Until now, Cardinal Angelo Becciu , during the trial in the Vatican relating to the investments of the Secretariat of State, had not wanted to talk about the former Sardinian manager Cecilia Marogna , hiding behind the " papal secret ".

Pope Francis actually dispensed him from respecting that obligation but Becciu explained that he had brought him into question "not for the protection of my person but, given the delicacy of the material, only and exclusively for that of the Holy Father and the Apostolic See ".

Regarding the embezzlement in competition to which he must answer, the former substitute for General Affairs originally from Pattada recalled how he was accused of having facilitated Marogna "to appropriate sums of money that she would then have destined for discretionary purchases". An accusation that, categorically rejected, was also labeled as "completely unfounded". According to the reconstruction, Marogna "proposed a professional collaboration with the Secretariat of State" in matters of intelligence and geopolitics. In subsequent meetings, "the fiduciary credit towards him and the appreciation of his skills" increased, also thanks to "a series of meetings at a high institutional level promoted by Mrs. Marogna".

Becciu then focused on the kidnapping of his Gloria Cecilia Novaes Goti , which took place in Mali on 7 February 2017. The nun, a Franciscan of Mary Immaculate, was of Colombian nationality. The cardinal had found himself "faced with a dilemma": to work to try to save a human life "with all the associated risks, such as exposing the Vatican, if the news had not remained confidential, to a negative judgment on the part of international organizations, as well as that of endangering the life and safety of other missionaries, or the solution of letting others take care of them ".

Before even addressing the Pope, "I spoke to Mrs. Marogna", who "told me about an English intelligence agency, Inkermann, with which, according to him, she could have interacted profitably by taking action for all the operations necessary for the release of Sister Gloria ". Therefore, Becciu continued, “I presented the question to the Holy Father. He was happy that efforts were being made for the liberation of the nun and immediately understood the need not to expose the Vatican to useless, and indeed harmful, publicity ”. So " he gave me the authorization to proceed - he continued - and, to my explicit question if I had to talk about it with the Commander of the Gendarmerie, he replied no, inviting me to personally take responsibility for the initiative and adding that the question he had to remain confidential between him and me, precisely to prevent the news from leaking and the risks mentioned above being run ".

“I had no difficulty in serving the Holy Father, as always, also on this occasion, faithfully and scrupulously carrying out His will”, he stressed again.

While on the sum budgeted by the Inkermanns - " about one million euros , part for the creation of the contact network and part for the effective release of the nun" - he said that the Pope "approved", specifying how in the procedure for providing the sums, "for advances, requested from time to time through Mrs. Marogna", "each step has been agreed with the Holy Father", including "payments to Mrs. Marogna". That the latter, equal to 575 thousand euros, as investigators believe they ended up in luxury goods, is another story.

Last 10 October, the Colombian nun was released, and according to Assimi Goita, transitional president of Mali - Becciu himself recalled -, "her release is the result of four years and eight months of combined efforts by multiple intelligence services ".

THE REPLY OF PELL - Australian Cardinal George Pell, former Vatican prefect for the Economy, today issued a note in response to the statements made yesterday by Becciu: "In the Vatican court, Cardinal Becciu made an energetic defense of the role of his irreproachable subjects in the Vatican finances. However, his testimony was in some ways incomplete ”. "He did not explain the rejection by the Secretariat of State of the supervisory role, approved by the Pope, entrusted to the new Council for the Economy and the new Secretariat for the Economy - listed Pell -. He did not explain his role in the firing of Price WaterhouseCoopers consultants and in the resignation of the auditor general, Libero Milone; both with the mandate to investigate the finances of the Secretariat of State ”. And again: "His curious testimony on how the Secretariat of State spends the entire amount of the Pence of St. Peter ('What ever remained of the Pence? Nothing!', In Italian, ed) clashes with advertising official for the fund, what Catholics think and the annual reports on Vatican finance. Speaking of APSA is irrelevant. Apsa (Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, ed) has never had a supervisory role with the Secretariat of State ”. “However - he continues - my main objective is to comment on the final statements of Cardinal Becciu on the payment of 2.3 million Australian dollars to Neustar for the internet domain '. Catholic' on 4 September 2015. The payment came from the Council for corporate communications or from the Secretariat of State? The very beginning of this declaration only deepens the mystery. Cardinal Becciu's statement in the Vatican court is also interesting, different from the message he sent me on December 17, 2020 in which he told me that the destination of the funds of the Secretariat of State to Australia was not my business, but was known to the Holy Father. . Doubts, of course, are cleared of facts, evidence, not claims. Unfortunately, I have no information regarding payments to Neustar Australia in 2015 over US $ 150,000 that the Social Communications Council paid as a down payment. It was not my habit to sign payments from the Secretariat of State ”. "My interest focuses on four payments worth A $ 2.3 million made by the Secretariat of State in 2017 and 2018 to Neustar Australia, two of which worth A $ 1.236 million authorized by Monsignor Becciu il May 17, 2017 and June 6, 2018 - writes Pell -. Obviously, these are separate payments from the September 11, 2015 payment that I would have authorized. What was the purpose? Where did the money go after Neustar? We will see". "The truth - he concludes - is the daughter of time".

(Unioneonline / ss)

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