Court hears cardinal’s secretly taped call with pope
VATICAN: A court at a Vatican corruption trial on Thursday heard a secretly recorded telephone call between the main defendant, embattled Cardinal Angelo Becciu, and Pope Francis.
The recording was made without the pope’s knowledge by someone in a room with Mr Becciu in July last year, shortly before the trial began and while the pope was still recovering from major intestinal surgery, the court was told.
Reporters were asked to leave the room while the tape was played but lawyers who heard it said Mr Becciu asked the pope to confirm that the pontiff had authorised a payment to help release a nun who had been kidnapped in Africa.
They said that on the call pope seemed confused by why Mr Becciu was calling and that the pontiff repeatedly asked the cardinal to send him a written note about what he wanted.
In 2018, Mr Becciu, then the third most powerful person in the Vatican, hired co-defendant Cecilia Marogna, a self-styled security analyst, to free a Columbian nun who was kidnapped in Mali by an Al-Qaeda-linked group.
Ms Marogna, 44, received €575,000 (21 million baht) from the Secretariat of State, the Vatican’s most important department, in 2018 to 2019 when Mr Becciu was working there. The money was sent to a firm she had set up in Slovenia and she received some in cash, the court has been told.
The police discovered she had spent much of the money for personal use.
She is charged with embezzlement and Mr Becciu is charged with embezzlement, corruption and abuse of office. They, like the other eight defendants, have denied all wrongdoing.
Chief prosecutor Alessandro Diddi told reporters on Thursday that he had begun a new tangent of his probe in which he suspects Mr Becciu of criminal conspiracy. He said he deposited the details with the court.
Becciu lawyers said in a statement they were not aware of any new accusations. The statement did not comment on the secretly recorded call.
A year before the trial started, Pope Francis fired Mr Becciu on suspicion of nepotism. He denies doing anything to help his family financially.
On Thursday Mr Becciu faced his main accuser, his former top aide Monsignor Alberto Perlasca. He told the court how he was ordered to make payments he considered unusual.
He said he sent €100,000 to a charity in Sardinia, not knowing at the time that it was linked to Mr Becciu’s family.
Mr Becciu has said the charity helped create jobs in a poor area.
The trial revolves around the purchase of a building in London by the Secretariat of State.
The 10 defendants include former Vatican employees and Italian middle men who the prosecution says extorted the Vatican.