Pope should not govern Vatican City, convicted cardinal says
November 04, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was convicted by a Vatican tribunal on multiple charges of financial misconduct, says that his trial illustrates the difficulties of the Vatican’s system of governance, and suggests that the Pope should not be the governing head of the Vatican city-state.
In an interview broadcast on Belgian television last week, Cardinal Becciu repeated his claim that he was innocent of the charges against him, and only acted with the approval of Pope Francis. During his trial last year, the cardinal’s lawyers frequently complained that the Pope had altered the rules of the judicial proceeding, so that their client did not receive due process.
Cardinal Becciu acknowledged that he had clashed with the late Cardinal George Pell over the Australian prelate’s plan for an outside audit of Vatican offices. But he said that the Secretariat of State, where he worked at the time, was exempt from the oversight of Cardinal Pell’s Secretariat for the Economy. (No such exemption was indicated in the statutes establishing the Secretariat.)
Cardinal Becciu said that he was not sure when his appeal of his convictions would be heard. But he said that he would be unable to repay the damages that the Vatican tribunal assessed on him. “I don’t have any assets,” he said.
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