(CNA. Hannah Brockhaus).
At a July 3 appeal hearing, lawyers for former Vatican auditor Libero Milone and his recently deceased former deputy Ferruccio Panicco will argue that Cardinal Angelo Becciu acted as an official of the Vatican, not as a private individual, when he put pressure on the two men to resign their posts in 2017 under threat of prosecution. “For me, Ferruccio’s family, and my family this is tremendously important,” Milone told journalists at a June 19 briefing about his appeal, claiming he and Panicco were “threatened and expelled for doing our jobs” and he is now essentially un-hireable due to the damage to his reputation. Milone is preparing to go before the Vatican’s appeals court after his lawsuit was rejected earlier this year by a lower court for a “misplaced claim” against the Secretariat of State. Judges said the Secretariat of State was not liable for his ousting because he was employed by the pope and Becciu was acting alone when he forced the auditor from his job and accused him of “spying” on his personal finances.