Probe highlights Vatican legal system's limited protectionsA criminal investigation into a Vatican real estate investment is exposing weaknesses in the city state’s judicial system and its limited protections for those accused
January 12, 2021, 7:16 AM
7 min read
VATICAN CITY -- A criminal investigation into a Vatican real estate investment is exposing weaknesses in the city state’s judicial system and a lack of some basic protections for those accused — highlighting the incompatibility of the Holy See’s procedures with European norms.
The Vatican has never been a democracy, but the incongruity of a government that is a moral authority on the global stage and yet an absolute monarchy is becoming increasingly evident. The pope is supreme judge, legislator and executive, who holds the ultimate power to hire and fire officials, judges and prosecutors and make and waive laws and regulations.
One longtime papal adviser who quit all his Holy See consulting roles to protest what he considered grave human rights violations in the probe of the 350 million-euro London real estate investment spelled out his reasoning in emails to the Vatican's No. 2 official that were obtained by The Associated Press.
If nothing is done, wrote Marc Odendall, “the Holy See will no longer be able to integrate itself in the system of civilized countries and will return to a universe reserved to totalitarian states.”
The investigation burst into public awareness on Oct. 1, 2019, when the pope’s bodyguards raided the Vatican secretariat of state — the offices of the central government of the Holy See — and the Vatican's financial watchdog authority, known as AIF. Pope Francis personally authorized the raids after a trusted ally alerted Vatican prosecutors of suspicions about the investment.
The investigation has been portrayed as a sign that Francis is cracking down on corruption. And there is evidence of at least financial mismanagement by Vatican officials, since they agreed to pay Italian middlemen tens of millions of euros in fees.
But the suspects say Francis was at least aware of the payment and that top Holy See leaders authorized it. A lawyer for one even contended that the pope himself approved it.
The Vatican prosecutor’s office denied to AP that Francis authorized the money, but acknowledged that he did join a meeting of people negotiating the final stages of the deal in which “he asked them to find a solution with the good will of all.”
The prosecutors also said the deputy secretary of state, Monsignor Edgar Pena Parra, similarly wasn't a suspect because he “was not informed" about what his subordinates were up to, though even the prosecutors' own documentation suggests he was. In fact, no senior leaders are known to be under investigation.
The case has highlighted the limitations of the Vatican law, which is based on an 1889 Italian code no longer in use and greatly curbs the rights of defendants during the investigative phase compared to modern legal systems.
For instance, Francis authorized Vatican prosecutors to use a “summary rite" that allowed them to deviate from typical procedures, essentially giving them carte blanche to interrogate and conduct searches and seizures without oversight by an investigating judge, defense lawyers say.
“It's a phase that's completely in the hands of the prosecutors," said Laura Sgro, who has defended clients before the Vatican tribunal but is not involved in this case. “It's a phase that doesn't foresee the most minimal right to defense."
