Italian Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu (right) waits prior to the start of a consistory during which 20 new cardinals are to be created by Pope Francis on Aug. 27, 2022, in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. / Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images Vatican City, Oct 1, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA). Pope Leo XIV said he will not interfere in the court case of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the former deputy Vatican secretary of state convicted of embezzlement, aggravated fraud, and abuse of office.In response to a journalist who asked the pontiff about the “Becciu trial” on Tuesday evening outside Castel Gandolfo, Leo said “the trial must go forward” and that “he has no intention of interfering” in the legal proceedings underway. The pope’s comments were made about one week after the commencement of Becciu’s hearing before the Vatican Court of Appeal on Sept. 22, nearly two years after his conviction by the Vatican City State criminal court.In December 2023, after a two-and-a-half-year trial, the Italian cardinal and former deputy Vatican secretary of state was convicted, alongside eight other defendants, of financial malfeasance. Becciu, the first cardinal to be tried by the Vatican tribunal, was dealt a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence, an 8,000 euro (about $9,400) fine, and a permanent disqualification from holding public office.The other defendants who were also tried and found guilty were also given a variety of sentences. Five of those defendants — Raffaele Mincione, Enrico Crasso, Gianluigi Torzi, Fabrizio Tirabassi, and Cecilia Marogna — also received prison sentences of varying length.The former Vatican deputy secretary of state has consistently protested his innocence, maintaining that he acted with papal approval or authority when he invested money or issued payments using Vatican funds.The Vatican realized a $200 million loss following a highly speculative real estate deal in London’s Sloane Avenue negotiated by the Vatican Secretariat of State in 2014 while Becciu was in office.The cardinal was also found guilty of making at least 125,000 euros (about $148,000) in unauthorized payments to his brother’s charity in Sardinia as well as approving more than 500,000 euros (about $590,000) be paid to geopolitical expert Marogna who, instead of using it for intelligence and a humanitarian mission to help free a kidnapped religious sister in Mali, was accused of spending the funds on luxury goods and travel.Last October, the Vatican released its reasons for convicting Becciu, stating he was involved in the illicit use of Holy See funds despite having no “profit-making purpose” and stressing that the trial was fair.
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