Cardinal sentenced to five and a half years in jail in Vatican 'trial of the century'

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

49% : The case pivots on a controversial $400 million land deal in London, which began in 2014 when the Vatican's Secretariat of State first acquired an interest in a former Harrod's warehouse in the posh neighborhood of Chelsea.
49% : The two financiers, Gianluigi Torzi and Raffaele Mincione, received sentences of six and five years respectively, while former Vatican official Fabrizio Tirabassi was sentenced to seven years while Enrico Crasso, a financial advisor to the Secretariat of State, also received a seven-year sentence.
48% : From 2011 to 2018 Becciu held the all-important position of sostituto, or "substitute," in the Secretariat of State, making him effectively the pope's chief of staff, the only figure in the Vatican system with the right to see the pope on a routine basis without an appointment.
48% : Part of the controversy surrounding the trial centered on the role of Italian Monsingor Alberto Perlasca, former head of the office for financial administration in the Secretariat of State and thus in a sense the original architect of the London deal, who instead became the star witness for the prosecution.
47% : The other defendants included two Italian financiers involved in the deal, a former aide to Becciu, two former officials of the Vatican's anti-money laundering watchdog, three former officials or advisors to the Secretariat of State, a lawyer representing one of the financiers, and a self-described security consultant tapped by Becciu to help with the liberation of a nun kidnapped by Islamic militants who allegedly used some of the ransom money to buy luxury goods for herself.
45% : While supporters of Pope Francis may argue that the results herald a new era of accountability in which no one is above the law, critics are likely to focus on questions about due process and the rule of law, including complaints that because Francis is both the supreme executive and judicial authority in the Vatican City State, a fair trial was essentially impossible.

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