Vatican cash ‘used on luxury handbags’

A Vatican probe has found money intended for the rescue of Catholic hostages was used to buy luxury goods.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu. Picture: AFP

The investigation into Vatican finances that led to the abrupt ousting of a cardinal last month has also uncovered payments to a Sardinian woman who is alleged to have used money intended for the rescue of Catholic hostages to buy luxury handbags and clothing.

Cecilia Marogna, 39, is alleged to have received €500,000 ($824,070) from the Vatican secretariat of state at a time when its financial activities were managed by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 72.

The cardinal, who is also from Sardinia, was fired by the Pope from his role as head of the Vatican’s saint-making office last month over accusations of embezzlement and nepotism.

Money from the Vatican was allegedly paid to a company based in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana headed by Ms Marogna. Italian newspapers, who have called her “Mata Hari”, said some of it was spent on clothes and accessories from Prada and Yves Saint Laurent.

Ms Marogna, who is thought to have met Cardinal Becciu in 2015, is alleged to have been introduced in Vatican circles as his niece.

on Tuesday she said the money had served to create a high-level diplomatic network on behalf of the Vatican, and denied that any had been stolen. It had also been used “to try and free priests and nuns kidnapped in difficult territories. But I didn’t steal a euro.”

Ms Marogna told Domani newspaper that she had contacts with the top echelons of the Italian secret services. In an interview with Corriere della Sera she described herself as a “political analyst and intelligence expert, who works honestly and lives in a rented home, supporting her daughter”.

Cardinal Becciu is alleged to have told Vatican investigators that he made the payments in good faith and was “conned” by Ms Marogna. Newspapers said he had failed to inform his successor at the secretariat of state about his dealings with Ms Marogna, and that investigators were considering adding a charge of high treason to that of embezzlement in an eventual Vatican trial.

The Times