Cardinal Angelo Becciu recorded phone call with Pope Francis

The five-minute chat between the disgraced cardinal and the pontiff included what some Vatican observers described as a threat.

Disgraced Cardinal Angelo Becciu. Picture: AFP

The disgraced cardinal at the ­centre of a Vatican trial secretly ­recorded a phone conversation with Pope Francis in a bizarre ­attempt to defend himself against charges of abuse of office and embezzlement.

The five-minute recording, played to a closed court on the 37th day of hearings, represents the most surreal moment in the trial of Cardinal Angelo Becciu – arch enemy of Australian cardinal ­George Pell – and one of 10 defendants accused of committing financial crimes involving the loss of millions of euros in Vatican funds.

A transcript of the call obtained by Italian news agency Adnkronos reveals that Cardinal Becciu called Pope Francis on July 24 last year, just three days before the Vatican trial began and only 10 days after the 86-year-old pontiff had undergone serious intestinal surgery.

Cardinal Becciu had just learned he was facing embezzlement charges over a mysterious payment of more than €800,000, allegedly ransom and costs to a private London security firm to secure the release of a kidnapped Colombian nun.

The transcript reveals Cardinal Becciu repeatedly pushed the Pope to acknowledge he had been briefed on the case and personally approved it: “You remember … you remember,” he insisted.

Pope Francis, at first seemingly confused and unsure of what is being asked of him, is heard saying ‘Ehhhhh?” several times, finally acknowledging a “vague recollection” and asking the cardinal to put his questions “in writing”. At the end of the conversation however, Cardinal Becciu, reminds the Pope that the matter is covered by a Vatican State ­Secrets order, issuing a thinly veiled threat that if he was questioned in court and the orders lifted, “we would be free to say anything and everything we wanted to say.” The Pope answers with one word: “Capisco” (I understand).

While there is no provision in Vatican law for the Pope to be questioned during a criminal trial, Cardinal Becciu’s defence team has insisted for months that it wants to ascertain how much the pontiff knew about the litany of ­financial decisions that led to the loss of millions of euros in church funds, raised by the faithful worldwide

Veteran Vatican observers told The Australian that the reference to State Secrecy could only be read as a threat, perhaps even of personal blackmail: “I have ­always stated and been under the impression that the Pope was being blackmailed. It seems to be the only answer to his erring ­behaviour” one source said.

“It seems a clear threat to me. I am only surprised that Becciu ­recorded himself threatening the Pope. I’d have thought he’d be more subtle,” noted another.

It was an extraordinary week in the so-called Vatican “trial of the century” as it was revealed that Italian financial police have been conducting a separate, concurrent investigation of a charity linked with Becciu’s family on his native island of Sardinia.

Pope Francis at The Vatican. Picture: AFP

The Vatican’s Chief Prosecutor, Angelo Diddi, told the court that police had found the secret phone recording of the conversation with the Pope in a large trove of electronic evidence ­including hundreds of chat messages between Cardinal Becciu and family members. These are to be introduced as evidence in the Vatican trial and the ­cardinal will now face parallel charges of criminal conspiracy.  The court heard for the first time on Friday that the Holy See lost €100m in transaction and ­broker fees alone on a building bought for €275m in 2014 and sold six years later for €186m.

Prosecution star witness-turned-whistleblower Monsignor Alberto Perlasca took to the stand. Monsignor Perlasca, a powerful figure in the Secretary of State for many years, effectively held the keys to the Vatican treasury and Peter’s Pence, the funds donated by Catholic faithful around the world, and worked closely with Cardinal Becciu.

He vehemently denied he was a key witness, insisting that he was simply doing what Cardinal Becciu told him to and answered “I don’t remember” so many times on specifics that tribunal president Giuseppe Pignatone suggested he “consult his notes” and return to the stand on Wednesday.

“I’m not an arch-accuser. I haven’t accused anyone of anything … these are things that everyone knew about already,” he told the court.

“He (Becciu) made me do those things for which he is ­accused today … I wanted only to make it clear that I was neither an accomplice nor in connivance and only ended up part of this story because I was made to do things I didn’t want to do.”

Monsignor Perlasca revealed that after being interviewed by ­investigators the first time in 2020, he sought help from Cardinal Becciu several times but was ignored and in frustration, even threatened by WhatsApp message to “end it all” if his former boss didn’t help him prove his innocence.

Under detailed questioning about the payments to the ­Sardinian charity, Monsignor Perlasca confirmed several payments of €10,000 to €30,000 had been made from Vatican funds on Cardinal Becciu’s orders and that he had suggested that the largest transfer, of €100,000, be split into two to avoid financial scrutiny. Cardinal Becciu refused and told him: “Let’s do this: ‘let’s send it via IOR [Institute for Works of ­Religion] as a charity contribution from the Pope’ but he didn’t tell us if he had the Holy ­Father’s approval,”

Prosecutor Diddi told the court that financial police had also found 927 receipts, supposedly for the delivery of loaves of bread, but that these were fakes, made up in a bungled attempt to account for the funds paid from Rome to the Sardinian charity account.

“There is evidence of hefty ­interference from the Roman curia on the (local) diocese … the bishop however knew nothing of the (bank) account used for this money,” he said.