Vatican to hold trial of officials accused of using children's hospital funds for cardinal's luxury flat
The Vatican is to put on trial two former officials who are accused of siphoning off nearly £400,000 from a Vatican-owned children’s hospital and using it to renovate a luxurious apartment for a powerful cardinal.
Giuseppe Profiti and Massimo Spina will face their first hearing in front of a Vatican tribunal next Tuesday, it was announced.
Mr Profiti, the former president of the Bambino Gesu (Baby Jesus) Hospital in Rome, and Mr Spina, its former treasurer, are accused of diverting 422,000 euros (£372,000) of hospital funds towards the renovation of the property for Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Cardinal Bertone was Secretary of State – effectively the Vatican’s prime minister - during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.
He fell from favour under Benedict’s successor, Pope Francis, and was removed from office just eight months after Francis was elected in 2013.
During his seven years in office he was blamed for many of the gaffes and controversies of Benedict’s papacy.
In its statement, the Vatican accused the two men of having “used, in an illegal manner, money belonging to the Bambino Gesu Foundation, money to which they both had access due to their roles in the institution.”
The money was illicitly taken from the hospital’s coffers between November 2013 and March 2014, and used for "completely extra-institutional purposes" in restructuring the cardinal’s apartment, the Holy See said.
The pair will be tried in a Vatican tribunal consisting of three judges.
Mr Profiti has admitted that hospital money was used, but said the apartment was to be used for official fundraising events.
In a letter he wrote in 2013 to the cardinal, he suggested hosting gatherings and meetings in “what is to be Your Eminence’s residence”.
The flat is Vatican property but was assigned to Cardinal Bertone after he retired as Secretary of State in 2013.
He has acknowledged that it is large but said he shared it with three nuns as well as a secretary. The property includes a library, several bedrooms and a broad terrace.
After the allegations concerning the payments came to light Cardinal Bertone made a donation of €150,000 euros to the hospital foundation out of his own pocket in 2015. Bertone has always denied any knowledge of the payments and was not charged.
