Vatican’s chief of staff testifies in UK court in ‘trial

Convicted financier Raffaele Mincione is seeking to clear his name over Vatican’s €350m London investment

Pope Francis’s chief of staff has become one of the highest-ranking Holy See officials to testify in a foreign court, giving a British tribunal a detailed explanation of the negotiations at the heart of the Vatican’s “trial of the century”.

Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra was called to testify on Thursday on behalf of the Vatican secretariat of state in a British civil proceeding brought against the Vatican by an Italian-British financier who was involved in the transactions over a London property.