Originally published at National Catholic Register
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the Vatican cardinal who is appealing his embezzlement conviction last year, has pushed back against recent claims made by the Vatican’s chief editorial director, insisting, “If I had cheated the Pope, I certainly would not be here shouting my innocence to the world!”
In a commentary published in L’Osservatore Romano and Vatican News Nov. 11, the former deputy Vatican secretary of state said an Oct. 30 editorial by Andrea Tornielli surprised” him as he had appreciated the “balance and accuracy” of Vatican News during the trial.
Tornielli, a top official in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, had penned his reaction, published in L’Osservatore Romano and Vatican News, to a Vatican Tribunal’s publication of its reasons for convicting Cardinal Becciu and other defendants for their role in the sale of a Vatican-owned property in London that resulted in losses to the Holy See of 200 million euros.
After hearings over three years, the tribunal found Cardinal Becciu guilty on three counts of embezzlement and sentenced him to five years and six months in prison. He also was fined and permanently disqualified from holding public office. Becciu was the first cardinal to be tried by a Vatican tribunal.
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