Vatican chief of staff testifies in UK finance trial, admits to false invoice and blames a deputy

(NICOLE WINFIELD. AP).

Pope Francis’ chief of staff became one of the highest-ranking Holy See officials to testify in a foreign court Thursday, telling a British tribunal about the negotiations at the heart of the Vatican’s so-called “trial of the century,” admitting he filed a false invoice and pointing a finger at his one-time deputy who escaped the scandal unscathed.

Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra was called to testify in a British civil proceeding brought against the Vatican by an Italian-British financier who was involved in the Holy See’s investment in a London property.