(ZENIT News / Rome, 20.12.2024).- On December 10, Vatican City State’s Court sentenced Giuseppe Liberto, former Director of the Pontifical Musical Chapel’s Choir, to three years and two months in prison for embezzlement of funds, fraud and money laundering. Moreover, the former Financial Director, Michelangelo Nardella, was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison and his wife, Simona Rossi, was sentenced to two years in prison.
The irregular financial management of the Choir led to the sentencing of the three accused after a judicial process that lasted a year and a half. In addition to the prison sentences, the Court imposed fines of between 5,000 and 9,000 euros and decreed their perpetual disqualification from holding public office, Vatican News reported. The crimes of embezzlement, money laundering and fraud are linked to the Choir’s administration, known for its participation in liturgical celebrations of the Vatican and for giving concerts in Italy and other countries. The sentence highlighted the systematic abuse of the organization of concerts for important Italian companies, whose income was diverted for personal gain.
In particular, Nardella’s and Liberto’s action caused economic damage amounting to 250,000 euros, not including the interests and revaluation of the diverted funds. In addition, the accused will have to cover the judicial costs of the trial. However, they were absolved of other charges due to insufficient proofs.
The case arose in 2023 after complains and controversies posed by parents of the Pueri Cantores, members of the children’s choir. They denounced that the children’s participation in public acts was not aligned with the Choir’s original mission, founded in 1471 as “College of Singing Chaplains.”
The disordered management of the funds revealed a misuse of the income generated by the institution. Monsignor Georg Gänswein, then Benedict XBVI’s personal secretary and Prefect of the Papal Household, testified during the 2023 hearings. Gänswein, currently Nuncio in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, referred to the alleged mistreatment of the children and anomalies in the budgets, although he said he had not personally found administrative or financial irregularities. Nevertheless, he expressed his doubts about “the sincerity and rectitude” of the management of the Choir.
