Cardinals and ex-rivals spar over testimony in Vatican ‘Trial of the Century’
By Elise Ann Allen
May 7, 2022
ROME – Australian Cardinal George Pell has accused Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who is currently on trial in a Vatican tribunal for alleged financial crimes, of providing “incomplete” information during his testimony and of thwarting efforts aimed at transparency.
In a May 6 statement, Pell accused Becciu of using his previous role as a top papal aide to block audits of the Vatican Secretariat of State’s finances and to intimidate, bully, and fire the auditors themselves.
Pell, 80, served as head of the Vatican Secretariat of the Economy, created in 2014 at the beginning of Pope Francis’s financial reform, until 2017, when he took leave from his duties to respond to allegations of historic sexual abuse of a minor in Australia.
An initial trial in August 2018 ended in a hung jury, but a retrial four months later found Pell guilty, and he spent over a year in prison while launching his appeals. His case went all the way to Australia’s High Court, which finally acquitted him in April 2020.
Since his release from prison, Pell has authored a series of books documenting his experience during the process, including his journals from prison. He is currently in Rome to tie up loose ends from his sudden departure in 2017 before returning to Australia.
His letter in response to Becciu came the day after Becciu took the stand in a trial with 10 defendants centered on a major real estate deal in London gone wrong, losing the Vatican around $200 million.
Becciu, who from 2011-2018 served as the sostituto, or substitute, of the Vatican Secretariat of State – making him a top papal aide akin to a chief of staff – oversaw the London deal at its inception and is accused of embezzlement and abuse of office.
He was stripped of his cardinal privileges and fired from his Vatican post as head of the department for saints’ causes by the pope in September 2020, due to allegations of embezzlement, and last summer, he became the first cardinal ever to be indicted by the Vatican’s court.
Becciu testified before the Vatican tribunal on May 5, denying the charges against him by insisting: “All of the accusations are totally unfounded.”
RELATED: At Vatican trial, Cardinal Becciu returns to testify
The rivalry between Pell and Becciu dates back to nearly the beginning of Pope Francis’s papacy, when Pell was personally tapped by the pope to lead the Vatican’s financial reform.
Pell in his letter said Becciu in his testimony “gave a spirited defense of his blameless subordinate role in the Vatican finances,” but that the information provided was “incomplete.”
Becciu “did not explain the Secretariat of State’s rejection of the papally approved supervisory role of the new Council and Secretariat for the Economy” during his tenure as sostituto, Pell said, and pointed to the firing of auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the ouster of the Vatican’s General Auditor, Libero Milone, as two unexplained actions for which Becciu was responsible.
After the creation of the Secretariat of the Economy and the Council of the Economy by Pope Francis in 2014, Pell, who was tasked with carrying out the pope’s financial reform, enlisted PwC to carry out an external audit of the Vatican’s finances, and in 2015, Italian financier Libero Milone was hired with great fanfare to what was then the new post of Auditor General.
However, in April 2016 the PcW audit was suspended by Becciu without any explanation, and in 2017 – just two years into a five-year mandate – Milone was fired after being accused of spying on his superiors, which he has denied.
Shortly after his departure, Milone commented publicly on the incident, saying he was “intimidated” and forced to resign, and placed much of the blame on Becciu, saying, “I wanted to do good for the church, to reform it like I was asked, but they wouldn’t let me.”
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2022/05/cardinals-and-ex-rivals-spar-over-testimony-in-vatican-trial-of-the-century
Recent update on Vatican "trial of the century" with very relevant Q drops gets no play?
Guess anon will wait for Night Shift…
kek
ty bakerfag
First thing that I did was buy a pack of smokes
Check into a motel and consult my horoscope
Sitting on the bed with the briefcase in my hands
Patiently awaiting any word from high command
Telekinetic dynamite! Psychic warfare is real!
You better believe me, brother, x-ray vision!
Telekinetic prophetic dynamite! Psychic warfare is real!
I know what you're thinking sister, x-ray vision!
Next thing that I did was tap out Morse code
With a wooden nickel on the receiver of the phone
Before I could complete it, I was quickly overtaken
By the angry spirits of Ronald and Nancy Reagan
Telekinetic dynamite! Psychic warfare is real!
You better believe me, brother, x-ray vision!
Telekinetic prophetic dynamite! Psychic warfare is real!
I know what you're thinking sister, x-ray vision!
And on the drums, Gemini
On bass guitar, presenting Pisces
On lead guitar, we have Aries
And on the microphone, Scorpio! Go
Last thing I remember I was crawling from the ruins
I don't know who's to blame for that, but I know who didn't do it
With every day that passes it keeps on getting stranger
But that really doesn't bother me cause I get off on the danger
Telekinetic dynamite! Psychic warfare is real!
You better believe me, brother, x-ray vision!
Telekinetic prophetic dynamite! Psychic warfare is real!
I know what you're thinking sister, x-ray vision!
Telekinetic dynamite! Psychic warfare is real!
You better believe me, brother, x-ray vision!
Te-te-te-telekinetic prophetic dynamite! Psychic warfare is real!
I know what you're thinking, x-ray vision!
Too many difficult truths were shelved after the poor reactions of the first level of revelation.
Now yer treated like a mushroom until you find yer way out of the dark room, sorry :D
WWG1WGA
So, did anon ever truly get "q" ed or was anon actually "q+" ed and "q++" a few times maybe?
Thats a cool thought…