The court of Thursday’s Vatican corruption trial overheard a secretly recorded telephone conversation between the main defendant, Cardinal Angelo Betsch, and Pope Francis.
The recording, unknown to His Holiness, was made by someone who was in the same room as Betchu in July 2021, just before the trial began, while His Holiness was still recovering from a major intestinal surgery.
The reporter was asked to leave the room while the tape was playing, but after hearing it, a lawyer approved Betchu’s payment to the Pope to help free a nun kidnapped in Africa. He said he asked him to confirm.
When the pope called, he seemed perplexed and confused as to why Betchu was calling, and repeatedly asked the cardinal to send him in writing what he wanted.
In 2018, her Becciu, who was her third most powerful person in the Vatican at the time, hired her self-proclaimed security analyst, co-defendant Cecilia Marogna, a Colombian kidnapped in Mali by a militant group. nuns rescued. Marona, 44, received €575,000 from the State Department, the Vatican’s main department, in 2018-2019. Her money was transferred to a company she set up in Slovenia, and she received part of it in cash, the court said.
Police found that Maronya spent a lot of money on her personal needs, including her luxury brand clothing and visits to health spas.
She was charged with embezzlement and Betchu was charged with embezzlement, corruption and abuse of power. Like her eight other defendants, they deny any wrongdoing. Alessandro Didi, the trial’s lead prosecutor, told reporters on Thursday that he had launched a new direction in his investigation.He said he had submitted details to the court.