Interpol arrested Cecilia Marogna in Milan last Tuesday. The Italian woman was hired by Becciu's office to mediate in supposed operations to rescue missionaries in Africa and Asia. She will be extradited to the Vatican in the next few hours. She is accused of embezzlement and misappropriation. It's another part of the complicated story behind Cardinal Angelo Becciu's resignation. The story was uncovered by the Italian TV show, “Le Iene,” based on information from an anonymous source.
Cecilia Marogna is an expert on diplomatic relations, and she affirms that Becciu asked for her help to work on delicate matters like the kidnapping of missionaries in Africa and Asia. Her company is Logsic Humanitarne Dejavnosti, DOO, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Its main headquarters however, is an empty office.
From December 2018 to July 2019, the Vatican Secretariat of State sent about $580,000 to this company as a “voluntary contribution for humanitarian mission.” Of those $580,000, about 230,000 were spent on luxury items from brands like Chanel, Prada and Valentino.
In 2015 Cecilia Marogna sent the cardinal an email to discuss security issues in the Vatican's nunciatures and other missions. That's how they met. In 2017 the cardinal gave her a letter in which he affirms that he knows her and trusts her. Cardinal Angelo Becciu assures through his lawyer that his relationship with Cecilia Marogna is solely related to institutional matters, and that he fears he was conned. On Sept. 24 the pope asked Angelo Becciu to resign on account of his management of the reserved funds of the Vatican Secretariat of State.
Javier Martínez-Brocal
Translation: CT
