The arrest warrant for Gianluigi Torzi, who had acted as an intermediary for the Holy See in the 2018 purchase of a luxury building in London, was issued last week by the Vatican's civil court.

It has been carrying out a nearly yearlong investigation into the purchase details of a building located on London's Sloane Avenue.

The Vatican says Torzi, who is being held in Vatican custody, faces up to 12 years in prison.

An internal investigation was launched after the Vatican's Secretariat of State in November 2018 sought to withdraw 185 million euros from a Swiss investment fund.

The withdrawal was to help the Vatican regain direct management of a 17,000 m2 London building divided into about 50 luxury apartments.

However, some of the money in the Swiss fund came from the annual Peter's Pence collection. This money is meant to be used among other things, for the operation of the Roman Curia.

Misappropriations were then identified and Pope Francis ordered an investigation.

Several Vatican offices were searched, including that of the Secretariat of State. Several Vatican finance officials were removed from their posts and some were sacked.

The investigation also looked into "lay people close to the Secretariat of State" after secret accounts were discovered in several tax havens.

The Italian press says the Vatican took a first stake in the Sloane Avenue project as early as 2014, via a Luxembourg fund managed by the holding company of the Italian businessman Raffaele Mincione. It would then have made a capital gain.

Poor financial management, via Switzerland and Luxembourg, prompted the Secretariat of State to end its collaboration by buying the whole of the London building and then ceding control of it to Torzi, who was based in London.

The Vatican gendarmerie's incarceration of a non-citizen of the small city-state like the Italian banker, is extremely rare.

It underlines the Holy See's will to put an end to a time when it was at the mercy of unscrupulous financiers and its need to regain donors' confidence.

Donations are one of the primary sources of the Holy See's income along with money generated by the Vatican Museums, which has reduced as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown.

"The best we can do is to be diligent and transparent," said Father Juan Antonio Guerrero, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.

"Confidence is gained through rigor, clarity and sobriety, as well as by humbly admitting past mistakes ... We too have relied on people who did not deserve our trust. We are always vulnerable in this area."

Guerrero helped establish the Vatican's recent Code of Public Procurement that reflects the Holy See's will to comply with international standards that follow Catholic social teaching.

Source

• La Croix
• Image: National Catholic Register

Torzi, who was arrested after questioning by Vatican magistrates, was accused of extortion, embezzlement, aggravated fraud and money laundering, the Vatican press office said in a statement. Torzi is the first person to be arrested in connection with the deal.

The investigation had led to the suspension last year of five Vatican employees, the resignation of the Vatican's police chief and the departure of the former head of the Vatican's Financial Information Authority (AIF). Read more

Gianluca Gauzzi Broccoletti (known as Gauzzi), a cybersecurity expert, is taking over the security leadership role after the shock resignation of Commander Domenico Giani.

Giani resigned amid a scandal stemming from his role in an leaking information about investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing by Holy See staff.

Giani signed a memo identifying five employees who had been "suspended" and barred entry into the Vatican, though not investigated or charged.

The memo was leaked by an unknown person to the media.

Francis says the leak is comparable to a "mortal sin"; it harms the principle of presumption of innocence and is "prejudicial to the dignity of the people involved" and to the image of the police. He has ordered an investigation into the matter.

He also says he appreciates Giani's "unquestionable faithfulness and loyalty", "extreme competence" and "undisputed professionalism".

About the memo

Giani's memo followed a raid at the beginning of this month when Vatican police searched the offices of the Holy See's Secretariat of State and its Financial Information Authority.

The Secretariat controls millions of dollars donated by Catholics across the world.

The raid was seeking evidence of suspected financial wrongdoing and centred on an investigation concerning €180m in Vatican-controlled Swiss bank accounts.

The money was used to finance a luxury property development in the London district of Chelsea and resulted in huge profit for the original seller.

Who is Gauzzi?

The newly-promoted Gauzzi (45) has been Giani's deputy chief of Security Services and the Gendarmerie since 2018.

He joined the Vatican's Gendarmerie at the age of 24. Four years later, he became responsible for planning and developing the Vatican's networking and security infrastructure and cybersecurity.

His Vatican career has included being part of the unit responsible for managing the "technological security" of the 2005 and 2013 papal conclaves.

The Vatican says Gauzzi's new appointment means he is now the pope's main bodyguard or "guardian angel".

Source

• BBC
• America Magazine
• Image: Terazsk

Domenico Giani, said many of these artworks are difficult to protect because they are in isolated church buildings where no anti-theft measures are employed, or in churches that are basically abandoned because religious practice has fallen off.

As for valuable artworks scattered among parishes and dioceses around the world, he said it is absolutely necessary that local Catholic authorities obey a 1999 Vatican directive that they make a complete inventory of their art, including detailed descriptions and high-quality photographs of each item.

Not only does an inventory offer the only hope for getting a lost item back, he said, it also ensures that local Catholic officials are aware of the items they have.

Giani was speaking at a general assembly of Interpol, which maintains a photo database of stolen art works. He said this makes the illicit trafficking of cultural goods much more difficult because potential buyers can see that they are stolen.

The Vatican police chief also spoke of "in countries where revolts are under way or there are internal struggles fed by a hatred so strong that people try to destroy anything that represents 'the enemy". In such places, he said, the conditions are ripe for the theft of religious art and its permanent loss.

Giani said the Vatican is "dense with artistic riches" and recognises its potential vulnerability as a target for art thieves because of the high value of its artworks. For this reason, it tries to keep up with the most modern anti-theft technology.

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Image: GCatholic.com