ROME (AP) - Pope Francis' chief of staff became one of the highest-ranking Holy See officials to testify in a foreign court Thursday, giving a British tribunal a detailed explanation of the negotiations at the heart of the Vatican's so-called "trial of the century" and pointing a finger at his onetime deputy who escaped the scandal unscathed.
Vatican chief of staff testifies in UK finance trial, points finger at deputy who escaped unscathed
ROME (AP) - Pope Francis' chief of staff became one of the highest-ranking Holy See officials to testify in a foreign court Thursday, giving a British tribunal a detailed explanation of the negotiations at the heart of the Vatican's so-called "trial of the century" and pointing a finger at his onetime deputy who escaped the scandal unscathed.
Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra was called to testify on behalf of the Vatican secretariat of state in a British civil proceeding brought against the Vatican by an Italian-British financier who was involved in the transactions over a London property.
Raffaele Mincione is seeking to clear his name in the British courts after he was convicted by a Vatican criminal tribunal last year for his role in the Vatican's 350 euro (US$375 million) investment in the former Harrod's warehouse. He is asking the British High Court to declare he acted “in good faith."
The London case, believed to be the first time the Holy See has been put on trial in a foreign court, is part of the collateral damage that the Vatican has incurred in deciding to prosecute 10 people for a range of financial crimes surrounding its money-losing London investment.