Did Pope Francis restrict defendants’ rights?
The pontiff signed secret decrees authorising wiretaps
IT HAD BEEN billed as the trial of the century. It would spotlight Pope Francis’s determination to stamp out financial jiggery-pokery by establishing whether and how the Vatican was tricked and extorted out of tens of millions of euros in a botched property deal. Among the defendants was a “prince of the church”: Cardinal Angelo Becciu (pictured), former deputy head of the Vatican’s most exalted department, the Secretariat of State. Yet seven months after Cardinal Becciu and nine other defendants were arraigned in court in the Vatican, not a word of evidence has been heard. The main outcome from seven preliminary hearings has been awkward questions about the genial pontiff’s respect for the rule of law.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Holy See-saw”
Europe February 26th 2022
- Turkey’s rapprochement with Russia may not survive the war in Ukraine
- Money matters take centre-stage in France’s election
- The leader of Spain’s main opposition party is ousted
- Did Pope Francis restrict defendants’ rights?
- An EU scheme to limit the use of dangerous gases runs into problems
- Europe is the free-rider continent
From the February 26th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right
The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term
Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets
She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics
The maths of Europe’s military black hole
It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk
Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare
A rise in antisemitism puts Europe’s liberal values to the test
The return of Europe’s oldest scourge