FORMER HEAD OF BANK GUILTY OF EMBEZZLEMENT

A court on Thursday convicted a former head of the Vatican bank of embezzlement and money laundering, making Angelo Caloia the highest-ranking Vatican official to be convicted of a financial crime. Caloia, 81, was president of the bank, known as the Institute for Works of Religion, from 1999 to 2009.

The Vatican court also convicted Gabriele Liuzzo, 97, and his son Lamberto Liuzzo, 55, both lawyers who were consultants to the bank. The three were charged with participating in a scheme in which they embezzled money while managing the sale of buildings in Italy owned by the bank and its real estate division between 2002-07. They allegedly siphoned off up to 57 million euros by declaring a book value of far less than the actual amount of the sale.