Vatican appeals judges on Tuesday declared a mistrial in the Holy See’s high-profile “trial of the century” case involving Cardinal Angelo Becciu and several other defendants, and they set a June 22 date for a fresh start. The 16-page ruling described procedural mistakes attributed to both Pope Francis and Vatican prosecutors as the reason the original indictment cannot stand.
The tribunal said the errors required the nullification of the original indictment and a new trial rather than letting the prosecution proceed on the same case. The judges also set deadlines for the next phase of litigation, including instructions for prosecutors to provide the case materials and time for the defense to prepare its motions ahead of the retrial.
A central issue in the appeals ruling involved a decree signed by Francis that, according to the court, allowed prosecutors to proceed without the oversight of a preliminary judge. The appeals court said the decree should have been published and that the failure to publish it, or to ensure suspects were aware of it, made it ineffective.
The ruling also targeted evidence-handling by prosecutors. The appeals tribunal said prosecutors’ failure to turn over all evidence to the defense nullified the original indictment, aligning with the defense argument that the process fell short of fair-trial safeguards.
Defense lawyers said the decision was significant for how it affects the underlying investigation and trial record. In a statement, attorneys Fabio Viglione and Maria Concetta Marzo said the ruling showed that “from the first moment, we were right to raise the violation of the right to defense and to request that the law be respected to have a fair trial.”
Becciu’s legal team also cited the “historic” nature of what the appeals court did regarding Francis’ papal rescript, saying in a separate statement by attorneys Massimo Bassi and Cataldo Intrieri—who represent Fabrizio Tirabassi—that the appeals court ruled it “invalid and void due to failure to publish it,” and that this, in their view, meant the entire investigation and trial faced “complete nullity.”
The appeals tribunal, headed by Archbishop Alejandro Arellano Cedillo, directed prosecutors to deposit all documentation “in their original form” by April 30. It set June 15 as the deadline for the defense to prepare its motions before the June 22 start of the new trial.
The case itself stemmed from a Vatican investment of 350 million euros ($413 million) in a London property, prosecutors said in the original proceedings. Prosecutors alleged that brokers and Vatican monsignors took tens of millions of euros in fees and commissions to acquire the property, then demanded 15 million euros ($16.5 million) to hand control of it over to the Holy See.
In the earlier trial, the tribunal convicted Becciu of embezzlement and sentenced him to 5½ years in prison, and it also convicted eight other defendants of embezzlement, abuse of office, fraud and other charges, imposing restitution orders totaling tens of millions of euros. All defendants said they were innocent and appealed after a two-year trial that, in the defense account, opened up revelations involving papal ransom payments to Islamic militants, Vatican vendettas, and espionage.
The appeals court stressed that it was not declaring the complete nullity of every act from the original trial. It said that some matters would remain in place—for example, the status of civil parties and the original acquittals—while leaving open the question of which specific elements would have to be redone in the new proceedings.
The case has already suffered setbacks for prosecutors since the appeals phase began. In January, the Vatican’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, upheld the lower court’s decision to throw out the prosecutor’s appeal of the first trial after prosecutors error involving Alessandro Diddi, who later resigned from the case.
Tuesday’s decision was issued just days after Pope Leo XIV opened the Vatican’s judicial year. Leo, described as a canon lawyer, met with judges and prosecutors overseeing the judicial apparatus of Vatican City State, and he told them that procedural safeguards, judicial impartiality, and the right to defense underpin the authority of the judicial function and institutional stability.