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Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu at a press conference in Rome on Friday: dismissal "like a bolt from the blue"
Photo: GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE / REUTERS
On September 24th, the Vatican made a big deal public with a small press statement: The Holy Father had accepted the resignation of Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Canonization and Beatification.
Becciu waived his rights as a cardinal, it was said.
The message was unmistakable: the 72-year-old Sardinian was fired and publicly humiliated in his departure.
An unheard-of, because rare, event in the Catholic Church that apparently took place at a strategically chosen moment: at the beginning of October Pope Francis plans to publish his third encyclical.
The text "All Brothers" is about a global reorientation after the corona pandemic, about a social and economic rethinking.
At the switching points of power
Francis had already denounced exploitation and predatory capitalism in his first two instructional letters - reports of obscure Church real estate investments and misappropriated charitable funds inevitably undermine his authority and credibility.
So what are Angelo Becciu accused of?
The church did not comment on possible offenses - the Italian media, on the other hand, have identified a number of examples of dubious business conduct.
As a substitute in the State Secretariat, Becciu once sat at the control points of power in Rome - he is said to have made full use of his powers.
As apostolic nuncio in Angola and Cuba, Becciu is said to have commissioned his brother Francesco's handicraft company with modernization work for the church between 2005 and 2010.
"I didn't know anyone else, so it was obvious that I hired my brother's company," he told journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi.
Beccius' successor in Cuba, presumably Archbishop Bruno Musarò, was so enthusiastic that he hired his brother for another job in the Egyptian nunciature.
Another brother, Mario Becciu, is said to have supplied several church institutions with his company "Angel's" - including beer.
Tonino Becciu, as head of the "Spes" ("Hope") cooperative, is said to have received substantial financial support from his cardinal brother Angelo.
"Spes" is involved in refugee work.
According to "Espresso", the cooperative is said to have received a total of 700,000 euros in three tranches.
The transfers in 2013 and 2015 should come from the budget of the Italian Bishops' Conference, the last in April 2018 from the Peterspfennig.
Becciu only confirmed the payment of 100,000 euros.
The money has not yet been spent and is still in the Caritas till, he emphasized.
Also according to the "Espresso", Becciu is said to have entrusted the entire Vatican treasury to the financier Enrico Crasso, who is said to have speculated with the money and invested it in tax havens.
Becciu told the magazine that he only saw Crasso once a year and had no idea where he invested.
Investigators have long been in the focus of the affair surrounding a luxury property on 60 Sloane Avenue in London. The acquisition and sale of the property are said to have resulted in losses of more than 100 million euros to the Vatican.
Becciu, who lost his post in the State Secretariat because of this, is considered to be the main responsible.
Five other alleged participants have been suspended.
The Vatican public prosecutor's office has been investigating since 2019.
According to information from the Italian newspaper "La Stampa", Becciu is due to testify shortly about his role in the investment affair.
Although it initially seemed as if the humiliated cardinal would silently submit to his dismissal, he went on the offensive the day after his apparently involuntary resignation: In the newspaper "Domani" on Friday, Becciu dismissed all accusations of embezzlement and nepotism .
The meeting with the Pope on Thursday was "surreal", his dismissal "like a bolt from the blue," he said at a press conference.
The Pope said he could no longer trust him.
It was a "misunderstanding" that he had done nothing wrong, said the clergyman.
He is not corrupt and can only hope that the Pope "has not been manipulated".
According to the newspaper "Unione Sarda", relatives of the clergyman filed charges of character assassination.
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Pope Francis (on September 28th in St. Peter's Basilica): "He shows the iron fist"
Photo: VATICAN MEDIA / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock / VATICAN MEDIA HANDOUT / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
But the consequences of the scandals may not only be of a personnel-political nature. As the Roman "Repubblica" reports, Pope Francis is said to have decided to decouple the State Secretariat from all financial resources - including the fund that the powerful substitute has been able to dispose of and also in Parts of St. Peter's penny flowed into it.
Accordingly, the entire responsibility is to be transferred to the administration of goods by the Apostolic See (APSA), under the control of the Economic Secretariat.
In this way, the financial decisions would be placed in the hands of two Pope's confidants: APSA President Nunzio Galantino and Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, Jesuits and Prefect of the Economic Secretariat.
However, there has not yet been a corresponding declaration from the Holy See.
And the spokesman for Munich's Archbishop Reinhard Marx, who is cardinal coordinator in the economic secretariat, said that they had no information on this.
One way or another, the Becciu affair is causing a stir.
"The Pope shows the iron fist," sums up Vaticanist Marco Politi.
But instead of approval, Francis is experiencing resistance from his conservative opponents, who wanted to weaken him anyway.
"Reform-oriented bishops and cardinals are silent, they leave the pontiff alone," said Politi.
"He's like Heracles, who fails to clear out the dirty barn because he discovers a new mess in every corner."
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