A Vatican court has convicted Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu of several counts of embezzlement and sentenced him to five-and-a-half years in jail.
Becciu, 75, a former advisor to Pope Francis, was the highest ranking church official ever to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court.
Becciu's lawyer Fabio Viglione told reporters in the courtroom that he would lodge an appeal, saying his client was innocent.
Ten defendants were accused of various counts of crimes including fraud, abuse of office, and money laundering.
They had all denied wrongdoing.
It took Court President Giuseppe Pignatone 25 minutes to read all the verdicts and sentences.
Becciu, like the other nine defendants, was convicted on some counts and found not guilty of others.
The trial lasted two-and-a-half years and sat for 86 sessions.
At the heart of the trial was the €350m purchase of a luxury property in London, as part of an investment that began in 2014 and ended up costing the Vatican tens of millions of euros.
The trial, which began in July 2021, shone a light on the Holy See's murky finances, which Pope Francis has sought to clean up since taking the helm of the Catholic Church in March 2013.
It is also a test of his reforms of Vatican justice.
Just weeks before the trial, Francis gave the Vatican's civilian courts the power to try cardinals and bishops. Previously, they were judged by a court presided over by cardinals.
Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi requested seven years and three months in jail for Cardinal Becciu, and between almost four and 13 years for the others.
Cardinal Becciu has always strongly protested his innocence, denouncing the accusations against him as "totally unfounded" and insisting he never took a cent.
For its part, the Holy See viewed itself as "an offended party" and asked through Secretary of State Pietro Parolin for the court to "punish all crimes".
Four Vatican entities are civil parties, and have requested compensation from the defendants, including €177m for moral and reputational damage.
Charitable causes
Since the trial opened, there have been more than 80 hearings in the dedicated room within the Vatican Museums, where a portrait of a smiling Pope Francis hangs on the wall.
The process was mired by procedural wrangling, with defence lawyers complaining about a lack of access to key evidence.
A globe-trotting former Vatican diplomat, Becciu had been a near constant presence in the courtroom.
He was number two in the Secretariat of State, the Vatican department that works most closely with the pope, from 2011 to 2018.
He was moved to lead the department that deals with the creation of saints, before abruptly resigning in September 2020, after being informed of an investigation against him.
Initially, he told the trial, this was about a probe into €125,000 of Vatican money he donated to a charity in his native Sardinia, which prosecutors claim benefited his brother, who ran the organisation.
But he was later drawn into investigations into the purchase and sale of the property on London's Sloane Avenue, resulting in losses that, according to the Vatican, dipped into resources intended for charitable causes.
