Vatican in legal fight over luxury flats

By Sean O’neill
Times
July 20, 2020

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/vatican-legal-fight-over-luxury-flats-fq09gwswx

The Pope expressed concern over what he described as “suspicious financial situations”

Raffaele Mincione has consistently denied any impropriety Photo by DAVE BENETT

The secretive world of Vatican finances will be laid bare in a legal dispute examining the alleged use of charitable donations from churchgoers around the world to buy prime London property.

Two claims have been lodged at the High Court against the Vatican over the purchase of 60 Sloane Avenue, a Chelsea block earmarked for development into luxury apartments.

The cases pit the Pope and the Holy See against Raffaele Mincione, a millionaire financier who is the former fiancé of the model Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Sir Paul McCartney.

The litigation threatens to unpick a complex web of transactions involving Swiss banks, investment funds based in Luxembourg and, allegedly, millions of pounds donated by Roman Catholics in the annual Peter’s Pence collection for papal....