(Nicole Winfield, AP) The Vatican
tribunal weighing a financial fraud case heard from an unusual witness
Thursday, when a secret recording of Pope Francis was played to the
court about the Holy See’s payments to free a nun held hostage by
al-Qaida-linked militants. The
broadcast of the pope’s own voice in the courtroom marked a surreal new
chapter in a trial that has already seen plenty of twists as Vatican
judges try to determine who, if anyone, is criminally responsible for
losing tens of millions of euros in Holy See assets.Vatican
prosecutors introduced the recording into evidence Thursday, saying it
was part of a trove of material recently obtained from Italian financial
police who are investigating a Sardinian charity linked to Cardinal
Angelo Becciu, a onetime close Francis collaborator who is one of the 10
defendants in the Vatican trial. (...)
