VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Judges at the Vatican’s highest appeals court reviewing the convictions of six defendants, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, in a landmark Vatican financial trial are now being asked to weigh the legal consequences of actions taken by Pope Francis during the investigation.
The late pontiff’s role in the investigation has been repeatedly called into question during what has been called “the Vatican trial of the century,” which started in 2021 and revolves around a London real estate investment.
In 2019, the Vatican’s Secretariat of State became embroiled in the controversial purchase of a former Harrods warehouse in London that cost the religious institution $400 million. The nine individuals involved in the purchase — financiers, Vatican officers and Becciu (who was the Vatican Substitute at the time, the third-highest-ranking official at the Vatican) — were charged in connection with the deal. In 2023, they were found guilty on various counts, including fraud, embezzlement and money laundering.
Becciu was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to five years and six months in prison, barred from public office and ordered to pay an $8,000 fine.
During the investigations, Pope Francis issued several decrees, known as rescripta ex audientia, which empowered the Vatican prosecutors and gendarmes to carry out arrests …