Vatican reforms see a cardinal on trial
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 20 July 2021
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ten people, including an Italian cardinal, will face a Vatican trial for alleged financial crimes. Cardinal Angelo Becciu has become the highest-ranked cleric in the Vatican to be indicted over charges that include embezzlement and abuse of office. The charges relate to a multi-million-dollar property purchase with church funds in London. Ines San Martin, Rome reporter for Crux, outlines the charges and what we know about the trial so far. This will mark the first time such a high-ranking Vatican official will face trial over financial crimes, but Gerald Posner, an investigative journalist and author of God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican, explains financial scandals themselves are nothing new for the Vatican Bank. And Massimo Faggioli, Vatican historian and Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University, explains how this trial sits among Pope Francis' larger efforts for reform.
(Picture: Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu and Pope Francis. Picture credit: Reuters.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Tamerson Ford. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:05.5 | This is a tale of religion, secrecy and allegations of corruption at the highest level. |
| 0:12.5 | We're talking about the Vatican financial scandal. |
| 0:16.2 | Having a carnal on trial is like having a minister of government on trial, and it's a fight against |
| 0:23.2 | government corruption that the Catholic Church had thus far not been very good at actually |
| 0:29.5 | prosecuting. |
| 0:30.8 | It also promises to shine a light on how the Catholic Church manages its billions. |
| 0:36.6 | The Vatican Bank in the 60s, 70s, 80s and into the 90s became the major offshore European haven |
| 0:43.2 | for those evading taxes for a lot of criminal activity as well. |
| 0:48.3 | In today's Business Daily from the BBC, we take a look at the trial that's about to rock the Vatican City and the Catholic |
| 0:55.6 | Church. |
| 1:04.6 | This case centres around a multi-million dollar investment in a property development in one of London's swankiest districts. |
| 1:13.8 | In a complicated maze of offshore accounts and investment funds, money that was mainly collected from |
| 1:20.9 | churchgoers of the Catholic Church was plowed into a scheme to build 49 luxury apartments in Chelsea. Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Betu, |
| 1:31.7 | who was effectively Pope Francis's chief of staff at the time, was the man who signed off on the |
| 1:37.9 | deal. And he's no ordinary cardinal. Betu had dreams of someday becoming Pope. He's now among 10 people accused of embezzlement, |
| 1:47.8 | money laundering, fraud and extortion in a trial due to start on July the 27th. |
| 1:53.6 | This is an extremely important case that could cement Pope Francis' long-expressed willingness to actually clean up the Vatican, |
| 2:02.9 | specifically when it comes to its finances. Ines San Martin is a reporter at the Catholic news |
| 2:08.7 | site, Crux, in Rome. This is the first cardinal who's ever on trial or facing trial for wrongdoings |
| 2:16.5 | on financial matters, even though we know, or |
| 2:19.1 | you know, we've long suspected that Colonel Bertrand, who's, you know, liked money a little |
... |
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