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Spending hospital donations to renovate a cardinal’s apartment is defensible, says the former president of the Vatican’s children’s hospital.
Giuseppe Profiti and the former treasurer of Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital have been charged with embezzlement and are on trial in the Vatican’s criminal court.
They are accused of diverting 422,000 euros from the hospital foundation to renovate Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s apartment. (Bertone was the Vatican Secretary of State from 2006 to 2013.)
Profiti is defending the use of funds to renovate the apartment, saying that doing so would have brought new donations. The cardinal could host intimate dinners half a dozen times a year for eight to ten wealthy potential donors at a time.
He said he expected fundraisers would have more than repaid the investment within four to five years.
“The more restricted the numbers, the more money raised since there is an element of exclusivity,” Profiti told the court on Tuesday.
Apparently no fundraisers were ever held.
Bertone, who is not under investigation, had approved the concept but “the idea was mine alone,” Profiti said.
He acknowledged that financial controls surrounding the spending had been lax. He could not recall if any contracts had been drawn up.
The work was carried out shortly after Bertone had stepped down as the Vatican’s Secretary of State.
It has been widely suggested in the Italian media as reflecting Bertone’s desire to retire in maximum comfort and elegance.
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