Will the prisons of the famous Castel Sant'Angelo, a stone's throw from the Vatican, be put back into use? One could imagine this after the judgment pronounced by the Vatican judiciary on December 16, 2023, against the ten defendants in the so-called "London building" case. To everyone's surprise, six of the ten defendants, including Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, former number three in the Holy See, received prison sentences.
In the world's smallest state, the verdict came as an unbelievable shock. A "climate of terror", confides one of its managers. Cardinal Becciu is a well-known figure. Stunned by the "harshness of the pope", a religious drew a parallel between "the birthday of Francis, 87 years old, on Sunday, December 17, and that of Herod who had the head of John the Baptist delivered to him on a platter: there, it is the head of Becciu that is delivered... Terrible words, but revealing of the atmosphere in the Vatican, where only a few say they are "satisfied"
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