VATICAN CITY (AP) — In the last two years, defense lawyers have acquired 3,225 pages of WhatsApp messages between two women who were tangential to the Vatican’s “trial of the century,” but were actually intimately aware of the investigation and in some ways involved.
Their four years of conversations, from 2020-2024, provide a parallel, behind-the-scenes version of one of the most tumultuous periods in Vatican history, when Pope Francis authorized a trial of 10 people, including a cardinal, into alleged financial misconduct.
The chats, written in Italian and translated here by The Associated Press, suggest that these two women helped persuade one of the original prime suspects in the case, Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, to change his story and turn on his former boss, Cardinal Angelo Becciu. Perlasca was spared indictment; Becciu was convicted.
According to the chats, first reported on by Domani newspaper and published by other Italian media, public relations specialist Francesca Chaouqui implied to Perlasca family friend Genevieve Ciferri that she enjoyed close contact with Vatican investigators and Francis, and wanted to help Perlasca. She assured Ciferri that everyone from the pope on down knew and approved of their maneuvering to help Perlasca feel supported so he would implicate Becciu.
Key text exchanges
Ciferri feared that Chaouqui was just boasting and on May 19, 2024, she demanded Chaouqui reassure her that police, Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi an …