Rome – Pope Francis has sent another message to Vatican-based cardinals and bishops to hold them accountable for criminal misconduct: they overcame procedural hurdles that prevented them from being prosecuted by the Criminal Tribunal of Vuitton.
A new law published on Friday makes it clear that the Vatican city-state prosecutors have jurisdiction over the Holy See cardinal and bishop and only the Pope’s consent is needed to investigate against them.
The law repealed a regulation, which was upheld as in the previous year, stating that only the Supreme Court of Appeal’s tribunal, which is composed of three cardinal judges, of the actions of cardinals and bishops accused of criminal offenses. Can assess.
The reform is the latest sign that after eight years of campaigning about ending corruption and other criminal activity in the Holy See, Francis is making it easier for Vatican prosecutors to hold their own cardinals and bishops, holding them responsible Is taking concrete steps.
On Thursday morning, he passed a separate law to force senior Vatican officials to declare their finances clean, and Set a $ 48 cap on work-related personal gifts
Received by any Vatican employee. Gift caps were seen as a way of giving financial gifts to the Holy See clerics, and such money could increase favor.
Friday’s reform is after Francis’ decision last year Cardinal Angelo Bikisu, a senior Vatican officialHer rights and privileges, as Kardik saw as a step up to ground work for Bisecu, were presumably put on trial.
However, the charges against him are unclear, and Besiku has not been charged with any crime.
Besiku has said that Francis cited a 100,000-euro donation using the Holy See money for a charity run by his brother. Bisiku denies wrongdoing, noting that he had the absolute right to disobey the money, the money was destined for charity, not for his brother, and the money never left the diocesan bank account, In which it was sent.
Initially Besiku was also involved in it. The London real estate venture which is now the subject of a Vatican corruption investigation. But after being promoted to the saint-making office of the Vatican, significant transactions under investigation took place.
The new procedural law will certainly take any step unnecessarily to remove any other cardinal of his prerogative on Friday before an indictment is even handed down.
Francis introduced the law, stating that it was necessary to keep everyone equal under the law.
“An understanding of such values and principles, which have progressively matured in the community, is today required to conform the Vatican code more adequately to international standards”, he wrote.
Within the church’s in-house canon law system for church crimes, cardinals and bishops are only judged by the pope, a full emperor with exclusive legislative, executive, and judicial power in the Vatican. That privilege was also extended to the criminal code of city-state tribunals, causing some inconsistencies in recent years.
In a famous case, prosecutors decided not to even investigate the cardinal whose Vatican apartment was renovated using one and a half million dollars in donations for the Pope’s Children’s Hospital. The hospital’s president who diverted funds for the reconstruction project was convicted by the Vatican tribunal, but the cardinal who benefited from the crime was also not called to testify, much less kept under investigation.
more recently, A British judge expressed concern The current Vatican hierarchy was spared investigations into the London real estate corruption case. The judge commented in a ruling regarding property confiscation related to one of the Vatican’s prime suspects. The judge questioned that the Vatican’s Secretary of State and his No. 2 had not even given witness statements about their knowledge of the deal, when documents and evidence indicated that they had authorized it.
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