Newsroom (04/04/2025 15:53, Gaudium Press) Following his conviction by the Vatican’s single tribunal, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu now has several high-profile defenders. Contrary to expectations, the “Becciu case” was not closed with the cardinal’s conviction for embezzlement (he is still a cardinal).
A book, Il processo Becciu. Un’analisi critical, by well-known names in ecclesiastical law, Geraldina Boni, Manuel Ganarin, and Alberto Tomer, in which the authors go so far as to say that the errors in the process will have “repercussions on the international credibility of the Holy See”, not only in the criminal aspect but also on international confidence in Vatican justice, the validity of contractual clauses and economic and financial supervision.
The authors speak of procedural anomalies that would undermine confidence in the Vatican forum, and that strike at the heart of due process of law, from the violation of the right of defense to the absence of adequate counterweights in the jurisdictional structure.
The so-called Vatican forum clause is often included in contracts between Holy See entities and external parties, but if this forum is not impartial and reliable, this clause will be discarded in international contracts. Similarly, if the Vatican judiciary is shown to have fundamental problems, this would cause serious damage to the Holy See’s reputation in the economic and diplomatic spheres.
A theme also questioned in the book is that of the pope’s power, which is certainly supreme, but it is not an absolute power, as it cannot go beyond the limits set by divine law. It is precisely at this point that the book develops its deepest criticism: the lack of coherence between canon law and Vatican law, which should guarantee justice and fairness, was disregarded in Becciu’s trial.
The authors point out that canon law is not a foreign element, but the main normative source of the Vatican system. Its marginalization in recent court cases constitutes a systemic fracture that cannot fail to have repercussions on an international level: how can the Holy See claim to be trustworthy if there are serious violations of fundamental human rights within it?
The authors argue that what is at stake is not the acceptance of the Vatican’s sovereignty, but the use made of it. Sovereignty cannot be transformed into arbitrariness: it must be exercised with respect for human rights since it is the Holy See itself that proposes itself as the guarantor of human dignity in the international context.
The authors
Geraldina Boni is Professor of Canon and Ecclesiastical Law at the University of Bologna, consultant to the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, and President of the Interministerial Commission for Agreements with Religious Confessions and for Religious Freedom.
Manuel Ganarin is an Associate Professor of Canon and Ecclesiastical Law at the University of Bologna. Author of publications of mainly canonical interest, he is the coordinator of the editorial team of the interdisciplinary journal Archivio giuridico Filippo Serafini.
Alberto Tomer is a full researcher in Canon and Ecclesiastical Law at the University of Bologna. The author of two monographic works and numerous contributions published in the most respected scientific journals, he is a member of the main academic associations in the field.
With information from FarodiRoma
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
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