2nd Vatican official says pope OK’d ransom payments for nun

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A second high-ranking Vatican official has said Pope Francis authorized spending hundreds of thousands of euros in ransom payments to try to free a nun who was kidnapped by al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali. Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, the No. 3 Holy See official, told the Vatican tribunal that he had sought, and received Francis’ approval to wire the money soon after he took up his duties as the “substitute” in the Vatican secretariat of state in late 2018. Pena Parra was answering questions for a second day Friday after being called by defense attorneys representing the 10 people on trial for a host of alleged financial crimes.