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In its defence, the Secretariat of State of the Holy See essentially claimed before the High Court that Mr. Mincione’s dispute was with the Office of the Promoter of Justice of the Holy See, which had brought the criminal charges against him in the Vatican, and therefore not with the Secretariat. The Secretariat claimed that it was essentially neutral in this case, despite the fact that both it and the OPJ are both organs of the same state. The Secretariat also alleged that English courts lacked the jurisdiction to hear the claim, even though all the material facts and alleged criminality pertaining to the London property took place in England. It therefore requested that the judge pause the proceedings until after the conclusion of the trial in the Vatican.

Following a hearing which took place on 25 and 26 October 2021, High Court Judge Salzedo determined that the Secretariat’s wish to prevent the English courts from hearing the claim was wrong and confirmed in WRM and Mr Mincione’s favour that the matter must be subject to English jurisdiction. However, the judge granted the Secretariat’s request and stayed the proceedings on the basis that the Secretariat was a “neutral party” and was therefore “hamstrung” from participating fully in the English proceedings. WRM Group appealed this decision.

On 27 July 2022, in a landmark victory for WRM, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s decision and, by lifting the stay, allowed the declaratory relief proceedings to resume. The Court of Appeal firmly rejected the Secretariat’s central argument that it was a “neutral party” in the English proceedings, given that in the Vatican proceedings it was claiming damage compensation against (amongst others) Mr Mincione. This approach, the court found, was wholly inconsistent and incompatible with its claimed neutrality, and was adopted by the Secretariat simply for the purpose of avoiding English jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal also rejected the Secretariat’s argument that the existence of parallel proceedings in the Vatican constituted a reason to stay the proceedings in English courts.

The Court of Appeal therefore concluded that “there is every reason” to allow WRM Group’s claim to proceed as a justiciable claim over which the English courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

WRM’s claim is now being heard by the Court of Appeal, and proceedings are ongoing. This case the first time in the Vatican’s 2,000-year history that the nation faces trial before an English court.

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