Convicted Cardinal Backs Down, Says He Won't Participate In Upcoming Conclave
'I have decided to obey, as I have always done, Pope Francis' will not to enter the Conclave while remaining convinced of my innocence,' Becciu said in a statement Tuesday.
Becciu, who in 2023 was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement for using Vatican funds to donate to a charity run by his brother, said last week that he was set on participating in the conclave beginning May 7 to replace Pope Francis. However, the Holy See press office declared him a 'non-elector' because of his embezzlement conviction.
Becciu told the Sardinian newspaper L'Unione Sarda that 'there was no explicit wish to exclude me from the conclave, nor a request for an explicit written renunciation on my part.'
On Tuesday, he reversed his stance.
Becciu was the first ever cardinal tried in the Vatican criminal court, and while he is waiting for his appeal to be considered, he can still live in a Vatican apartment. Becciu attended the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome over the weekend, but he had a complex history with the pontiff. In September 2020, Pope Francis reportedly forced Becciu to resign as head of the Vatican's saint-making office after the embezzlement allegations surfaced, and Francis also stripped him of 'his rights connected to the cardinalate.'
It's not clear if the pope took away Becciu's voting rights, however. Some conclave voters felt that if Becciu wasn't allowed to vote, the conclave would be illegitimate, according to The New York Times.
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