Cardinal Becciu is asking for damages due to "unfounded" news in the Italian media

Da Paolo Tessione - November 18, 2020

Italian Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints in his office at the Vatican, November 2018. Giovanni Angelo Becciu is head of the body which decides who should be recommended to the Pope for beatification and canonization and he is also responsible for the authentication and preservation of sacred relics. Before he has been substitute at the Secretariat of State and has served as an important aide to Pope Francis. Becciuís role has been to make Pope Francisí vision of the Church a reality, oiling the wheels of a machine led by a pope wary of big structures. ´ † I come from a world whose affairs and subjects are more ëearthlyí, more current, more administrative and more strictly political and diplomatic. Now I am going to a world in which those who count are in heaven, more so than those on earth † ª he says. About his mission he declared that one doesnít improvise a Saint. He gave the figure of the new Blessed as an example for young people. Antonio Becciu is also considered as a 'papabile'. Photo by Eric Vandeville / ABACAPRESS.COM

Cardinal Angelo Becciu said Wednesday that he is taking legal action against an Italian media for publishing "baseless accusations" against him.

In the November 18 statement, the former senior Vatican official again denied using Church funds for the benefit of family members, or attempting to influence the outcome of a sexual abuse trial against Cardinal George Pell in Australia last year.

Cardinal Becciu, until recently prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, called the accusations "all false" and reiterated that he had not been contacted by the Vatican judicial authorities.

Since September, the Italian weekly L'Espresso has published several reports on the former curial official, including claims that he was investigated by the Vatican for misuse of funds from the Secretariat of State and papal alms while serving as a deputy to the department.

The cardinal said Wednesday that he had initiated "a civil action" against the news every week through a law firm based in Verona "for compensation for the enormous damages suffered".

“The documentation presented to the Court proves the absolute groundlessness of the reconstructions published on several occasions by the aforementioned weekly,” he said. Cardinal Becciu also stated that whoever is responsible for the "dissemination" of the information "will answer before the judges".

"The right and duty to inform has nothing to do with what has been written about me, in a crescendo of distortions of reality that have deliberately massacred and deformed my image as a man and a priest," he said.

Cardinal Becciu said any money that may be awarded by the court will be given to charity, arguing that the "extravagant" investigations "against him have also caused" global damage "and damaged" the entire Church ".

He closed his statement by indicating that he could also bring a criminal case in the future, as well as take civil action, if the "serious and defamatory abuse of reality" does not stop.

“I will continue to serve the Church and be totally faithful to the Holy Father and His Mission, but I will expend all my remaining energy to ensure that, even for their protection, the truth is restored…” he said.

The cardinal was also accused of donating hundreds of thousands of euros to an Italian woman, Cecilia Marogna, as payment for the international "security" services he says he performed for the Secretariat of State from 2018 to 2019.

The Vatican court has asked the Italian authorities to extradite Marogna as part of an investigation into how the 39-year-old has used funds from the Secretariat of State. In October, she was released from a prison in Milan with the provision not to leave the city, pending the decision on her extradition appeal, whose hearing will be held on January 18, 2021.

The Vatican announced the resignation of Cardinal Becciu as prefect and from the "related rights of the cardinalate" in a statement on the evening of 24 September.

In a press conference the next morning, Cardinal Becciu said he resigned following an audience with Pope Francis, who told him he no longer trusted him because he had seen reports from Vatican magistrates implying the Italian cardinal. in embezzlement. Becciu denied having committed any crimes and said he was ready to explain himself if called by the Vatican judicial authorities.