Pope’s role in Vatican financial probe again center stage

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis’ own role in the investigation into financial wrongdoing at the Holy See is again center stage. Witnesses on Friday said he encouraged a key suspect to cooperate with prosecutors, and a key defendant accused him of interfering in the trial. Friday’s hearing was one of the most eagerly anticipated in the Vatican’s “trial of the century,” given it featured testimony from one of the more colorful figures in recent Vatican history, Francesca Chaouqui. But the daylong hearing ended with an unexpected bombshell, as key defendant Cardinal Angelo Becciu read aloud an exchange of letters with the pope that suggested Francis himself continued to cast a shadow over the trial.