Archbishop Gänswein questioned as a witness in Vatican trial. Judge says that Archbishop will soon be leaving Rome.

Sistine Chapel choir trial, Gänswein questioned as a witness

Examination of about an hour in the second hearing of the trial for the management of funds to the German archbishop, for years secretary to Benedict XVI, about the behaviour of the defendants Palombella and Nardella, then director and administrative director of the Choir of the Musical Chapel, entrusted to his responsibility as Prefect of the Papal Household. Next hearing on 26 July.

It lasted less than an hour and saw Monsignor Georg Gänswein, Benedict XVI's secretary for years, as the only witness in the criminal proceedings in the Vatican Tribunal for the management of funds of the Pontifical Sistine Musical Chapel. The defendants are the Salesian Monsignor Massimo Palombella and the layman Michelangelo Nardella, at the time of the events director and financial director of the Choir (present in the courtroom), and Nardella's wife, Simona Rossi (absent). All three are charged with embezzlement, money laundering and fraud. Charges materialised at the end of the five-year investigation launched, at the Pope's behest, in 2018 "on the economic-administrative aspects of the Choir".

Order

Scheduled for 4.30 p.m., the hearing began exactly one hour late because the panel of judges, presided over by Court President Giuseppe Pignatone, met in Council Chamber to complete the order on the exceptions presented in the first hearing on 24 May by the defence: lawyer Massimo Claudio Poltronieri for Palombella and Laura Sgrò for Nardella and his wife. The Vatican Court rejected each of the objections, starting with the "nullity and unusability of the illegally acquired evidence", following a report to the ASIF (then AIF) by the Prefecture of the Papal Household, to whose Prefect was entrusted with responsibility for the Choir, which then passed, with Pope Francis' 2019 Motu proprio, to the Master of Liturgical Celebrations.

Fr Georg questioned 

After the reading of the order, the interrogation of Monsignor Georg began at 5.54pm. The interrogation of the two defendants was also planned, but Pignatone asked to proceed only with the examination of the archbishop, who "will soon be abroad".

The German prelate confirmed what he told the Promoter of Justice on 2 October 2018. A lengthy interrogation in which he stated that as Prefect of the Papal Household and therefore superior of Palombella and Nardella he had never had any suspicions until 2014, when he received complaints from the parents of the pueri cantores, the children's choir of the Musical Chapel, who denounced "a discourteous and excessively harsh treatment of Monsignor Palombella towards the boys". Gänswein had alerted his superiors, being instructed to make "investigations". He had then "spoken to Palombella advising him not to exaggerate". In 2016, the complaints were 'reproduced' but this time also from adults, who had turned to the secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who had summoned Georg and involved the then substitute, Cardinal Angelo Becciu. Again "complaints in 2017" and always "with the same object". Hence, the Pope's decision for an apostolic visit.

Suspicions

Between April and May 2018, Gänswein was instructed to "take action" following a false message from Nardella to a doctors' association. Summoned, the administrative director "always denied being the author, citing various specious reasons such as the theft of his computer password". After that affair, Nardella was suspended. 'After these facts,' said Fr Georg, 'I began to harbour suspicions about the person's sincerity and uprightness. That is why he got in touch with the FIA 'to report the facts'. Asked about this by the Deputy Promoter of Justice, Roberto Zannotti, Georg specified that he had in fact harboured 'suspicions about both of them': 'Sometimes it is the nose that says something is not right here, at which point I saw and began to doubt the sincerity. I had no proof but suspicion. It has been six years, more precise I cannot be'.

Payments and receipts

In Gänswein's statements, there is also a mention of the fact that there is a chapter in the Prefecture's budget on "extra payments" by the Sistine Chapel to pay singers and musicians. Payments made through the IOR. On the other hand, the archbishop affirmed, "the Chapel acted in full and complete autonomy": "On some occasions of concerts and artistic performances, donations and offerings were made but nothing reached the Prefecture. We never had a list of events in which the Sistine Chapel participated year by year. We,' Georg added, 'have only received requests to pay, the income never seen. We knew that they were abroad or in Italy, but about everything that came in we had no information'.

Budgets

The Prefect of the Papal Household signed all budgets submitted by the Sistine Chapel, Gänswein further explained. In this connection, Mr Sgrò asked why in four years he had never complained about misconduct before 2018 and whether he had noticed any anomalies when viewing the financial statements. "After the first complaints some time passed," the witness clarified, "we talked internally and then we said it is time to write and ask for an improvement in behaviour. As for the budgets, he explained that it was a lay expert collaborating with the Prefecture, Luca Vittori, who carried out the checks.  

Donations and projects

Father Georg was then shown some documents in a brief filed with the court by the Nardella defence, all signed by him ('The signatures are mine,' he admitted). These included a letter in which Gänswein himself thanked for having received 30,000 euro from some benefactors and another document in which he spoke of the renovation of a new stage in St Peter's Basilica. The witness said that he authorised the latter project but did not follow up on it: "I took note of this, because Palombella had told me; regarding the costs, he assured me: 'I'll take care of it'. I approved because comments had also been made by the factory. Green light there, green light from me too, then I don't know... I approved but it was no longer my responsibility'.

Next hearing

Asked directly by Pignatone, Father Georg declared that he did not know who had paid out these sums or where they came from, and that he had not received any complaints about "administrative and financial improprieties" within the Choir.

The hearing ended around 6.30 pm. The next one is set for 26 July, at 10 a.m., with the interrogation of the three defendants.

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