Vatican judge has ordered 10 people, including an Italian cardinal, to stand trial for alleged financial crimes.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu has become the highest-ranked cleric in the Vatican to be indicted over charges that include embezzlement and abuse of office.
The 73-year-old cardinal, who denies wrongdoing, was forced to resign last September, but retains his title.
The charges relate to a multi-million-dollar property purchase with Church funds in London.
Cardinal Becciu was a close aide to Pope Francis and previously had a key job in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, which manages the Church’s donations.
He will face questions over a controversial loss-making deal to invest in the luxury London building while he was in charge at the secretariat; the deal has since been the subject of a financial investigation.
The $200m (£155m) paid for the apartment block in Sloane Avenue came out of Church money through offshore funds and companies – a deal the cardinal had defended in the past.
In a statement released on Saturday by those close to him, the cardinal said he was “the victim of a conspiracy” and protested his “absolute innocence”, the AFP news agency reports.
Getting to the heart of the troubling relationship between the Vatican and its finances has become one of the main themes at the Vatican under Pope Francis.
Parallel to his desire to make the Church a sanctuary where everybody, however imperfect, can find a place, has been his work to make the Vatican a distinctly unwelcoming destination for those who would use it to enrich themselves.
The alleged crimes listed today still have to be proven in court.
But the very fact the Pope was ready to sanction the indictment and trial of a cardinal who was not only a senior member of the Vatican hierarchy, but also by his own account a friend of Francis, signals again his clear intention that when it comes to financial wrongdoing he’s prepared to take unprecedented action to clean up the Church’s reputation.
The risk for the Pope, and the Church, is that this trial will open up the possible mismanagement of the Holy See’s finances to further public scrutiny.
Two former heads of the Vatican’s financial intelligence unit are among the 10 defendants.
They face charges including embezzlement, money-laundering, fraud, extortion and abuse of office.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
