bigphoot2]

It wasn't just a cardinal error.

A Vatican court has sentenced Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a former adviser to Pope Francis, to five-and-a-half years in jail for financial crimes.

Becciu, 75, was the most senior Vatican official ever to face such charges and once seen as a papal contender himself. The trial centred on a London property deal that ended in huge losses for the Catholic Church. He strongly denied charges including embezzlement and abuse of office.

Cardinal Becciu's lawyer said his client was innocent and would lodge an appeal. He was on trial with nine other defendants. All were convicted on some counts and found not guilty on others.

The trial, which exposed infighting and intrigue in the highest Vatican ranks, had been going on for two-and-a-half years. After three judges spent more than five hours considering the verdict, Court President Giuseppe Pignatone announced that Cardinal Becciu had been convicted of embezzlement. The others, who included financiers, lawyers and ex-Vatican employees, were accused of various crimes, including fraud, money laundering and abuse of office. They all denied wrongdoing.

"We reaffirm Cardinal Angelo Becciu's innocence and will appeal," stated Becciu's lawyer, Fabio Viglione, after the verdict. "We respect the ruling, but we will definitely appeal."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67738595

The money was just resting in his account.