Kidnapping, Al Qaeda and irregular payments: Angelo Becciu, the stone in Pope Francis’ shoe

the former cardinal angelo becciu is, today, the most controversial figure of the Holy See. His name is already part of the history of the Vatican: is the first person who held that position and is tried by a court of the house.

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The EFE agency summarizes the context: a total of ten are involved in what appears to be a tangle that facilitated the “corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, fraud, extortion and abuse of power”.

The case: ainvestment in 2013 of around 350 million euros in a building in London”, a deal that was paid for with money from the Peter’s Pencewhere the donations arrive for “finance charitable works of the popes and their activity”.

“The purchase of that building was made at a price higher than its real value and caused substantial losses to the Vatican coffers.”, adds the agency.

There is another issue that the court must also resolve: Did he or did he not favor his family with other irregular purchases? ABC recalls that he sent “three payments of 225 thousand euros to a cooperative that employed people without resources, but managed by his brother”.

To this is added a “strange payment of 500 thousand euros to an alleged ‘secret agent’, theoretically to free missionaries kidnapped in Africa”.

And about this last case, he spoke on Thursday 5.

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air the secrets

angelo becciu He has denied the charges in every possible way. “I have been portrayed as a corrupt man: greedy for money, disloyalty to the Pope and concerned only for the well-being of my family“, Held.

And I add: “I didn’t quite understand why the Pope did this to me. I want to know more because this gravity for me is not right”.

Said words, now that his interrogation has begun, taste like revenge.

Photo of the missionary Gloria Cecilia Narváez, when she arrived in Bogotá after being released. November 16, 2021. AP (Leonardo Muñoz /)

In front of the Vatican tribunal, Becciu “wakefulness a spectacular spy story to rescue a missionary kidnapped by Al Qaeda”. In other words, there is an explanation for the irregularities in the financial statements.

Could it be that now the Pope Francisco he regrets giving him special permission not to “respect the pontifical secret”?

According to ABC, between December 2018 and July 2019, the Vatican Secretary of State paid 575 thousand euros for a “contribution for humanitarian mission” a Logsic Humanitarne Dejavosti DOOsociety from which Cecilia Marogna -alleged Italian secret agent- was the owner.

The money counted Becciuwas to pay the expenses of the release of Gloria Cecilia Narváez, a missionary who was in Mali in 2017, where she was kidnapped by Al Qaeda.

Becciu told in great detail: “The dilemma was whether to try to save a human life with all the risks that this implied, such as exposing the Vatican to a negative judgment by international organizations if the news was not kept confidential, as well as endangering the life and the safety of other missionaries, or the solution of letting others deal with it”.

“This last option seemed too comfortable for me and did not fit my sense of responsibility. Obviously, only the Holy Father could resolve the doubt, and I presented the matter to him”.

The story also mentions that the Pope Francisco authorized it and asking him to keep the matter in reserve.

“I must say that every step of this operation was agreed upon with the Holy Father”, assured Becciu.

In October 2021, Narváez was released.

But where did the money come from? The former cardinal maintained that “the reserve funds of the Secretary of State”, although his version will have to be confirmed. For now, all that remains is to wait since the interrogation will resume on oneMay 8 and will include questions from the prosecutor.

Source: Elcomercio