The dominoes began to fall when Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, a straight-laced Vatican accountant, refused to sign off on the London deal. In 2019, he walked into the office of the Vatican’s newly created Auditor General, Libero Milone, and laid out the evidence. Soon after, Milone himself was forced to resign under mysterious circumstances—but not before copies of key documents left Vatican walls.
In October 2019, Vatican gendarmes, acting on a warrant from the Promoter of Justice (the Vatican’s chief prosecutor), raided the Secretariat of State and the offices of the Financial Information Authority (AIF). They seized computers, encrypted hard drives, and paper ledgers. For the first time in modern history, the Vatican had launched a criminal investigation into its own central administration.
The raids sent shockwaves through the Curia. Cardinals whispered in sacristies. Bishops looked nervously at their own diocesan accounts. And two names emerged from the seized documents: Cardinal Angelo Becciu and Cecilia Marogna.
To understand the fiction, one must understand the reality that inspired it. The dramatic "Scandal in The Vatican" narratives are rooted in two major real-world events: Scandal in The Vatican 2
The centerpiece of Scandal in The Vatican 2 is a former Harrod’s warehouse in London’s fashionable Chelsea district. At 60 Sloane Avenue, the building was a luxury apartment block—stylish, expensive, and utterly irrelevant to the Church’s mission. Yet between 2014 and 2018, the Vatican Secretariat of State poured nearly €350 million into a complex web of funds, derivatives, and shell companies to acquire it.
Why? The official answer: a profitable investment to support Vatican charities. The real answer, according to whistleblowers and court documents: a costly gamble driven by ego, hidden commissions, and the desire to move money without oversight.
The deal was structured through a Luxembourg-based fund called Athena Capital, which then partnered with a speculator named Raffaele Mincione. Mincione was no ordinary fund manager; he had close ties to the Vatican’s financial gatekeepers. The Secretariat invested €200 million in Mincione’s fund, which then used the money to buy the London property. Later, to exit the deal, the Vatican turned to another shadowy financier: Gianluigi Torzi. Torzi—a man with a previous fraud conviction—inserted a “poison pill” clause into the contract, giving him control over the building even after the Vatican paid €150 million more to buy him out. The dominoes began to fall when Monsignor Alberto
When Vatican auditors finally looked into the deal in 2019, they discovered that the property had been overvalued by nearly €100 million. Worse, tens of millions had vanished into offshore accounts, “consultancy fees,” and commissions paid to brokers who had no visible role.
Why Watch? If you are interested in "Scandal in The Vatican 2" (conceptually), these works offer a sumptuous visual feast. They treat the Vatican not just as a religious center, but as a high-stakes political court.
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Note: This handbook treats "Scandal in The Vatican 2" as a fictional or thematic project (e.g., a sequel, a game expansion, a novel, or a satirical scenario). If you meant a specific real-world event or documentary, tell me and I’ll adapt the handbook to that real case.
Scandal in The Vatican 2: The Throne of Shadows