A cardinal declares that Pope Francis authorized a secret operation to free a kidnapped nun

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The ousted Cardinal

said Thursday that the Pope authorized an operation to free a

during his statement in the process that judges him for embezzlement and extortion.

The payment authorized by the Pontiff to pay for the operation would amount to about

According to Becciu's statement,

that included the hiring of a British security company to find the nun and guarantee her release.

Missionary

was kidnapped in Mali in February 2017 by the terrorist group Al Qaeda.

She spent four years and eight months captured by the jihadists and was finally released in October 2021. During that period, the terrorist group

asking for the Vatican's help.

Becciu's statements were part of the

who, according to investigations, received up to 500,000 euros from the funds of the

managed by Becciu between 2011 and 2018, when he was the substitute and enjoyed autonomy to decide on investments .

Francis had allowed Becciu to break the pontifical secret to defend himself in court.

Marogna, owner of a company with fiscal headquarters in Slovenia that deals with humanitarian missions in

and also charged with embezzlement by the Vatican, has defended before the Italian press that with the money received thanks to Becciu's intervention he orchestrated the installation of a network of diplomacy parallel to the one deployed by the

with nunciatures throughout the world in the countries of North Africa and

The 'lady of the cardinal', as the Italian newspapers have baptized her, has defended herself against the accusations by assuring that she worked as a mediator, especially in cases of kidnapped religious.

However, the investigations have revealed that the funds of the Secretary of State, to which Becciu had unlimited access and which he used without answering to anyone, were used by the woman to

in addition to other luxury items.

Becciu has assured that he turned to Marogna as soon as he learned of the kidnapping of Narváez, in Mali and after hearing the Vatican nuncio in Colombia and other sisters of the nun's religious order asking for help.

According to the version of the dismissed cardinal, Francis authorized the hiring of the British intelligence company

Vatican

police chief from his knowledge .

According to his statement, he and Marogna met with employees of the Inkerman company in their

office in mid-January 2018 and they would not have guaranteed the success of the operation.

According to Becciu, because the Vatican wanted to stay out of the operation, Marogna became the key intermediary and the one who received the periodic payments from the Vatican secretariat of state for the operation.

The Italian cardinal has assured that he informed Francis of the meeting in London on January 15, 2018. "He listened to me and confirmed that I proceeded," Becciu pointed out. "In a subsequent meeting with the Holy Father, I explained the conversation in more detail. that we maintained with the Inkermans and the sum that we had to pay roughly: around one million euros, one part to

and another for the

"I told him that we should not go beyond that figure. He approved it. I must say that every step of this operation

Becciu said.

In a 50-page spontaneous statement, which he read at Thursday's hearing, in which he was also questioned by Vatican prosecutor

Becciu defended his position and denied having embezzled Vatican funds.

He has also explained before the judge technical questions about how the financial aspects of the purchases and investments of the

He has also defended himself against accusations that he has woven a corruption network around himself to direct Vatican investments towards speculative funds based in tax havens.

The Vatican prosecutor's office indicates in the investigations that he transferred up to 125,000 euros from the same

which collects donations from the faithful to the Pope's charitable works and over which he had direct authority as a substitute for the Secretary of State, until the

cooperative ,

whose legal representative is his brother, Tonino Becciu.

This sum would be linked, according to Becciu's version, to renovation works at the headquarters of

(province of

In fact, he has pointed out that 25,000 euros were used in 2015 to "buy the necessary machinery to help resume activities" of a bakery designed, according to his version, to help vulnerable people because it had suffered a fire.

He has also stated that of the total amount of 125,000 euros that he transferred to Caritas di Ozieri from the Secretary of State, there are still

Sardinian bishop's account.

"I would like to point out that everything related to the

its resources, its organization, as well as the local Caritas or the

is beyond my prior knowledge."

"Where would the money have come from to enrich my family? It is an unfounded accusation," said the dismissed cardinal.

In this way, he has reiterated "the absolute correctness" of his brother's conduct and has reiterated that the only amounts that were donated by the Secretary of State over the seven years, in 2015 and 2018, when he was a substitute of the Secretary of State "were for charitable purposes".

On the other hand, he has denied that the Pence funds have been used, which come from the donations of the faithful for the Pope's charitable works, and has underlined that all the operations were carried out with the reserve funds of the Secretary of State .

"Obolo's collection each year reached an average of 45/50 million euros," he assured.

He also pointed out that each month 5 million euros should be transferred from these funds to

which is in charge of accounting and managing real estate and investments, to cover the needs of the

In total, 60 million euros per year that he has specified that came to be 96 million per year when Cardinal

was at the head of the economic body.

Likewise, he assured that the Secretary of State covered "part of the expenses of Vatican Radio, which amounted to some 33 million euros a year, as well as the expenses of the diplomatic representations of the Holy See, with a budget of some 30 million a year."

The next hearing will take place on May 18.

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