Corruption trial of former Vatican hospital officials begins
July 18, 2017 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print
Vatican City, Jul 18, 2017 / 11:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- One year after Vatican City charged a priest and a laywoman in the second "Vatileaks" trial, it has begun a legal process against two laymen accused of misallocating funds from the Vatican-owned children's hospital, Bambino Gesu.
The hearing, which began at 10 a.m. inside the Vatican July 18, focused on charges brought against the former president and treasurer, respectively, of Bambino Gesù, Giuseppe Profiti and Massimo Spina.
The Vatican announced July 13 it was charging the two with illicit use of hospital funds in the amount of more than 422,000 euro ($480,000) for the refurbishment of the apartment where Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, emeritus Secretary of State, lives.
The alleged crime is said to have been carried out between November 2013 and May 28, 2014, and to have benefited the construction firm of Italian businessman Gianantonio Bandera, which was carrying out the renovations.
Profiti and Spina were summoned to appear before the court by a June 16, 2017, decree from the president of the Vatican Tribunal, Giuseppe Dalla Torre, with the first hearing set for July 18.
During the hearing, Profiti and Spina were accompanied by their lawyers: Antonello Basi for Profiti, and Alfredo Ottaviano for Spina.
The judicial board was made up of Paolo Papanti Pelletier, president, Venerando Marano, judge, and Carlo Bonzano, judge. The office of the Promoter of Justice was represented by the promoter himself, Gian Piero Milano, and by an added promoter, Roberto Zannotti.
After the charge was read, the lawyers made an initial request that journalists be removed from the courtroom due to noise and pressure put on the defendants from their affirmation or dissatisfaction with the proceedings, suggesting that in the future, they be placed in a separate room to watch a live stream of the hearing.
Milano refused the request, insisting it is a public hearing, and that public interest itself demands that the process be public.
A second objection the lawyers brought, but which was also immediately dismissed, was that the Vatican had no jurisdiction over the case, since the headquarters of Bambino Gesu is located in a piazza that is not Vatican-owned, and because the money was sent to England.
However, both Milano and the tribunal affirmed that the offense happened the moment the transfer was made, and since it was done through an APSA account, it was therefore a Vatican offense.
APSA, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, oversees the Vatican's real estate and investments.
Ottaviani and Basi also argued that the defendants are not public officials, given their work for the Vatican. However, it was ruled that in the Vatican's statutes and laws, the definition of a public official does, in fact, include the responsibilities of Profiti and Spina.
The lawyers also requested that in future proceedings, all witnesses be called on the same day in order to avoid influence and pressure from the media, which was agreed on by everyone.
Finally, at the request of the witnesses, a letter that in some way involves Cardinal Bertone was added to the trial documents.
Although the nature and contents of the letter are unknown, Ottaviani held that it was essential to the trial process, asking the tribunal permission to quote it as a testimony of the emeritus Secretary of State. Milano agreed, saying, "if needed, it will be discussed."
The hearing closed by setting the dates for the next one: Sept. 7-9.
Among those present at the hearing from the public was Jeffrey Lena, legal adviser to the Holy See.
The Vatican reported it was conducting an investigation into this matter in 2016 after documents published in the "Vatileaks 2" scandal implicated there may have been an illicit transfer of funds from the hospital's foundation.
Earlier this month, the Vatican held a press conference on the hospital to confirm that though it has had problems in the past, the Vatican has worked to resolve them.
The operations of the Bambino Gesù Hospital had come under scrutiny after a report by the Associated Press, which examined the hospital's operations under its 2008-2015 administration, finding among other things that the Vatican-owned hospital had shifted its focus from its patients to profits and had subpar standards of care.
In 2014, the Vatican conducted its own report on the hospital after fielding several complaints, and found many of the same things, including a focus on profits and breaches in accepted medical protocols including the reuse of disposable equipment, early awakening from surgery, and risk of infection due to overcrowding.
After the report, a widespread overhaul of the hospital staff and administration was conducted, and a 2015 report found that many of the previous issues had been resolved.
"For what regards the problems that were found, there was serious attention and effort to resolve them," Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, said at the July 4 press conference.
The Bambino Gesù was founded in Rome in 1869 as the first pediatric hospital in Italy. In 1924 it was donated to the Holy See and became the "Pope's Hospital." While it receives funding from the Italian government, it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Italian government's health authorities.
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In private meeting, victims tell leaders of abuse summit: 'We want action'
February 20, 2019 CNA Daily News 1
Vatican City, Feb 20, 2019 / 03:10 pm (CNA).- About a dozen victims of clergy sexual abuse met Wednesday with the organizing committee of the Vatican sex abuse summit, expressing their desire that the week's meeting yield action on the part of Church leaders.
Evelyn Korkmaz, an abuse victim from Canada and a member of "End Clergy Abuse" (ECA) told journalists after the Feb. 20 meeting, which lasted more than two hours, that she was happy their voices were listened to, but "we don't want more meetings, we we want decisive action."
The Church already knows their story, she stated: "They don't need our story, they need to take action and they need to take action now."
In comments to journalists after the dialogue, victims noted that on Feb. 25, the day after the sex abuse summit is to conclude, a meeting of top Vatican officials will take place to debrief and discuss next steps.
Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Feb. 20 the meeting will be an "interdicasterial meeting" of members of the Vatican offices connected to the issue of abuse, though he did not say exactly who would be present. It was noted that the meeting will also include experts on the protection of minors.
Victims said the four members of the summit's organizing committee present at their encounter Wednesday — Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago; Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay; Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Fr. Hans Zollner, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) — will also be present at the follow-up Feb. 25.
Fr. Federico Lombardy, who is acting as moderator during the child protection summit, was also present at Wednesday's meeting with victims.
Mary Dispenza, a national representative for and leader of SNAP in Seattle, Washington, said her hope is that the follow-up meeting of Vatican leaders will be able to give specific points of action: that they "are going to do one, two, three, and four."
While the Vatican had said Pope Francis would not be a part of the meeting between victims and summit organizers, several victims expressed disappointment he did not make a surprise appearance.
According to Phil Saviano, several of the victims made requests to meet the pope, but no promises were made that they would be able to do so.
A board member of "Bishop Accountability" and a partner of the Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team back in 2001, Saviano during the meeting read aloud a letter stressing the importance of transparency.
In the letter, which was made available to the press in advance, he said what is taking place in the Church today is a "tipping point," and that without total transparency, "people's faith and trust in the Vatican is rapidly washing away."
In particular, Saviano's letter, which was addressed specifically to Scicluna, called on the Vatican to release the names and files of any priests who have been reported to the Vatican for child abuse, in order to, he told journalists later, prevent future abuse and out of respect for victims.
"These four men seemed to agree with what I had to say about transparency about releasing the records," he said to journalists. Saviano also said Scicluna approached him privately after the meeting to say he "agrees with me completely on what I was asking him to do."
The caveat, however, was what several victims described as an expression of powerlessness on the part of the cardinals and archbishop present, who said, according to the victims, that they agreed with their suggestions, but that they themselves do not have the power to put these ideas into action.
The encounter with victims took place in the Maria Santissima Bambina Institute, a guest house situated on Vatican property just outside St. Peter's Square.
Other victim survivors present included Italian Francesco Zanardi, the founder of Italy's only network of clerical abuse survivors, Spaniard Miguel Angel Hurtado, leader of the organization Infancia Robada ["Stolen Childhood"], and members of the French association, La Parole Libérée, François Devaux and Olivier Savignac.
Also present was Chilean Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of the notorious abuser Fr. Karadima. He told journalists he is calling on bishops "to do what they have to do for this [meeting] to be successful."
"The bishops cannot continue getting it wrong because as it is, the Church is on borrowed time."
A woman from Jamaica who is a victim of clerical abuse was also present.
The one non-victim to join the meeting with summit organizers was Pedro Salinas. A Peruvian, he is a former member of the lay Catholic organization Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) and co-author of the book "Half Monks, Half Soldiers."
Saviano noted that the intended purpose of the meeting on the protection of minors is very clear — educating bishops — so he hopes action will take place in the follow-up.
The meeting itself is "for those that understand what's going on, to make sure they're all on the same page. And for those that don't understand, to bring them up to speed and let them know that there's going to be expectations that they'll be expected to live up to," he said.
Dispenza, a former religious sister, emphasized that in her opinion, "this is the moment for the Catholic Church; that it's either going to survive or not. And a lot is going to depend on how Pope Francis handles these days and the actions he takes," adding: "So we'll have to see."
Saviano, who said he's been public with his story of abuse since December 1992, said he thinks there's been progress in the last decades: "I do think [the abuse summit] is a milestone and I hope that I'm not going to be really disappointed six months from now."
"If there was ever a time for transparency, now is it. And maybe, if you do it properly, some of the Catholics who are at this point bailing out of the sinking ship, might reconsider and come back," he stated. "But you have to give concrete signs that you're really coming up with a good plan to address this. And it can't be just talk."
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