The Vatican faced a London court on Wednesday as British financier Raffaele Mincione sought to restore his reputation, tarnished by a Vatican investigation into its
€350 million (around $375 million) investment in a London property.
This marks the first known instance of the Holy See standing trial in a foreign court.
Mincione, previously convicted by a Vatican tribunal of embezzlement-related charges and sentenced to over five years in prison, is free pending an appeal. He filed a counter civil claim against the Vatican's secretariat of state at London’s High Court, asserting he acted in good faith.
In court, Mincione requested declarations affirming his good faith in dealings with the secretariat of state, acknowledging that the Holy See lawfully entered the transactions and has no grounds for claims against him.
“I am delighted that these proceedings in England are finally underway,” Mincione stated. “I look forward to these issues being examined by an independent and internationally-respected judicial system.”
The Holy See had unsuccessfully tried to dismiss Mincione’s claim and, on Wednesday, urged the court to reject his declarations, arguing they were unnecessary given Mincione's prior conviction.
The trial, expected to last several weeks, will include testimony from high-ranking Vatican official Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra.
While U.S. lawsuits have failed to hold the Vatican liable for clergy sexual abuse due to sovereign immunity, the British court allowed Mincione’s case to proceed, as it involved a commercial transaction not covered by sovereign immunity.
The case centers on the Vatican’s 2013-2014 decision to invest €200 million in Mincione's fund to acquire 45% of a London property—a former Harrod’s warehouse intended for luxury apartments. By 2018, dissatisfied with the fund's performance, the Vatican sought to retain ownership of the property, negotiating a €40 million payout to Mincione with the help of broker Gianluigi Torzi.
Vatican prosecutors alleged that Mincione and Torzi conspired to defraud the Holy See, inflating the property's value from its 2012 purchase price of £129.5 million to £230 million and extorting an additional €15 million for control of the building.
The Vatican trial concluded in December with several convictions, including those of Mincione and Torzi. Both sides have announced appeals.
Mincione, insisting he acted in good faith, has taken his case to the United Nations human rights office, highlighting inconsistencies in the Vatican trial criticized by other defense lawyers and Italian legal experts.
In the British civil case, Mincione seeks a ruling affirming his good faith, arguing that the Vatican trial has caused reputational damage to him and his businesses.
The Holy See’s lawyers, in an 84-page filing, argued that Mincione misled the Vatican and participated in an “unlawful conspiracy” to defraud it. They maintained that if Mincione cannot prove he acted in good faith, his claims collapse.
A separate British court has previously questioned the Vatican prosecutors’ allegations. In 2021, Judge Tony Baumgartner of Southwark Crown Court reversed an order to seize Torzi’s bank accounts, criticizing the Vatican prosecutors for misrepresentations and insufficient evidence. Photo by Didier Moïse, Wikimedia commons.