Becciu resigns from cardinal, shadow of London palace to resign

Published on: 09/24/2020 9:55 PM

There is no peace on the Tiber. The last act of the Vatican affair is the sensational departure of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former substitute of the Secretary of State from 2011 to 2018, then prefect ‘promoted’ of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints. The details of the resignation of Becciu, who not only leaves the Congregation but also renounces the cardinal, are unknown, but the descending parable of the would-be Pope cannot help but recall the scandal at the London palace that has made the Sacred Palaces tremble during months. .

In fact, it is from the investments made by the Secretary of State in the Athena Capital Global Opportunities Fund of the well-known financier Raffaele Mincione, after a similar business attempt that failed in Angola, that the investigation carried out by researchers from the Office of the Promoter of Judge Gian Piero Milano and his assistant Alessandro Diddi. An operation, that of Athena, born just when Monsignor Angelo Becciu was in charge of the General Affairs section of the Secretariat, and considered anomalous by the Vatican Judicial Power only due to the fact that it was decided to partially finance the fund with money. of San Pedro Pence, thus allocating sums withheld with limitations of purpose to speculative operations to support charitable activities.

And it is from Angola, where the cardinal was apostolic nuncio from 2001 to 2009, where the events unfold. Specifically, during the ‘Becciu administration’ the Secretary of State decides to invest more than 200 million dollars in an oil platform off the coast of the African country: we are in 2013 and the investment is initially entrusted to the financier Antonio Mosquito of Falcon Oil. Raffaele Mincione was called in to act as advisor to the operation and Enrico Crasso, who, at the time at Credit Suisse, was already managing the Vatican’s finances on behalf of the Secretary of State. However, due diligence is negative and the deal in Angola is closed. The 200 million were then entrusted to Mincione, who created the Athena fund. We are in 2014.

However, even this business will soon prove not very convenient for the Holy See and it will be precisely the need to get out of this uncomfortable operation that costs the Vatican millions of euros that will lead to the purchase of the Sloane Avenue property in London through the brokerage. Gianluigi Torzi and his Gutt Sa.

The closest collaborators of the now former Pattada cardinal get into trouble over the Sloane Avenue affair, starting with Msgr. Mauro Carlino (his former secretary, ’emissary’ of the Secretary of State in negotiations with Torzi), investigated for extortion in competition with Torzi, Crasso and Fabrizio Tirabassi, and by Mons. Alberto Perlasca, head of investments of the Secretary of State, investigated for embezzlement in competition with Torzi, Tirabassi, Crasso and Mincione. Also, obviously, to Crassus, the man to whom Becciu entrusted all the coffers of the Vatican. Perlasca, Tirabassi, Carlino and another close associate of Becciu, Vincenzo Mauriello, in addition to the director of the AIF Tommaso Di Ruzza, will later be fired by the Pope on May 1, 2020, after registration at the offices of the Secretary of State.

On the London scandal there is also one of the most violent clashes ever recorded in Oltretevere, a scathing exchange with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, which has Becciu as the protagonist. Responding to Parolin, who defines the Sloane Avenue affair as “opaque”, Becciu, in fact, reiterating that he has always acted in the exclusive interest of the Holy See, does not hesitate to evoke the “mud machine.”