A Vatican judge has ordered 10 people, including an Italian cardinal, to stand trial for alleged financial crimes.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu has become the highest-ranked cleric in the Vatican to be indicted over charges that include embezzlement and abuse of office.

The 73-year-old cardinal, who denies wrongdoing, was forced to resign last September, but retains his title.

The charges relate to a multi-million-dollar property purchase with Church funds in London.

Cardinal Becciu was a close aide to Pope Francis and previously had a key job in the Vatican's Secretariat of State, which manages the Church's donations.

He will face questions over a controversial loss-making deal to invest in the luxury London building while he was in charge at the secretariat; the deal has since been the subject of a financial investigation.

The $200m (£155m) paid for the apartment block in Sloane Avenue came out of Church money through offshore funds and companies - a deal the cardinal had defended in the past.

In a statement released on Saturday by those close to him, the cardinal said he was "the victim of a conspiracy" and protested his "absolute innocence", the AFP news agency reports.