Cardinal and nine others face Vatican corruption charges over London property deal

An Italian cardinal and nine others have been ordered to stand trial by a Vatican judge for alleged corruption in connection with a €350m (£300m) luxury property deal in London.

Those accused include Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was fired by Pope Francis last year; the former heads of the Vatican's financial intelligence unit, and two Italian businessmen involved in the Vatican's purchase of the building in an exclusive area of the capital.

Becciu, who has always maintained his innocence during a two-year investigation, is the highest ranking Vatican-based church official to be charged with alleged financial crimes.

His name was listed separately from the others in the indictment because a separate procedure is required to charge a cardinal.

In line with church law, the pope personally approved the judge's decision to investigate and indict Becciu, who helped arrange the initial London investment.

The charges against him include embezzlement and abuse of office.

An Italian woman who worked for Becciu was charged with embezzlement.

Italian brokers Gianluigi Torzi and Raffaele Mincione were indicted on charges of embezzlement, fraud and money laundering.

Torzi, for whom Italian magistrates issued an arrest warrant in April, was also charged with extortion.

He is currently in London pending an Italian extradition request.

Both men have denied wrongdoing.

Torzi is accused of having having extorted €15m from the Vatican to turn over ownership of the London building in late 2018, after allegedly inserting a last-minute clause into the contract giving him full voting rights in the deal.

The church hierarchy, however, signed off on the contract, with both Pope Francis' number two, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and his deputy approving it.

However, neither was charged.

Vatican prosecutors have produced evidence suggesting they were tricked by an Italian lawyer, who has been indicted, into agreeing to the deal.

Four companies associated with individual defendants, two in Switzerland, one in the US and one in Slovenia, are also facing charges.

The trial is due to start on 27 July in the Vatican, a statement said.

Becciu was sacked last year as the Vatican's saint-making chief, apparently in connection with a separate incident relating to the his €100,000 donation of Vatican funds to a diocesan charity run by his brother.

While admitting he made the donation, he insisted the money was for the charity, not his brother.

Reference: Sky News: 

The Archangel Raphael

Raphael is seen walking with a staff or caduceus entwined with a snake, symbolizing healing. He carries a water gourd and in front of him leaps the curative fish. He is often shown with his right forefinger pointing up towards Heaven in a gesture of reassurance and hope, reminding us where true healing comes from.

• Angelic Realm: Archangel of the Heaven of Form
• 
  Heavenly Function: Angel of Healing through Joy
• 
  Gifts for Earth: He can help us to seek the gift of healing, he shows us ways to heal ourselves; he helps us find the healing in nature and universal energy.
  

Raphael is responsible for healing the earth and its inhabitants. He is credited with healing Abraham after he was circumcised and is the angel who handed Moses a book of all herbs which exist to heal maladies.

The Book of Tobias in the Old Testament relates how Raphael healed Tobias's father of blindness with an ointment made from the burned gall-bladder of a large fish. Raphael is variously known as the Overseer of the Evening Winds, Guardian of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, Angel of Repentance, Prayer, Love, Joy and Light.

• He is the Angel of Healing, Science and knowledge. He is also called the Angel of Providence who watches over all humanity.
• 
  His name means 'Divine Healer' or 'God Heals' Raphael is the spiritual source behind all cures, and as a messenger of Divine Providence he brings healing to all who seek wholeness.
• 
  He stands for definitive, essential cure to all ills, which is the return to the source.
• Raphael assists us to heal our bodies, minds and hearts. He helps us to achieve health and wholeness. He offers to help all who suffer and need healing, and whenever possible alleviates pain.

When we open our hearts to healing, Raphael guides us to the healers, therapists and counsellors who do their best to help us. As we take more responsibility for our own healing he encourages the healer within each of us who knows what is best for our health and vitality.

He can help us to see the healing lessons in illness and to understand what suffering can teach us about ourselves. When we choose a healthy path his spirit guides us to attain maximum health.

As we transform our wounded minds and hearts we come close to touching Raphael's wings and gaining access to his Divine gifts. he is always available to guide us to wholeness and harmony. We need only wish it for ourselves.

Reference: The Angel Oracle: Ambika Wauters.

A Simple Prayer of Hope

There are many people in our world, many people, alone, lost.

Children who do not have a roof over their heads,

Irresponsible fathers, inexperienced daughters.

Who are we to judge these children, born in this world, with no future.

I am but a mere servant, with my heart and my hands,

I will toil, to hold and share, the candle that has been given to me,

this flame shall burn,

and as it burns,

my prayers will be answered.

The above was inspired  by the Archangel Raphael

and written by a child born on his annual celebration day:

Raphaelle, June 1983

Israel stampede: Dozens crushed to death at major religious festival

Dozens of people have been crushed to death during a stampede at a religious festival in northeast Israel on Friday, rescue services said describing it as “one of [Israel’s] worst disasters in recent history”.

At least 44 people were killed during the event while more than 150 sustained injuries, according to medical officials. Army Radio reported that children were among the dead.

Footage taken just moments before the deadly incident at the base of Israel’s Mount Meron showed heaving crowds of black-clad ultra-Orthodox worshippers crushed in a narrow, tunnel-like passage as they exited the site.

As people scream in the background as at least one person can be seen falling over, which is believed to be the start of what triggered the crush.

Witnesses said people began falling on top of each other near the end of the walkway, as they descended slippery metal stairs. In one video, officers can be seen ripping down corrugated barricades that stopped participants from exiting the scene quickly in front of what appears to be a heap of people, so crushed together, they cannot move.

“Masses of people were pushed into the same corner and a vortex was created,” a man identified only by his first name Dvir told Israel’s Army Radio. He described a terrifying sight as the first row of people fell down, saying he was in the next row of people who tripped. “I felt like I was about to die,” he said.

Among the wounded there are 44 in critical condition, some of whom have been airlifted to hospitals, Israel’s national emergence service Magen David Adom (MDA) said.

Eli Bin, MDA’s director-general called it “one of the most difficult civil disasters the State of Israel has ever known.”

“It is difficult to contain the magnitude of the disaster,” he said. 

Uriel Goldberg, international relations coordinator and paramedic for MDA said that he has not known of a worse stampede in Israeli history. 

“It’s definitely one of the worst disasters in recent times,” he told The Independent. In the chaos, paramedics told Channel 12 there were more than 30 children who had been separated from their parents and were being tended to by emergency workers.

Calling it a “heavy disaster”, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to Twitter to say: "We are all praying for the wellbeing of the casualties."

MDA officials said that they received the first distress calls just before 1am near the “Toldot Aharon” celebration, beside the Rashbi tomb in Mount Meron, as tens of thousands of people gathered there to celebrate Lag Ba’Omer, a holiday that in part commemorates 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

His tomb, buried at the base of Mount Meron, is considered a holy site in Israel and ultra-Orthodox Jews throng there for the annual commemoration that includes all-night prayer and mystical songs and dance. Large crowds also traditionally light bonfires as part of the celebrations.

It was the first major religious gathering held in the country since Israel lifted nearly all coronavirus related restrictions. According to media estimates, 100,000 people had gathered for the celebration. Health authorities had warned against holding such a large gathering because of the pandemic.

Eli Beer, director of the Hatzalah rescue service, said he was horrified at the size of the crowd, adding that the site was equipped to handle only a quarter of the number who were present.

The death toll was on par with the number of people killed in a 2010 forest fire, which is believed to be the deadliest civilian tragedy in the country’s history.

Zaki Heller, a spokesman for MDA, told Army Radio that “no one had ever dreamed” something like this could happen. “In one moment, we went from a happy event to an immense tragedy,” he said. MDA paramedic Omri Hochman, who was one of the first to arrive to treat the injured, said: “ The sights were very difficult, dozens of wounded lay in a narrow corridor and next to it. 

Dozens more walked around suffering from various injuries. There were cries of pain, sighs and there were those who lost consciousness and needed resuscitation. ”MDA paramedic Maor Atadgi added: “We rescued the injured from piles of people and performed resuscitation operations on people who were fatally wounded… In all my years at MDA, I do not remember such a heavy disaster.”

Other witnesses described the speed with which the crowded scenes descended into chaos as festival-goers started slipping, one after the other. “It happened in a split second; people just fell, trampling each other. It was a disaster,” a witness told Haaretz.

“We were standing and waiting for our friends, we were going to go inside for the dancing and stuff and all of a sudden we saw paramedics from MDA running by, like mid-CPR on kids,” Shlomo Katz, a witness, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

It was only after he saw ambulances come out “one after the other” that he realised something had gone wrong. “We just went to the side as the ambulances were driving in and out and we waited until we were able to slowly get out,” he said.

The Israeli military has also dispatched medics and search and rescue teams along with helicopters to assist with a “mass casualty incident” in the area, reported the Associated Press.