Cardinal Besio and a former chancellor clashed in a tense Vatican trial

cardinal Angelo Pesio, The main defendant in a trial in the Vatican for allegations financial irregularitiestoday by the former advisor Francesca Chocoyin a grueling hearing at the Court of the Holy See in which letters with Pope Francis were revealed.

The Italian cardinal has been charged with 9 other people in this trial that since July 2021 has attempted to clarify alleged wrongdoing in the Vatican State Secretariat, of which he was second in command until 2018, and the fraudulent purchase of a building in London.

In today’s hearing No. 44, Shawky testified, a controversial woman known in the Vatican for having been an advisor on economic reform to the Holy See and ending up in 2016 accused of leaking confidential documents in the case. “vatileaks2”.

It came with a file Thousands of documents To accuse Besio, but his pressure resurfaced Alberto Perlasca, Managing Director of the Secretary of State until 2019 who, although investigated, has not been charged with assisting investigations.

It was learned at the hearing that Shawky tried to pressure Perlaska to rehabilitate the Pope after his conviction, so that he could work in the Vatican, a purpose for which Pesci needed to “serve as a bridge”.

About this, a letter appeared in which he said to Perlasca: “I know everything about you, about your relationships, that you raise your elbow more than you should, I have photos, videos, and witnesses, if you want I can destroy you.”

The cardinal also admitted that he had written a letter to the pope himself reprimanding him for allowing Al-Shawki, convicted of the aforementioned leaks, to take part in kissing his hand in the Vatican in August 2017, barely a year into his sentence.

In the letter, which was revealed in this 7-hour and sometimes angry audience, Becchio expressed his “deep indignation” at this fact, in which, as he explained, the Pope had “forever” denied his entry into the Vatican.

But also because the kiss of the hand involved the legitimization of the woman: “By the kiss of the hand of yesterday I publicly repudiated,” he wrote, “and the lady will have more power to continue demolishing me by all the diabolical means she is capable of.”

Soon after, Francisco responded by asking for his forgiveness. “I’m sorry if this greeting can be painful. They asked me if Our Lady could come with her children for a general audience to kiss them on the hand, and I thought if she did well, let her come.” The Pope also replied that I had almost forgotten this Lady’s “adventure.” .

On the other hand, Bikyo denounced that Shogi had “something” against him and denied that he was the one He was ordered arrested in 2015 After the news leaked.

The second witness who testified today in the Vatican court was a friend of the Prilska family. Genoveva Severi, And it seems that the instigator with Shawky on the accusations against the cardinal.

He asserted that he had “been under his control for years,” who exerted “psychological pressure to silence him,” so that he feared that he would be “eliminated,” and bid farewell to the cardinal, saying: “I will be his enemy like an army in battle.”

(with information from EFE)

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