During a significant fraud and embezzlement prosecution, specifics of the covert recording have been revealed.
A Vatican court was informed on Thursday that a former high-ranking cardinal on trial for abuse of authority and misusing church money covertly taped a personal phone chat with Pope Francis.
According to several news sources, the discussion, which Giovanni Angelo Becciu recorded and presented during the trial, was about using funds from the Vatican to pay for the release of a nun who had been kidnapped in Africa.
A former trusted advisor to the pope, Becciu was fired and stripped of his cardinal credentials in 2020 over a scandal surrounding the unsuccessful purchase of a posh London apartment building.
Becciu has held several important posts in the Vatican, where he was in charge of managing contributions and saint canonization.
He is one of 10 persons who are presently facing charges for financial crimes, such as using offshore funds and businesses to launder church monies. He claims he did nothing wrong.
Francis was still recuperating from serious intestinal surgery when the defendant taped the call with the pope in July 2021, the court was informed. Becciu requested confirmation from the pope on a ransom payment for the release of a Colombian nun who had been abducted by terrorists with ties to Al-Qaeda in Mali.
Libero Milone, a former auditor for the Vatican who was tasked with auditing its books, filed a lawsuit against the church this month for forcing him to step down in 2017 amid allegations of theft and espionage. Milone said that the Vatican damaged their reputations, along with Ferruccio Pinocco, another auditor who was fired at the same time. According to Milone, Becciu planted the evidence that was used to convict him, as reported by the New York Times.
