It is also known that Becciu was involved in two cases: the Secretariat of State’s investment in a luxury real estate venture in London – which was finalized by his successor Edgar Pena Parra and is now under scrutiny by Vatican magistrates – and the mismanagement of the Secretariat of State’s purse, of which the Secretariat has now been stripped.
The second case regards a series of suspicious transfers to Cecilia Marogna, an intelligence analyst and supposed mediator for the liberation of five nuns kidnapped in Africa.
The 39-year-old Marogna was later incarcerated and became the object of a Vatican international arrest request. Italian authorities later revoked Marogna’s arrest, in a decision that criticized the Holy See, saying the incarceration had a “motivational vacuum”, i.e. there was no apparent reason for it.
Since the beginning of the Becciu-related investigations in October 2019, there have been six Vatican officials suspended: two of them – both priests – were sent back to their home dioceses; another one was not renewed in his position; two of them got early retirement; one of them was transferred to another office, effectively demoted.
But the Holy Thursday visit sparked rumors of a possible rehabilitation for Becciu, especially when the Vatican press office was slow to confirm the visit, while a person close to Cardinal Becciu said that “Pope Francis himself” gave the cardinal permission to spread the news of the visit.
In another bizarre twist to the story, the official Vatican News portal finally reported the pope’s visit to Becciu, quoting “sources from the Focolare movement” and stressing that “since it is a private appointment of the Holy Father, there are no official confirmations for this news.”
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However, if Pope Francis had wanted to rehabilitate Becciu, clear communication on his visit would have been the order of the day, authorized by the pope himself. If fact, when Becciu resigned, the pope wanted an official Bollettino to go out so fast that Becciu found out that the news had been made official only when he got back home.
Why, then, did Pope Francis visit Becciu?
It is known that Pope Francis likes to spend Holy Thursday Mass with prisoners and other marginalized groups. Becciu is currently marginalized and under investigation. So, as one source told CNA, “The pope treated Becciu like any other inmate.”
