Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu was sentenced today to 5 years and 6 months in prison in a financial irregularities case, the Vatican court announced, which also sentenced other defendants in the case.

Becciu, 75, the first cardinal to be tried in Vatican criminal cases, was also sentenced to “eternal” disqualification from holding office in the Holy See, court President Giuseppe Pignatone said during the verdict.

The trial has investigated over the past two and a half years the purchase of a building in central London arranged by the Vatican Secretariat of State when Becciu was his replacement in the General Affairs Department (2011-2018), a speculative operation that left a hole in the accounts. of the Holy See in the amount of at least 139 million euros.