"He wants my death", "I didn't think it would get to this point": thus Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a defendant in the Vatican in a trial for the sale of a building in central London and more generally for the management of some funds of the Holy Headquarters, talk about Pope Francis in a chat with friends and family.
The existence and contents of the chats were disclosed during Wednesday's hearing by the Vatican Promoter of Justice and are the result of an investigation carried out by the Guardia di Finanza of Oristano, upon request from the Vatican.
This is what Repubblica and Corriere della Sera write in their online editions.
"I didn't think it would get to this point: he wants my death", writes Becciu in a message to his relative Giovanna Pani on July 22 last year, two days before, with the help of this daughter and Becciu's niece, Maria Luisa Zambrano, recorded a phone call with Pope Francis, the news that emerged during yesterday's audience in the Vatican.
In the chat the woman invites him to have courage, "you will see that the truth will triumph".
And he: "For now they are the ones who triumph and pierce us!", "But the victory will be for the honest ones".
Again, Pani wrote to Becciu: "He's bad, he wants your end", referring to "su Mannu", which in Sardinian means "the eldest" and therefore referable to the Pope. The cardinal replies: "
