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Mohammed Isa (CL), Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments welcomes the then papal envoy, Cardinal Angelo Becciu (CR) at the Chapel of Our Lady of Holy Cross in the city of Oran, north of Algeria, where seven French monks and 12 other clerics killed during the country’s civil war was beatified on December 8, 2018. Becciu resigned amid a financial scandal at his office. Photo by RYAD KRAMDI / AFP
VATICAN CITY – A 39-year-old Italian woman confirmed Wednesday that she received 500,000 euros ($ 590,000) from the Vatican through influential Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, forced to resign by the pope last month following charges of embezzlement and nepotism.
“I did not steal a euro,” Cecilia Marogna told the Domani daily about payments in installments of tens of thousands of euros to her company based in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana.
Rather, “I have a letter from the cardinal granting me the right to travel and maintain diplomatic relations to help the Church in difficult countries,” he said, claiming to know “high-ranking members of the Italian secret services.”
Marogna, 39, is like Becciu, 72, from the Italian island of Sardinia.
The payments to her came while Becciu was number two in the Vatican Secretariat of State, which manages the Church’s vast donations.
He has been accused of diverting funds intended for the poor to family members, a charge he denies.
Marogna denied being Becciu’s “mistress”, claiming she is a “political analyst and intelligence expert” and developed “a network of relations in Africa and the Middle East” to protect Vatican representatives abroad.
Several Italian media outlets received anonymous envelopes with details of the accounts of Marogna’s company, Logsic.
The investigative TV show Le Iene aired some of them showing 200,000 euros spent on luxury goods, including 8,000 euros on Chanel and 12,000 euros with Frau for an armchair.
“I think I have the right to buy a chair after all that work!” Marogna said, claiming that he is an innocent victim of the internal power struggles in the Holy See.
He added that some of the money had gone into a purse he gave to the wife of a Nigerian friend, who said he had informed her of the dangers facing Vatican missions in African countries.
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