On July 27, 2021, a trial began inside the Vatican Museums before a bench of three judges of the Vatican City State’s court. Now, more than 600 days since arguments began in the specially remodeled Vatican rooms, the trial continues.
At the center of the trial is Cardinal Angelo Becciu, then the substitute for General Affairs at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. the equivalent of the Vatican’s chief-of-staff. He is being tried for embezzlement and abuse of his office. The cardinal is also the highest-ever prelate to be tried by the tribunal since Pope Francis changed the Vatican’s rules in April 2021 to allow bishops and cardinals to stand trial in civil and criminal matters. 
Cardinal Becciu was effectively responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Holy See between 2011 and 2018, when he was appointed the Prefect for the then-Congregation for the Causes of Saints, before he suddenly resigned from that role and relinquished his privileges as cardinal, which include the right to vote in any future conclave. 
The trial principally investigates the controversial $225-million purchase of an investment property in Chelsea, London, which is one of the wealthiest districts in the world. It is alleged the property was paid for, in part, using funds collected from Peter’s Pence, a Vatican fund intended to help the church in its various needs across the world, especially in its outreach and relief to the most materially impoverished people and places. 
This week on “Inside the Vatican,” co-hosts Ricardo da Silva, S.J., and Gerard O’Conell discuss the most recent happenings at the Vatican’s mega-trial of the century and what has surfaced from the testimony of key witnesses. In the second half of the show, the hosts look at allegations arising from a new documentary on Polish television which alleges that when Pope John Paul II was archbishop of Krakow he knew of an covered up allegations of the sexual abuse of minors by three priests under his care.  

Related stories:
Top Vatican official says London property deal was a double ‘Via Crucis’
John Paul II knew of and concealed child sex abuse as archbishop, Polish TV reports
In a historic first, a cardinal stood trial at the Vatican over involvement in a real estate scandal
The biggest criminal trial in modern Vatican history begins tomorrow. Here’s what you need to know.
Powerful Vatican Cardinal Becciu resigns amid financial scandal
Cardinals and bishops to lose special legal privileges under new papal decree
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