"Offensive arguments", "public provocations", "manifestly unfounded reconstructions". These are some passages from the harsh letter that Cardinal Angelo Becciu - former substitute for General Affairs and former Prefect for the Causes of Saints, on trial for the purchase of the Sloane Avenue building in London - sent to Australian Cardinal George Pell, acquitted at home from accusations of pedophilia and former prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.
"Most Reverend Eminence - reads the letter whose text was disseminated by Fabio Viglione, lawyer of the Sardinian cardinal - the imminence of Christmas calls everyone to high sentiments and, especially to us believers, to be credible witnesses of the message of fraternity that is coming from the hut of Bethlehem ". "By virtue of these convictions - he continues -, I take the initiative to write to you in this public form. Believe me, I do it by forcing all my contrary wishes, because now forced by your numerous interventions in many media that have repeatedly unfortunately it concerned my person, with arguments that I felt offensive to my personal dignity and to the ecclesial service that, with enthusiasm, obedience and fidelity, I have tried to offer, over the decades, to the Holy Father and to the Church ".
"I state - he continues - that I will not respond to any of your reconstructions, the groundlessness of which is nevertheless manifest: bonds of profound respect for the Holy See that we have represented, as well as the cardinalate dignity we hold, should prevent these public provocations, which are hard to understand. to our faithful and to those who would expect a very different attitude from men of the Church ". "Moreover, I would not be able to enter into the merits of the questions you have repeatedly raised as they are high, demanding and certainly reserved topics", he adds. "You, then, more than anyone else know and know the pains of an unjust accusation and the sufferings that an innocent - which, no less than you, I am - must endure during a trial, to which all the my energies, used in my defense and in compliance with the rules imposed on me, including respect for the Court ". "Even this last aspect alone should have advised greater secrecy, certainly not in the expression of your legitimate opinions in the best interest of the Church and its administration, but on my person and on - I repeat myself - manifestly unfounded accusations, in such a moment of my life experience, which makes it even more difficult to defend my reputation ", Becciu stresses. "Precisely because of the absolute respect I have for the Tribunal, strong and alive in me, I will not answer you publicly, but I will wait for the appropriate moment, before the third and impartial Judge, to reply point by point and make the Vatican judicial institutions appreciate the 'absolute groundlessness of the accusations against me - he observes -. Until then, I trust that my public appeal, extended in any case with a sense of fraternity and ecclesial communion, can better advise you to a different attitude, refraining from further involving me in the public discourse ".
