A former adviser to pope Francis Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail for financial crimes.
Becciu, 75, was the most senior Vatican official ever to face such charges and once seen as a papal contender himself.
The trial centred on a London property deal that ended in huge losses for the Catholic Church.
He strongly denied charges including embezzlement and abuse of office.
Cardinal Becciu’s lawyer said his client is innocent and would lodge an appeal.
He was on trial with nine other defendants. All were convicted on some counts and found not guilty on others.
The trial, which exposed infighting and intrigue in the highest Vatican ranks, had been going on for two-and-a-half years.
After three judges spent more than five hours considering the verdict, Court President Giuseppe Pignatone announced that Cardinal Becciu had been convicted of embezzlement.
The others, who included financiers, lawyers and ex-Vatican employees, were accused of various crimes, including fraud, money laundering and abuse of office. They all denied wrongdoing.
The case – the first of a Cardinal standing trial in a Vatican court involved allegations of financial impropriety at the top of the Vatican, cloak-and-dagger activity of the kind that has often characterised the secretive world of the Holy See.
The cardinal was also accused of funnelling vast sums of money to his home diocese of Sardinia, some of which reportedly benefited his family. And it was alleged he paid almost €600,000 to another of the accused, Cecilia Marogna, to help free a nun kidnapped in Mali. Prosecutors said she instead spent much of the money on luxury goods and holidays.
The charges against Becciu made him the first cardinal ever tried for financial crimes.
lt also prompted Pope Francis to strip him of rights including that of voting in a future conclave to select Francis’s successor.
