VATICAN CITY — An Italian cardinal who was convicted of embezzlement and fraud said on Tuesday he will not take part in the secret conclave to elect the new pope that will be held in the Sistine Chapel next week following the death of Pope Francis.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the most senior Catholic Church official ever to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court, was sentenced to 5-1/2 years in jail in December 2023. He denies all wrongdoing and is free pending an appeal.
The resurfacing of the Becciu issue could deal a blow to Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a senior Vatican official who is seen as a leading candidate to succeed Francis.
Francis, who died on April 21 at the age of 88, had fired Becciu from a senior Vatican job in 2020 and accused him of embezzlement.
The pope allowed Becciu to keep his ecclesiastical title and his Vatican apartment but stripped him of what the Vatican said at the time were “the rights associated with the Cardinalate,” leaving ambiguity over whether he could join the conclave.
“Having at heart the good of the Church … I have decided to obey, as I always have, the will of Pope Francis and to not enter the conclave, still remaining convinced of my innocence,” said the cardinal.
The Becciu case centered on the messy $200-million purchase of a building in London by the Secretariat of State, the Vatican’s key administrative and diplomatic department, headed by Parolin, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
About 135 cardinals under the age of 80, from all corners of the world, are eligible to take part in the vote for the next head of the 1.4-billion-member Church, which is beset by concerns over its finances and divisions over doctrine.
The previous two conclaves, held in 2005 and 2013, lasted just two days but there have been suggestions that things might take longer this time.
Some of the cardinals appointed by Francis, who appointed many cardinals from countries who had never had them before, had not previously met.
However, Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez of El Salvador said on Tuesday he felt this conclave could be wrapped up swiftly.
“I have the impression that the conclave will be short, two or three days, this is the feeling we have inside the room,” he told reporters. Given his age of 82, Chavez will not be eligible to vote.
Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, head of Baghdad’s Chaldean Catholic Church, also said he expected a similarly short process to elect a successor to Francis, who was the first pope from Latin America.
“There is a fraternal and sincere atmosphere, so it is the spirit of responsibility to choose someone who would continue Pope Francis’ work,” he said.
In Manila, Filipinos continued to pay their respects to Pope Francis as hundreds trooped to the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila yesterday to sign the book of condolences.
People from different sectors and walks of life lined up at the Embassy of the Vatican in the Philippines to write their messages and offer their condolences to the late Pontiff.
“It is really a joy to witness the outpouring of affection for Pope Francis that we’re seeing today. Not only today, but in these last several days after the departure from this earth of Pope Francis on Easter Monday,” said Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Charles Brown.
“I’ve been receiving the people and greeting them as they come to express their affection and their prayers for Pope Francis,” he added.
He also said the late pontiff loved the Philippines.
“Whenever I would go to Rome and meet with Pope Francis, he was always asking me to ask the Filipinos to pray for him. So he had a great love for Filipino Catholics,” he said.
On the forthcoming conclave, Brown asked the Filipino faithful to pray for the College of Cardinals as they begin the process of selecting the next leader of the universal Catholic Church.
Brown also said that prior to the conclave, the cardinals will attend a series of meetings in the Vatican that are vital to the selection process.
“They will be reflecting on the legacy of Pope Francis. That will kind of form the basis for the decisions that they will make when they go into the conclave,” he said.
As for those “campaigning” for particular cardinals to become the next pope, Brown said, “I think it’s important to remember that the Holy Spirit has already decided on who the next pope will be. The Holy Spirit has already decided. It’s the job of the cardinals to listen to the Holy Spirit and to make that choice evident in their conclave.”
Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has been named to a rotating post that shall assist the Camerlengo in preparations for the conclave.
In a report, the CBCP News said Tagle was assigned to join the “Particular Congregation” last Monday, April 28, during the meeting of the “General Congregation.”
“The two bodies oversee the administration of the Church during the sede vacante, or vacancy in the Holy See. Major decisions are handled by the General Congregation, which includes all members of the College of Cardinals,” said the CBCP News.
“Other preparatory matters are handled by the Particular Congregation, composed of the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and three cardinals,” added the official news agency of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
Aside from Tagle, also elected in the” Particular Congregation” are Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, and French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.
The three cardinals of the “Particular Congregation” are replaced by the “General Congregation” every three days.
