Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was once a former advisor to Pope Francis and was seen as a papal contender himself, has been sentenced to 5.5 years of imprisonment for financial crimes in a historic Vatican fraud trial on Saturday (Dec 16).

The 75-year-old once powerful Italian cardinal was jailed by a Vatican Court for financial crimes, which brought the historic trial to an end

Becciu, who was the Catholic Church’s most senior clergyman, had earlier strongly denied charges which included abuse of office and embezzlement.

He along with nine other defendants, which includes lawyers, financiers, and former Vatican employees, were on trial after they were accused of financial crimes which focused on an opaque property deal done in London.

The verdict was read out by court president Giuseppe Pignatone on Saturday (Dec 16), with Becciu facing accusations of abuse of office, witness tampering and embezzlement.

Becciu’s lawyer Fabio Viglione said that they will respect the court’s sentence but will “certainly” appeal. He was further imposed a fine of €8,000 (approx. $8726).

Vatican fraud trial

At the centre of the Vatican fraud trial was the purchase of a luxury property, worth €350 million ($380 million), in London which was part of an investment which started in 2014 and ended with the Vatican paying tens of millions of euros.

The trial, which started in July 2021, has brought to the limelight the murky finances of the Holy See, which Pope Francis has decided to clean up since he took the helm of the Catholic Church in March 2013. This is also a test of his reforms.

Francis, just weeks before the trial, gave the civilian courts of the Vatican the power to try bishops and cardinals, where earlier they were judged by a court which presided over by cardinals.

Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi had called for seven years and three months of imprisonment for Becciu, and nearly four and 13 years prison sentence for the others.

Becciu had always said that he was innocent and that the accusations against him as “totally unfounded” and added that he never took a cent.

The Holy See, meanwhile, viewed itself as “an offended party” and had asked the court, via Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, to “punish all crimes”.

Among the Vatican entities, four are civil parties who had requested compensation from the defendants, which included €177 million (approx. $193 million) for reputational and moral damage.