The Vatican Court of Appeal has postponed until January 2027 the examination of the preliminary issues in the case concerning the management of the Holy See’s funds, in which Cardinal Angelo Becciu was convicted at first instance. The hearing held this Thursday, October 29, lasted only eleven minutes and concluded with the scheduling of four new sessions to determine, among other matters, whether the court order to deliver the entire investigation documentation has been complied with.
According to Vatican News reported, the seventh hearing of this second instance began at 9:17 and ended at 9:28. Of the ten defendants, three appeared: Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Fabrizio Tirabassi, and Enrico Crasso.
The president of the court, Monsignor Alejandro Arellano Cedillo, announced that the next sessions will be held from January 26 to 29, 2027, between 9:00 and 13:30, and will be «devoted exclusively to preliminary issues.»
Arellano Cedillo clarified that the Court «will not yet enter into the merits of the case.» Before setting the schedule, the court consulted the civil parties—the Secretariat of State, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), and the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF)—as well as the Promoter of Justice and the defense attorneys.
Defenses demand that all evidence be delivered without omissions
The central issue the Court must examine is compliance with the order issued on March 17, when the appeals court found a relative nullity in the first-instance proceedings and ordered the renewal of part of the debate.
That ruling required the Promoter of Justice, Alessandro Diddi, to deposit the complete investigation file with the court registry before April 30.
However, the defenses maintain that the documentation delivered remains partially redacted with omissis and that the prosecution has excluded certain documents on the grounds that they are «not relevant» or related to other lines of investigation.
The lawyers had already denounced this situation in May, when they accused the Promoter of Justice of failing to comply with the court’s orders. Subsequently, they warned of new omissions in evidence considered fundamental to the case.
At the end of Thursday’s hearing, the lawyers expressed satisfaction with the established schedule and reiterated that the March order must be fully complied with.
Attorney Luigi Panella, defense counsel for Enrico Crasso, insisted that all investigation documents must be made available to the parties without hidden fragments.
For his part, Becciu limited himself to commenting on the new postponement with a brief phrase in Italian: «Siamo nervosi» («We are nervous»).
Becciu’s lawyer warns that «the entire conviction could fall»
On the eve of the hearing, Fabio Viglione, Cardinal Becciu’s lawyer, had questioned the validity of the procedure in an interview given to Quotidiano Nazionale.
«The entire conviction could fall due to a flaw in the acts,» the lawyer stated, who believes that failure to comply with the document delivery order prevents remedying the nullity identified by the Court of Appeal.
Viglione maintains that the prosecution cannot unilaterally decide which investigation documents the defenses should have access to.
«No rule grants ‘selective’ powers to the Prosecution over the acts of investigation,» he noted.
According to the lawyer, the problem does not affect only certain documents, but the very regularity of the procedure that led to the first-instance conviction.
The decision on the legal consequences of these alleged irregularities will rest with the Court of Appeal, which will begin examining them in the sessions scheduled for January.
Chaouqui and Ciferri’s messages return to the center of the case
Another point highlighted by Becciu’s defense is the content of the conversations between Francesca Chaouqui and Genoveffa Ciferri, related to Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, one of the main witnesses in the case.
Viglione considers that these messages support the thesis that the cardinal was the victim of a «machination» and maintains that their content was barely used during the first-instance trial.
The lawyer insists that the documentation must be examined in its entirety to clarify the circumstances under which the investigation was conducted and certain testimonies were obtained.
In the interview with Quotidiano Nazionale, Viglione also defended his client’s innocence: «Becciu is fully innocent» and «has not taken a single cent,» he stated.
These statements form part of the defense’s position and do not constitute conclusions adopted by the court.
An appeal pending since the December 2023 conviction
Cardinal Angelo Becciu was convicted in December 2023 by the Tribunal of the Vatican City State in the case related to the management of the Holy See’s funds, which included the real estate operations of the Secretariat of State in London.
The appeals procedure has been marked by controversies over the defenses’ access to the complete case file and by the March 2026 ruling, which required a review of part of the proceedings.
With the schedule announced this Thursday, the court will devote four days in January to resolving the preliminary issues before addressing the merits of the appeals filed against the sentence.
The decision on the validity of the proceedings and the consequences of the possible documentary omissions will be decisive for the continuation of the case.