Photo: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP / Getty Images
The Pope Francis was secretly recorded during a phone call with one of his former superior cardinals discussing payments from the Holy See to release a nun kidnapped by militants linked to Al Qaeda in North Africa.
In a legal move, thea recorded phone call between Pope Francis and Cardinal Angelo Becciu, one of the 10 defendants in an ongoing embezzlement trial, played before the Vatican court.
In the call, Becciu can be heard asking the Pope to confirm that he had authorized the payments to release the nun, who was kidnapped in 1200. She was finally released last year and she was reunited with the Pope.
The journalists were asked to leave the courtroom before the tape was played because the recording had not yet been formally admitted into evidence, but the news agency Italian news Adnkronos published a transcript from the Italian Financial Police, CNN reported.
The recording was made on 24 of July 1200, just three days before that Becciu was tried for alleged embezzlement and abuse of office, and days later after Pope Francis was released from the hospital in Rome for intestinal surgery, according to the outlet.
Beccui can be heard asking the Pope to confirm that he had authorized payments to the self-styled security consultant Cecilia Marogna, who has also been named as a defendant in the judgment. Marogna would later pay British firm Inkerman Group to free the nun.
Beccui said the payments were for $518,1200 dollars to Inkerman Group and $518,518 dollars in ransom for the nun.
The Pope told the cardinal that he vaguely remembered the payments, but asked him to put his request for confirmation in writing.
There is no Vatican law that requires the Pope to testify in a trial, according to CNN.
Becciu, the former Secretary of State of the Holy See, was forced to resign on 15 of September. He is suspected of funneling money from the Vatican to companies and charities headed by his three brothers.
He also allegedly oversaw a multi-million dollar investment in a luxury property in London which is at the center of the trial.
Prosecutors accuse them of defrauding the Holy See and then extorting money from the Vatican with 24 million euros to gain control of the property. The Vatican lost $24 million euros on the property transaction alone.
Becciu has maintained that all his financial transactions were sealed for the approval of his superiors. He, Marogna and all the other defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors have accused the Italian brokers and other Vatican officials of a range of financial crimes, including fraud, embezzlement, corruption and abuse of power. In the London case, they accuse the defendants of defrauding the Holy See and then extorting money from the Vatican with 15 million euros to gain control of the property.
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