TYB
>>16229650Cardinals and ex-rivals spar over testimony in Vatican ‘Trial of the Century’
06 MAY 2022, THE TABLET
Pell letters bring fresh twist to Vatican trial
by Christopher Lamb
Cardinal Becciu has produced letters which he claims show Cardinal Pell approved the payments he suspects of influencing his abuse trial.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the Pope's former chief of staff, is one of ten defendants at the Vatican's long-running corruption trial.
CNS/Junno Arocho Esteves
It could be likened to a brutal gladiatorial contest in ancient Rome.
In one corner you have George Pell, the Vatican’s former chief financial officer, and in the other Angelo Becciu, the former papal chief of staff, who is now standing trial on corruption charges. The pair repeatedly clashed when they both held high-ranking positions in the Vatican and there has been no love lost since.
Now the feud has taken another twist. Giving testimony on Thursday 5 May, the Sardinian prelate sought to refute the claim he used Church funds to influence the sex abuse case against Cardinal Pell.
Italian media reports have suggested that payments made from the Vatican to Australia somehow influenced the criminal charges brought against Pell, of which he was ultimately acquitted.
For his part, the Australian cardinal has repeatedly asked for an explanation of why the Holy See’s Secretariat of State transferred $A2.3 million (£1.32 million) which coincided with the cardinal’s trial.
Becciu, who has always vociferously denied these claims, has now produced evidence in the form of two letters which he has submitted to the court. The first was sent on 29 April by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretariat of State, explaining the purpose of the payment and the second is from none other than Cardinal Pell, dated 11 September 2015, authorising the transfer.
The letter from Parolin states:
“Cardinal Pell continues to raise doubts about the transfer of A$2.3m to Australia, suspecting that these funds were used by Cardinal Becciu to negatively influence the criminal trial in which he was accused of child abuse. The sum, however, as recalled several times, was used to pay for the Internet domain ‘.catholic’; this information was appropriately communicated to the Embassy of Australia to the Holy See.”
The second is a letter of 11 September 2015 from Cardinal Pell authorising the payment.
https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/15405/pell-letters-bring-fresh-twist-to-vatican-trial
A terrible May indeed…