Francis corrupts the judicial process to obtain convictions of his enemies

Francis makes the Court of Cassation jump to obtain convictions of enemies

The Pope changed the Vatican State's criminal law in order to change the Court of Cassation.

The heart attack that took the Supreme Pontiff by surprise is the second turning point of this pontificate. It is the second, because the first was the death of his predecessor in December 2022. Within the city-state, in fact, there is a frenzy because Francis seriously fears that he will not be able to accomplish all that he has in mind. 

The hospitalisation, which took place on 29 March 2023, was necessary after Bergoglio suffered a heart attack. It is not true that the Pope arrived at Gemelli unconscious, as Father Antonio Spadaro's pupil claimed in Repubblica. At the Polyclinic Francis arrived conscious but only thanks to the diligence of Massimiliano Strappetti.  

Decisive moments

What the Press Office reported is clearly false but, as we have already pointed out, Matteo Bruni is not to blame. In Via della Conciliazione, the command came straight away: respiratory problems. Only later did the director of the Press Office hear about it, but he was clearly told not to talk about it at all.

The pre-conclave climate, in fact, is only in Francis' head. Of course, it would be foolish to think that there are not those who are hoping that this agony of the Church will soon be over, but what Bergoglio reports, in great secrecy, to the press is not happening at all. All these little articles about Cardinals holding secret meetings to organise the post-Francis, are clearly aimed at discrediting the Sacred College, at describing the Church as a Dan Brown-like reality. But in reality, none of this is happening. The persecution mania, however, does not abandon the Pope, and so he is convinced that if it were made clear that he had a heart attack, everyone would already give him up for dead. 

His confusing modus agendi, however, is leading him to make gross errors and to put the work of the Press Office in a bad light.  In the past few hours, in fact, Francis called a believer from Pesaro. As the best of friends would do, this man did not keep the words he exchanged with the Pope confidential at all and, therefore, he immediately turned to the local newspapers for those two paragraphs of visibility. The Pope's statements confirm what Silere non possum had revealed at 7.38 p.m. on 29 March 2023. "I was in a bad way, I had lost consciousness," the Pope told Michele Ferri. We have consulted several luminaries and it does not appear, at present, that there are any individuals who have lost consciousness due to bronchitis. Then, Francis is the Pope of many 'firsts', so anything can be.

Francis is aware

"When the mouse is in the corner it bites, it is said. We can consider this the moment when the Pope feels he is in the corner,' reports one cardinal. The reference is clearly to the fact that Francis, apart from the health problems that have just arisen, is aware of the fact that these are the last days of his pontificate and, therefore, "he has to fire his last bullets". 

Ten years in which, by now we have become accustomed to it, we have seen a clear narrative: 'Church ugly, bad; me good, I'm cleaning everything up'.

This is also clear from Francis' choice to turn the spotlight back on the Emanuela Orlandi case. Someone will soon forget that Bergoglio was the first to tell the young girl's brother: 'Your sister is in heaven'. With incredible coldness. 

Today, however, Francis has a clear intention and that is to appear as the one who wants to shed light on a murky affair. Once again: first bad, now good. He does this at a time when he also has to clear his name for the behaviour he used in the Sloane Avenue trial. Bergoglio's interests go hand in hand with those of the Promoter of Justice Alessandro Diddi, who has repeatedly violated the criminal procedural regulations of this state. Of course, Diddi does not know this legislation because he has never studied canon or Vatican law, but this does not justify his actions.

If to open the graves in the graveyard of the German College, Alessandro Diddi had been annoyed and very annoyed to the point of fomenting a quarrel with the family during the operations, today the  Promoter of Justice says he is ready to make the truth. Yet someone in the sacred rooms is convinced that the system will be the same as the one used with Angelo Giovanni Becciu. Francis and his hound will find a scapegoat to be martyred in the public square. Who knows if, this time too, someone will pass the highly secret papers to L'Espresso. 

The Court of Cassation is jumping

There was one certainty in the Vatican. Talking to various princes of the Church, we heard different considerations regarding the Sloane Avenue case. Everyone, some more convinced and some less so, agreed that in the Cassation Court this trial would jump. Instead, the shower came cold a few hours ago.

"It is not the trial that is jumping but the Court," joked one clergyman. There is really nothing to laugh about, however. With his umpteenth Motu Proprio, Francis literally blew Dominique François Joseph Mamberti's head off this morning. 

The law that Bergoglio himself signed in 2020 stipulated: "The Court of Cassation is made up of the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, who assumes the functions of president, two other Cardinals who are members of the same Supreme Tribunal, designated by the president for a three-year term, as well as two or more applied judges, appointed for a three-year term, in the manner and in compliance with the criteria laid down in Article 8."

This is also fundamental to reiterate what Benedict XVI sanctioned in the Law on Sources of 2008: "The Vatican legal system recognises in the canonical order the first normative source and the first reference criterion for interpretation". 

The Prefect of the Tribunal of the Signatura, therefore, was also the head of the Supreme Court of the Vatican City State. In recent years, however, we have seen the entry of numerous people who have not even seen canon law through binoculars. Starting with the Italian lawyers admitted to plead in trials before the Vatican Court. Some defenders of the Sloane Avenue affaire are convinced that "canon law has nothing to do with these trials". It would be like telling an Italian lawyer that 'constitutional law has nothing to do with the tax process'. 

Yes, it is the classic attitude of the average Italian. Don't know? Then it's not useful. End of discussion. Within the State we have also included the top management of the Tribunal and the Office of the Promoter of Justice who have never studied these subjects, so what? Well, the solution is to eliminate the root of the problem. With today's motu proprio, Francis decides that the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura will not be the President of the Court of Cassation. "The Court of Cassation," reads the new article, "is made up of four cardinals appointed for a five-year term by the Supreme Pontiff, who designates among them the President, as well as two or more applied judges, appointed for a three-year term with the modalities and in compliance with the criteria set out in Article 8″. 

It is clear that the functioning of appointments within the highest judicial authority, after the Pope, within the State is completely changed. Previously, Cardinal Judges were chosen by the President who, by right, was the Prefect of the Signatura. They also had to be members of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Now, however, everything is decided by the Pope and they do not need to have specific competences. Francis had already overturned the Court of Cassation in 2020, when he decided that lay people could also be part of it, as appointees. This was the only body in which we did not have lay people.

"You are aware that no one would feel like signing a conviction of a person judged on the basis of ad personam laws. It is to all intents and purposes a political trial'. These are strong words from a curia cardinal. Words that, however, find confirmation in the numerous secret rescripts and laws created ad occasionem. 

Errors and incompetence

The Motu Proprio contains numerous errors, as usual. Bergoglio, we have already said, chose to entrust the drafting of these norms to people completely lacking in competence. He also did this with Praedicate Evangelium and In Ecclesiarum Communione.

Already in September 2022, Alessandro Diddi had asked the Pope to change some of the norms of the State's penal code and criminal procedure code. The results were obvious: ad personam laws and incredible errors. 

On that occasion, however, the Pope preferred that everything go through the Pontifical Commission for the SCV. Law DXXXI contains numerous errors. Suffice it to say that the Promoter of Justice is called the Public Prosecutor. This too is a part that the Roman lawyer who defended Buzzi never got into his head.

Then there is the new Article 259 septies which, coincidentally, states that 'the Holy Father' cannot be tapped. Only a month later it emerged that Angelo Becciu had recorded the telephone call with the Pontiff. It is incredible that no one has yet explained to these illustrious sages of the law that for this State the Pope is 'the Supreme Pontiff' and not 'the Holy Father'.

Today's Motu Proprio also contains numerous errors, as well as tricks of convenience. Look at Article 2, which provides for an amendment to the law promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1994. It is written that in Article 1, paragraph 1, it is necessary to add "or the court" and the measure is no longer a decree but a judgement.

Changing only the first paragraph, however, we find ourselves with a second paragraph that reads: 'The payment of the pecuniary sanction within the terms fixed by the decree gives rise to the extinction of the contested offence'. 

If the measure is a sentence, it cannot be a decree. 

Then, in Article 4 of the Motu Proprio, we find the following: "In Article 2, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 are replaced by the following:

"1. Magistrates are appointed by the Supreme Pontiff and in the exercise of their functions are subject only to the law.

2. Magistrates shall exercise their powers impartially, on the basis of and within the limits of the competences established by law.".

There is no trace of sub-section 3, which in the previous law provided: 'Magistrates shall be deprived of their functions exclusively by sovereign will and for the causes of termination provided for in this law'. 

It would be interesting to understand, therefore, when magistrates fall from their functions today. In a Law that basically panders to all the desires of these Italian lawyers or magistrates who access the Vatican just to bring home a salary and without any interest in the good of the Church, the Pope and the people, it would be interesting to understand what principles guide (or should guide) their actions.

"The Magistrates are hierarchically dependent on the Supreme Pontiff," was the original provision of Article 2. Today it has disappeared (Article 4). Basically, we have lawyers who, when they are on the other side of the Tiber, shout against the excessive power of the judiciary; having crossed the Tiber, they ask the Pope to change the legislation because they do not have to depend on the Sovereign but only on the Law. One would have to ask: which law? The one they do not know because they have not even studied it? 

Article 6 of the law wanted by Francis in 2020 reads: "At least one of the ordinary magistrates of the court shall carry out his duties on a full-time basis, without having a sub-ordinate employment relationship or carrying out freelance activities of a continuous nature". 

This is a particularly important rule, especially considering the problem of people who, without competence, perform functions in this State and continue to work abroad in their Italian studies. 

Today, the Pope retraces his steps and, while he rails against the wealth of presbyters and bishops, he sanctions that these lay people, instead, can do whatever they want. So? No magistrate will be required to perform full-time functions. Of course, this is in blatant contradiction with what Francis writes in the introduction to today's Motu Proprio: "The needs that have emerged in recent years in the field of the administration of justice require further adaptations to the criminal legislation and the judicial system of the Vatican City State" and again: "taking into account the multiplication of issues that require a prompt and fair definition in the field of procedure, their complexity and the growing workload that results for the judicial bodies, it seems appropriate to introduce some changes aimed at ensuring that the functionality of the system is maintained and if possible improved. 

How can one think of ensuring the functionality of the system if one eliminates the rules that keep these people attached to their desks? They already made all these mistakes when they were 'full time', let alone now. 

In October 2022, the President of the Vatican Tribunal, during a meeting at the LUMSA university, reported that he was going 'back and forth to Catania'. Some prelates asked "who pays for these trips?"

Of course, Francis' own law of 2020 clarifies everything: "The judicial bodies enjoy autonomy of expenditure for their functioning, on the basis and within the limits of the accounting provisions in force in the State. The relative burdens shall be borne by the budget of the Governorate'. 

And it is precisely from the Governorate that some are turning up their noses a little, because 'the expenses of the tribunal and the Office of the Promoter of Justice are exorbitant in recent years', someone reports.

What can we say? If the Vatican City State used to be an example to be followed, now Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is making a mockery of it. 

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