Vatican appeals court declares mistrial in the 'trial of the century'
against a cardinal
[March 18, 2026]
By NICOLE WINFIELD
ROME (AP) — The Vatican appeals tribunal declared a mistrial Tuesday in
the Holy See’s big “trial of the century,” a stunning blow to both Pope
Francis’ legacy and Vatican prosecutors who had put a cardinal and
several other people on trial over alleged financial crimes.
In a 16-page ruling, the appeals court ruled that Francis and Vatican
prosecutors both made procedural errors that nullified the original
indictment against Cardinal Angelo Becciu and the others and required a
new trial. The court set a June 22 as the date for the new trial to
begin.
Defense lawyers said such a ruling was significant if not historic,
since it amounted to a Vatican court declaring that an act of the pope
had no effect.
The ruling was a win for the defense and a huge setback to Vatican
prosecutors, who have been scrambling to salvage their case. The
prosecution and 2023 convictions against Becciu and others had been held
up by the Vatican and late pope as evidence of his willingness to crack
down on financial misconduct in the Holy See.
A case that began with a London investment and grew
Becciu's lawyers said the ruling showed they were right in arguing that
the defense was put at an unfair disadvantage from the start.
“It shows that from the first moment, we were right to raise the
violation of the right to defense and to request that the law be
respected to have a fair trial,” Becciu's lawyers Fabio Viglione and
Maria Concetta Marzo said in a statement.
The case had as its main focus the Vatican’s investment of 350 million
euros ($413 million) in a London property. Prosecutors alleged brokers
and Vatican monsignors fleeced the Holy See of tens of millions of euros
in fees and commissions to acquire the property, and then extorted the
Holy See for 15 million euros ($16.5 million) to cede control of it.
The original investigation spawned two main tangents involving Becciu,
once a leading Vatican cardinal and future papal contender. He was
convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to 5½ years in prison. The
tribunal convicted eight other defendants of embezzlement, abuse of
office, fraud and other charges and imposed tens of millions of euros
(dollars) in restitution to the Holy See.
All defendants maintained their innocence and appealed after a two-year
trial that opened a pandora's box of unwanted revelations about papal
ransom payments to Islamic militants, Vatican vendettas, espionage and
other dirty laundry of the Holy See.
During the initial trial, Becciu’s lawyers in particular had complained
that prosecutors hadn’t turned over all the evidence to the defense,
violating their right to a fair trial. Prosecutors had redacted some
documents, withheld the cellphone records of a key prosecution witness
and redacted texts among the players, arguing that such omissions were
necessary to protect the secrecy of other investigations.
Defense lawyers also alleged that four secret decrees Francis signed
giving prosecutors wide-ranging powers to investigate violated the
defendants' right to a fair trial. They only learned about the decrees
just before the trial began, since the decrees were never published.
The appeals court sides with the defense
The appeals court agreed with the defense arguments.
In the ruling, the appeals court ruled that one of Francis’ decrees —
which allowed prosecutors to proceed without a preliminary judge
overseeing their work — amounted to a law that should have been
published. The failure to publish it, or to at least let the suspects
know about it, made it ineffective, the court ruled.
The court also decreed that Vatican prosecutors’ failure to turn over to
the defense all their evidence nullified their original indictment.
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Mons. Angelo Becciu presides over an eucharistic liturgy at the St.
John Lateran Basilica in Rome, Feb. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Gregorio
Borgia, File)
The finding against Francis' decree could have wide-ranging
implications for any new trial, since it throws into question
prosecutors' actions derived from the powers Francis granted them.
Chief among them was the June 2020 arrest of broker Gianluigi Torzi,
who was held in the Vatican barracks for 10 days of questioning
without charge or a judge's warrant, and had his cellphones and
laptop seized.
Defense lawyers were pleased by the ruling.
“The historic decision by the Court of Appeals—which, for the first
time in Vatican history, ruled that a papal rescript was invalid and
void due to failure to publish it—in our view results in the
complete nullity of the entire investigation and trial,” attorneys
Massimo Bassi and Cataldo Intrieri, who represent former Vatican
official Fabrizio Tirabassi, said in a statement.
The tribunal, headed by Archbishop Alejandro Arellano Cedillo,
ordered prosecutors to deposit all the documentation, “in their
original form,” by April 30. It gave the defense until June 15 to
prepare their motions before the June 22 start of the new trial.
The court stressed that it was not declaring the complete nullity of
every act of the original trial, maintaining for example the status
of the civil parties and the original acquittals. Defense lawyers
said it remains to be seen how the appeals court decides what
elements of the original trial can remain and what must be redone.
It was the second major blow to prosecutors since the appeals phase
opened last year.
In January, the Vatican’s highest Court of Cassation upheld the
lower court’s decision to throw out the prosecutor’s appeal of the
first trial entirely because prosecutor Alessandro Diddi committed
an embarrassing rookie procedural error.
On the same day as the Cassation ruling, Diddi also dropped months
of objections and abruptly resigned from the case, rather than face
the possibility that the Cassation court would order him removed.
Leo speaks about justice, unity and credibility
Tuesday's decision was issued just days after Pope Leo XIV opened
the Vatican’s judicial year. Leo, a canon lawyer, met Saturday with
the judges and prosecutors who oversee the judicial apparatus of the
Vatican City State, which follows its own peculiar legal code that
is inspired by a century-old Italian code and the church’s in-house
canon law.
In his remarks, Leo spoke of justice as a means of fostering unity
in the church and credibility within an institution. His remarks
were interpreted by some as a reference to how the Becciu trial had
in some ways damaged the Holy See’s reputation because of its many
anomalies.
“The observance of procedural safeguards, the impartiality of the
judge, the effectiveness of the right of defence and the reasonable
duration of proceedings are not merely technical instruments of the
judicial process," Leo said. "They constitute the conditions through
which the exercise of the judicial function acquires particular
authority and contributes to institutional stability.”
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