Vatican cardinal pushes back after pope fires him in scandal

Rome • The financial scandal that toppled Cardinal Angelo Becciu, one of the Vatican’s most powerful officials, mounted Friday with evidence that he directed hundreds of thousands of euros of Vatican and Italian church funds to a charity controlled by his brother.But Becciu denied he did anything wrong, much less criminal, during an extraordinary news conference, a day after Pope Francis fired him and yanked his rights and privileges as a cardinal. The 72-year-old Becciu said his down