Becciu guilty: sentenced to five-and-a-half-years imprisonment by Vatican court

ROME – In the long-awaited denouement of the Vatican’s “trial of the century,” which has been seen widely as a litmus test of Pope Francis’s press for reform, a Vatican tribunal Saturday sentenced Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu to five years and six months in prison for his role in various financial crimes.

Becciu was also fined roughly $8,700 and permanently barred from holding any public office in the Vatican City State. An attorney representing Becciu immediately indicated plans for an appeal.