Nearly two years ago, the Vatican began its historic prosecution of Cardinal Angelo Becciu and other defendants accused of extortion, fraud, money laundering, and misuse of Vatican funds, including charitable funds donated by American Catholics to the Peter’s Pence collection. Before the trial, Becciu had been one of the highest-ranking officials at the Vatican. On December 16, 2023, a Vatican court ruled that Becciu had engaged in embezzlement by using €200 million in Church funds to make speculative investments that “violated the provisions on the administration of ecclesiastical property” and sentenced him to more than five years in prison.

While Becciu’s conviction confirmed the Vatican’s reputation for financial corruption, it also revealed the ways in which the Church in the United States has facilitated that corruption. For years, the U.S. Church has provided the Vatican with millions of dollars in donations but has imposed no meaningful restrictions on the Vatican’s use of those donations, allowing financial abuses to continue unchecked. Becciu’s conviction now provides an opportunity for the U.S. Church—bishops and laity together—to insist that the Vatican put in place meaningful financial safeguards to help prevent another financial scandal. …

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