News Briefs

Statue of St. Peter in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 21, 2025 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

A ruling by the High Court of England and Wales published Feb. 21 has confirmed that the Vatican Secretariat of State was deceived by Italian financier Raffaele Mincione in the irregular purchase of a London building.

For this transaction that ended in fraud Mincione was sentenced in December 2023 by a Vatican lower court to five years and six months in prison for financial crimes related to the case.

In addition, he was ordered to forfeit 200.5 million euros (about $210 million), one of the largest financial penalties ever imposed in the Vatican courts.

In that trial, Cardinal Angelo Becciu was also sentenced to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement of public funds.

According to the ruling, Becciu arranged the acquisition of property located on Sloane Avenue when he was deputy secretary of state from 2011 to 2018.

To do so, he used a third of the reserved funds of the Secretariat of State: that is, $200 million that was paid between 2013 and 2014 at the request of Becciu.

This amount was used to buy shares through a fund managed by the Italian intermediary Mincione, who was also convicted along with Becciu by the Vatican lower court for money laundering, embezzlement, and corruption.

Following the sentence, Mincione filed a lawsuit against the Vatican Secretariat of State in British court in June 2020, and the court published its ruling Feb. 21.

The Italian financier’s aim was to obtain a series of legal declarations in his favor regarding his handling of the buying and selling of the Sloane Avenue building.

Mincione argued that his conduct in the transaction had been transparent and in accordance with the standards of good faith. However, the British court rejected his allegations, confirming that the Vatican had reasons to consider itself the victim of a damaging financial scheme.

According to Judge Robin Knowles’ 50-page ruling, Mincione and his companies withheld key information and misrepresented the value of the London property, causing significant harm to the Vatican.

The court found that Mincione made “unrealistic” statements, inflating the price of the property and taking advantage of the Vatican’s lack of experience in such investments.

Much of the lengthy summary of the verdict focuses on the reconstruction of the irregular transaction.The British court made it clear that the Vatican Secretariat of State was deceived, which coincides with the primary thesis of the Vatican court, which had previously convicted Mincione of money laundering, embezzlement, and corruption.

As a lower court ruling, Mincione has the possibility of appealing the decision.

For the Vatican, the ruling “has important implications not only for Mincione but also for future cases involving the financial operations of the Holy See,” according to a Vatican News editorial on the subject.

According to Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli, the ruling “establishes an important precedent by recognizing that the Vatican was the victim of financial fraud in one of its most important real estate investments.”

He also confirmed that according to the Vatican “the lack of transparency and ethics with which Mincione and his entourage operated could influence other ongoing judicial proceedings.”

The sentence reinforces, Tornielli said, “the conclusions of the Vatican tribunal, which had already convicted Mincione for crimes related to fraudulent investments of funds of the Holy See.”

Tornielli also referenced a statement by the Vatican promoter of justice, Alessandro Diddi, expressing his satisfaction with the British court’s ruling against Mincione.

“The British judges have shared the view of the Vatican tribunal and have confirmed that Raffaele Mincione did not act in good faith as required in this type of transaction. With this ruling, it is clear that the Vatican court acted correctly in its assessment of the case,” Diddi said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Dr. Sergio Alfieri (right) and Dr. Luigi Carbone give a press conference at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for bronchitis, on Feb. 21, 2025. Alfieri said the pope asked him to say hat he has … […]

Marcin Bogacki of Warsaw, Poland (far right) prays before walking through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica with his mother and 4-year-old son on Feb. 21, 2025. / Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA

Vatican City, Feb 21, 2025 / 11:20 am (CNA).

Local Catholics and jubilee pilgrims in Rome are praying for Pope Francis’ recovery as he marks one week in the hospital for treatment for pneumonia.

Pilgrim groups and individuals from around the world continue to travel to Rome for the 2025 Jubilee Year, and though they won’t catch a glimpse of the pontiff, he is close to their hearts.

As they prepared to walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, a group of about 50 pilgrims from Our Lady of Nantes Parish in France told CNA they are praying for the pope’s full recovery.

The group was planning to attend the Angelus with the pope on Feb. 23, but now, “we pray for him and we hope that everything will be OK,” seminarian Aymeric Dor said.

Dor recalled that one of the conditions to receive the Holy Door plenary indulgence is to pray for the pope’s intentions, which he said they are doing: “We are praying for his health too.”

Agata Eccli, who is part of a pilgrimage of 57 people from different parishes and towns in Poland, said her group is not only praying for Pope Francis during their visit to St. Peter’s Basilica but also at each of the stops they make on an Italy-wide pilgrimage, including the tomb of St. Anthony in Padua, St. Francis in Assisi, St. Peter in Rome, and St. Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo.

Families are also keeping the ailing pontiff in their prayers, including Italian couple Andrea Paradisi and Chiara Costa, who brought their 4-month-old baby Margherita on a pilgrimage to Rome over the weekend for the jubilee. 

Marcin Bogacki of Warsaw, Poland, told CNA he has fond memories of visiting Rome as a child during the Jubilee Year in 2000 and wanted to have the same experience with his own young family. 

Though his wife is expecting their second child and was unable to fly at this time, Bogacki brought his mother and his 4-year-old son. He said they are praying for Pope Francis, for the Church, for a private family intention, and for his wife and their unborn baby.

Rome prays

Across Rome, local Catholics are offering Masses and special prayers for Pope Francis’ health. 

The chaplain of Gemelli Hospital — where the pontiff is receiving treatment — is offering Mass for Francis every day at 1 p.m. in the hospital’s chapel.

On Feb. 22, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter — a day that commemorates the authority Jesus gave to the pope — a group of Catholics will gather outside Gemelli Hospital to pray a rosary for the pope’s health.

At the Basilica of St. Mary Major, every Mass is being offered for the pope, the basilica’s communications director told CNA, including Masses celebrated in the chapel of the ancient Salus Populi Romani image of Mary — a favorite of Francis, who spends time in prayer in the chapel before and after every international trip.

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