Pope Francis at the weekly General Audience, 19 May 2021. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)
Updated with further statements and details.
Vatican prosecutors have indicted a cardinal on charges of embezzlement, abuse of office, and criminal conspiracy, in connection with the Sloane Avenue, London, real estate development scandal that first rocked the Holy See in 2019.
Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu – former Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and one-time Sostituto or “chief of staff” in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State – is the highest-ranking cleric to face criminal charges under the “civil” law of Vatican City.
