London Palace, Monday 22nd start of the appeal process, Becciu in the courtroom

Monday 22 September sees the start of the Vatican appeal trial related to the management of the Holy See's confidential funds invested in real estate transactions in London. At the centre of the affair is the luxury London mansion on Sloane Avenue.

Ten are the defendants in the trial. Among them is also Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former substitute at the Secretariat of State, sentenced at first instance to five and a half years for embezzlement and fraud (the cardinal has always proclaimed his "absolute innocence", trusting "in the ascertainment of the truth"). Becciu - who did not vote in the conclave, but remains to all intents and purposes a member of the Sacred College, even after his first-degree conviction - will be present in the courtroom along with his lawyers.

In February 2024, the Vatican Court had seized the cardinal's bank account and demanded compensation from his accusers: Monsignor Alberto Perlasca and his collaborator Genoveffa Ciferri. The Vatican's Court of Appeal "condemned Cardinal Becciu to pay compensation" to both of them "by acknowledging and deliberating the 2022 judgement of the Court of Como" "for 'instrumental use' of the procedural instrument".

The court, which in the first instance was composed of lay magistrates, will be presided over by a cleric, Monsignor Alejandro Arellano Cedillo, dean of the Roman Rota. Alejandro Arellano Cedillo will be assisted by two lay people. Pope Leo met in recent days with both the dean of the Sacred Roman Rota and the protagonist of the prosecution in the first instance, the Vatican promoter of justice Alessandro Diddi, viewing the new courtroom created in the former Synod Hall in the Apostolic Palace. In the first instance, Alessandro Diddi had asked for 7 years and 3 months imprisonment for Becciu, plus a fine of 10,329 euro, perpetual disqualification from public office and the confiscation of 14,755,000 euro.

For the new trial that will open with hearings on a daily basis, there are 188 pages of "added grounds" that the defence of the defendant Becciu, represented by lawyers Fabio Viglione and Maria Concetta Marzo, has already filed. According to Ansa, the famous chats between the lobbyist Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui and Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, Becciu's 'accuser', Genoveffa Ciferri, in which Chaouqui anticipated details of the investigation and interrogations, could also enter the trial - the defence has reportedly asked for their acquisition. These are chat have already led to the opening of two criminal investigations, one in Rome after a complaint by Becciu himself against Chaouqui, and another at the office of the promoter of justice in the Oltretevere, where Chaouqui is accused of trafficking in influence, perjury and subornation. The chats, omitted during the first degree, "unmask the machination against me", said Cardinal Becciu, who continues, even in view of the new trial, to proclaim his complete innocence..