The Angelo Becciu case: the plot behind the biggest corruption and power scandal that hits the Bergoglio pontificate

Julio Algañaraz

09/25/2020 - 10:49

• Clarín.com

• World

The next morning the outbreak, produced at six o'clock in the afternoon on Thursday in the study of the Pope, still seen rise Friday on Vatican remains of the

that produced the also virtual explosion of concrete

and power that overwhelmed the seven years of pontificate of Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Francisco threw into the meeting, which apparently had angry moments, of strong emotion, who was his most trusted advisor for years as "Minister of the Interior" of the Secretary of State, and later Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Santos, Cardinal

In his prime, Becciu was the

figure in the Vatican, who had accumulated so much power because he was not only the

Argentine

on great matters, but also the rocky son of the island of Sardinia who knew the

of the factions vying for power within the Vatican.

The official news says, coldly, that the Pope accepted the resignation of Becciu as Prefect (equivalent to “minister”) of the

, better known as the Factory of Saints of the Church.

Also to the rights related to his cardinal status.

This is a

punishment

in the history of the modern Church.

Becciu, who was promoted to purple in June 2018 after leaving the Secretary of State, will have an

title in the future

.

He will not be able to elect the future Pope or exercise the cardinal.

The stone of the scandal was

: the purchase with funds from the Secretary of State of a luxurious building in London.

Italian intermediaries participated in the business, maneuvering for their own benefit and complicating the "affair" to infinity, turning it into

for the Vatican.

Giovanni Angelo Becciu.

Photo: Reuters

The worst thing was that when everything began to go wrong, from the IOR, the Pope's bank famous for its business in the past, they warned Bergoglio that

were happening

The Vatican justice, which the Pope instructed to investigate thoroughly, also discovered the scandal.

This is how it was learned that the secretariat of State managed a secret fund of 700 million euros that was not deposited in the IOR, and that the treasure of the Obolo de San Pedro was used in the operations, the hundreds of millions that

directly to the pontiff for his works of charity.

Later it was learned that Monsignor Becciu, who was in the Secretary of State between 2011 and 2018, had mobilized

to invest in an underwater platform in Angola, where he had been the Pope's ambassador and collected many influential friends.

It was one of the many businesses that the Vatican does in the world.

To cover their presence, intermediaries are used.

Becciu is accused of having been deeply linked to the financier Enrico Crasso, from the former Credit Suisse, who "directed Vatican investments towards hedge funds in tax havens."

In the case of 200 million, Crasso brought in the financier Raffaele Mincione, who convinced Becciu that it was better to enter the

owned by Mincione, which acquired 45% of the London “palazzo”.

Becciu speaks to the press in Rome this Friday.

Photo: AP

But things did not go well and when Becciu was made cardinal and "minister" of the Pope for the cause of the saints, his successors in the secretariat of State wanted to gallop out of a business that was already costing the Vatican 350 million, with prospects for further losses.

Soon another intermediary entered, Gianluigi Torzi, and

When the Vatican justice intervened and prosecuted five officials of the Secretary of State, the scandal became public and a clash on the high peaks also surfaced.

The Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolín, whose function is that of the Pope's "prime minister," went for a crack at Cardinal Becciu by saying that the "affair" of the London building was an

.

Becciu defended himself.

At this point, an additional scandal spread, in the press and in the debates the actions of the Secretary of State were accused of using the millions that the faithful give to the Pope to help the poor in “non-sanctified” speculative funds.

This Sunday, the weekly "L'Espresso" will publish an investigation that has finished setting fire to the prairie of the Cardinal Becciu scandal.

A preview of that report was published this Friday by the newspaper "La Reppublica".

Giovanni Angelo Becciu during a press conference in Rome.

Photo: Reuters

There it is said that money from the alms of the Obolus of Saint Peter and the Italian bishops were destined to

"as a method" by Cardinal Becciu to divert funds from lost funds to his relatives in Sardinia.

According to "L'Espresso" there are records of deliveries of 300 thousand euros to the "Spes" cooperative, the operational arm of Caritas de Ozieri, in the province of Sassari, whose owner is Becciu's brother, named Tonino.

Also a brother of Becciu, Francesco, intervened in the days when the Sardinian cardinal was a Vatican diplomat, modernizing churches in Angola and Cuba.

Another brother, Professor Mario Becciu, professor of psychology at the Salesian University of Rome, received contributions for his society “Angel SRL”.

According to "L'Espresso", all these money movements are difficult to trace.

Some documents would show that the funds were reinvested in equity packages. The Italian weekly maintains that the cardinal's activities determined a mechanism that generated

of 454 million euros.

Vatican, correspondent

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