The Vatican went on trial in a London court on Wednesday (June 26) as a British financier sought to clear his name after being convicted by a Vatican tribunal in a London property case.
It is believed to be the first time the Holy See has been forced to stand trial in a foreign court.
Raffaele Mincione was convicted by a Vatican tribunal following an investigation into a 350-million-euro Vatican investment in a London property.
He was convicted on an embezzlement-related charge and sentenced to more than five years in prison.
Financier claims
But Mincione, who remains free pending an appeal, lodged a counter civil claim against the Holy See’s secretariat of state at London’s High Court, insisting he acted in good faith.
“I am delighted that these proceedings in England are finally underway,” Mincione said in a statement. “I look forward to these issues being examined by an independent and internationally respected judicial system.”
The trial is expected to last a few weeks and feature testimony from a high-ranking Vatican official, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, no. 3 in the secretariat of state.
Lawsuits filed in the U.S. to hold the Vatican liable for clergy sexual abuse failed since the Holy See was able to claim it enjoyed immunity as a sovereign state. But the British court allowed Mincione’s case to proceed because it involved a commercial transaction, which is not typically covered by sovereign immunity claims.
What’s the case about
The case concerns the Vatican’s decision in 2013-2014 to invest in a Mincione fund to acquire a stake in a former Harrod’s warehouse in London. It hoped to develop the property into luxury apartments and earn rental income.
By 2018, the Vatican’s secretariat of state decided to exit the fund, unhappy with its performance, but wanted to retain ownership of the property. Another London-based broker, Gianluigi Torzi, helped negotiate a 40 million euro payout to Mincione.
Vatican prosecutors alleged that Torzi and Mincione conspired to defraud the Holy See of millions of euros.
They alleged that Mincione, whose fund had purchased the Harrod’s warehouse at auction in 2012 for 129.5 million pounds (around US$165 million) plus eight million pounds in costs, had inflated the property’s value to 230 million pounds when Vatican invested in it. The prosecutors accused Torzi of then extorting the Vatican for another 15 million euros to cede control of the building, after the Vatican realized it still didn’t own it.
Those transactions came under scrutiny at the Vatican trial, which ended in December . Both Mincione and Torzi were convicted.
Mincione rejected the Vatican’s accusations of fraud and embezzlement. He took his case to the United Nations human rights office to allege incongruities in the Vatican trial.
A separate British court has previously cast doubts about the Vatican prosecutors’ allegations in the London deal. In 2021, Judge Tony Baumgartner of Southwark Crown Court reversed another judge’s decision to seize the British-based bank accounts of Torzi.
Baumgartner accused the Vatican prosecutors of making “appalling” misrepresentations and concluded that they hadn’t provided sufficient evidence to make their case against him.