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Cardinal Angelo Becciu at a press conference – Mimmo Muolo
Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu reiterates his absolute loyalty to the Pope, but rejects all the accusations with calm firmness. “I have not misappropriated funds. I gave the 100 thousand euros of the Pennies of San Pedro to Caritas of the diocese of Ozieri (the diocese of which it is, ed) and they are still there (news also confirmed by the bishop of the Diocese of Sardinia, ed) Falsehoods have been written about me, which could also merit a lawsuit, as the lawyer told me “. The day after “the film from a clear sky” – its definition – the now former prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints appears in front of journalists and explains his version of events. Reconstructing also the conversation with the Pope on Thursday afternoon, during which he was asked to resign his position and renounce the prerogatives of the cardinals. But he adds the hope that the “misunderstanding” will soon be cleared up.
The conversation with the Pope
Above all, the premise: “I renew my trust in the Holy Father. By becoming a cardinal, I promised to give my life for the Church and for the Pope. Today I renew my trust and I am ready to give my life.” Then the story: “Until 18:02 on Thursday I felt like a friend of the Pope, faithful executor of his will. Then the Pope says that he no longer has faith in me because he has received the report of the magistrates (Vatican, ed) that is based in some indications of the Italian financial police, he had committed embezzlement “. Basically, Becciu explained, the accusation refers to a sum of 100,000 euros that when he was a substitute for the Secretary of State he had allocated to Caritas in the diocese of Ozieri. The funds, the cardinal continued, were obtained from a fund where the Pence de San Pedro concludes and which is available to the substitute to move. “So I did not divert the funds from their destination, and it was at my discretion to use them for various charities.” “Why precisely to my diocese? In 7-8 years I had never done support work for Sardinia. I know that in my diocese there is an emergency especially due to unemployment, I wanted to allocate those 100 thousand euros to Caritas,” That money is still there and he did not give it to my brother’s cooperative. So I don’t know why they accuse me of embezzlement. “
According to Becciu, the Pope suffered a lot while saying these things to him, visibly upset. “I am pale and have repeatedly invited him to explain the accusation to me. Then I told him: ‘If you no longer have faith in me I will renounce the office and prerogatives of cardinal as you ask. The interview lasted about twenty minutes. During which, Becciu reported, “The subject of the palace in London was not touched upon. The cardinal also reiterated that in that case St. Peter’s Pence” was not touched “and that on other occasions Francis had told her that she never felt that he would have done something dishonest.
The accusation of embezzlement and of having favored the brothers
As soon as he left his conversation with the Pope, Becciu said that he had telephoned his brother, president of the Spes cooperative and Bishop of Ozieri to find out how the 100,000 euros had been used. “I also thought: let’s hope my brother isn’t wrong. Later, when they both told me that the money was still there, because the bishop wanted to use it for a project that also required the use of other resources, I jumped for joy. “I have not enriched my family,” Becciu added. “Go to Sardinia and see how they live. Among other things, he explained in response to a specific question, the cooperative chaired by his brother, which is the operational arm of the diocesan Caritas, has a bakery, cultivates two or three vineyards and has a group of construction workers, employing about sixty people, which for Ozieri’s reality is pure oxygen, given the economic and social difficulties of the moment.
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The Bishop of Ozieri: Caritas can demonstrate the correctness of the accounts
Meanwhile, “pain and respect” for the matter is expressed by the Bishop of Ozieri, Monsignor Corrado Melis, in a letter sent to Cardinal Becciu himself in which he firmly defends the work of the local Caritas and the Spes social cooperative of which he is legal. representing one of the cardinal’s brothers, Tonino. The prelate states that Caritas acts “with the sole purpose of alleviating the difficulties of needy individuals and families,” in addition “by creating job and employment opportunities in the context of specific projects, financed by various Organizations directly from Caritas, and managed by a non-profit organization trusted by the diocese, the Spes Cooperative. “
“The accurate and constant reporting of the sums received by the diocesan Caritas – underlines the Bishop of Ozieri – is such that it leaves no doubt about the real destination of the funds, deposited in two different checking accounts in which both donations from 8 per thousand, and the amounts administered from time to time to finance projects and intervene in the most critical situations of poverty and lack of work ”.
Monsignor Melis then specifies that “in one of these accounts, however, a payment of 100,000 from the Vatican Secretariat of State flowed” in 2017, which however “has not yet been used” because “the achievement of a larger amount. ” indispensable for the global financing of the project “of a” citadel of charity.
Therefore, Monsignor Melis clearly clarifies “that no act of favor, much less improper or illegitimate, is and has never been a beneficiary of the diocesan Caritas of Ozieri, which has always received the disbursement of funds from the CEI, the Region of Sardinia and other Bodies to which it has carried out and reports on its work, of which it can demonstrate the regularity and documentary correctness and at any time, in particular, certifying that it has never used a single penny of said resources for purposes other than humanitarian and charitable “.
Finally, the Bishop of Ozieri ensures “his immediate availability to document and certify the above”, noting that he has never had “the distant perception” of “improper intentions or purposes on the part of his collaborators, such as the Spes Cooperative, to which vice versa , recognizes the remarkable operational capacity and the realization of beneficial purposes in aid of the work provided by diocesan Caritas. ” (Gianni Cardinale)
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