A Vatican tribunal has sentenced Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the former second highest official in the Secretariat of State, to five and a half years in prison, in what is a groundbreaking ruling, which presents many questions for the future.
On December 16, the Vatican tribunal issued its sentence against Becciu and his fellow nine defendants, in a case which has dragged on for over two and a half years and has been held up as a litmus test of the supposed reforms which were to take place inside the Vatican.
Becciu – the former substitute (No. 2) at the Secretariat of State – was deemed by the court to be guilty of numerous counts of “embezzlement,” handed a sentence of five and a half years in jail, an €8,000 fine and a permanent ban from holding public office.
