Convicted cardinal claims he can participate in the election of new pope

International

A CARDINAL who is listed as “non-elector” after being convicted of financial crimes by the Vatican is claiming he can take part in the forthcoming conclave, the assembly of cardinals for the election of a pope.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu was one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican before he was ordered by Pope Francis in 2020 to resign the “rights and privileges” of a cardinal after he became embroiled in a Vatican financial scandal, a report by CNN said.

The Sardinian cardinal is a former “sostituto” (“substitute”) in the Holy See’s Secretariat of State - a papal chief of staff equivalent,

The role offered Becciu walk-in privileges to see the pope and he commanded huge authority across the church’s central government. He was later moved to a position running the Vatican’s saint-making department.

In 2023, Becciu was convicted of embezzlement and fraud and was handed a five-and-a-half-year jail sentence, making him first cardinal to be convicted by the Vatican’s criminal court.

Becciu has always maintained his innocence, launched an appeal that’s currently still under consideration. He’s allowed to continue to live in a Vatican apartment while this process is underway.

The CNN report stated that while the Holy See press office has listed him as a “non-elector,” Becciu told a Sardinian newspaper on Tuesday that “there was no explicit will to exclude me from the conclave nor a request for my explicit renunciation in writing.”

The decision of his participation will likely be decided by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who will oversee the conclave proceedings inside the Sistine Chapel.