cc: Associate Judge: Rev. Msgr. Sergio Gagliardo, J.C.D.
cc: Promoter of Justice: Rev. Niccolò Paladino, J.C.D.
cc: Notary: Rev. Carlo Tarli
My pulse quickens. “I know the first judge. And the third one. Passaro and Gagliardo. Stradella is the only one I don’t recognize.”
Mignatto nods as if he expected this. “All three have been Rotal judges for almost twenty years, so it’s not surprising you might have crossed their paths in Rome. It’s very surprising, however, that a penal case against a priest would be tried by Rotal judges. Only a bishop or legate is supposed to receive that treatment unless the Holy Father approves otherwise. So the question arises: would you say Passaro and Gagliardo are hostile toward your brother?”
Now I understand. He’s saying this is the form the threat would take. Cardinal Galuppo would stack the bench against Simon.
“No,” I tell him. “Passaro taught Simon at the Academy, and Gagliardo is a friend of my uncle’s. They’re both friendly.”
Mignatto smiles. “Monsignor Gagliardo was two years behind me in seminary. Your uncle was his tutor. Sadly, both will have to recuse themselves. But if Cardinal Galuppo were threatening your brother, are these really the judges he would’ve chosen?”
I hesitate. “Maybe Galuppo knows they’ll recuse themselves. Maybe the bad ones will replace them.”
Mignatto shuffles the pages in his hands. “Then this may convince you otherwise.”
When he offers me another paper, I’m mesmerized. It’s the final sheet of the accusation. The libellus itself.
Before The Reverend Father Lord John PASSARO,
Presiding Justice
VATICAN
Penal Case
Promoter of Justice v. Rev. Andreou
Prot. N. 92.004
-LIBELLUS-
I, Niccolò Paladino, the Promoter of Justice at this Apostolic Court, hereby accuse the Reverend Simon Andreou, a priest incardinated in the Diocese of Rome, of the delict of homicide against the person of Ugolino Nogara, in violation of Canon 1397 of the Code of Canon Law. The accusation is that, on August 21, 2004, at or about five o’clock in the evening, Fr. Andreou deliberately shot to death Dr. Nogara in the gardens of the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo. The following evidence is adduced:
As witnesses: Mr. Guido Canali, employee of the pontifical farm at Castel Gandolfo; Dr. Andreas Bachmeier, curator of medieval and Byzantine art for the Vatican Museums; and Inspector General Eugenio Falcone, chief of the Vatican gendarmerie.
As documentary evidence: Fr. Andreou’s personnel file at the Secretariat of State; a voice message left by Dr. Nogara at the Apostolic Nunciature in Ankara, Turkey; and video footage from security camera B-E-9 of the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo.
I ask the Court to find him guilty and, thereupon, to impose the following penalty: dismissal of Father Andreou from the clerical state.
On this 22nd day of August, in the Year of Our Lord, 2004,
Reverend Niccolò Paladino
Promoter of Justice
I hang on the threatened punishment. The court has the power to throw Simon out of the Secretariat and even banish him from Rome. But the libellus asks for the heaviest penalty of all: to laicize my brother. I knew this was possible, but it casts a pall to see the prosecutor beg such a thing.
“Look at the evidence,” Mignatto says. “Anything familiar?”