VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the prelate deemed to be at the heart of a 2019 Vatican financial controversy, has said that he will participate in the upcoming papal conclave despite the Vatican not listing him.
Speaking to Sardinian media on the day after Pope Francis’ death, Becciu stated his intention to participate in the upcoming conclave, even though Vatican data does not include him as a voting cardinal.
“The list published by the Press Room has no legal value and must be taken for what is,” he said.
Becciu was formerly the Sostituto in the Vatican Secretariat of State, a high-ranking official effectively acting as second in command in the office.
However, due to the controversy surrounding him and the Vatican financial scandal, he had his cardinalatial rights removed by Francis in a quasi-forced resignation. After going on trial at the Vatican he was served a prison sentence of five and a half years in December 2023, deemed to be guilty of numerous counts of “embezzlement,” and given an €8,000 fine and a permanent ban from holding public office.
Becciu has consistently argued his innocence of the many charges against him. [See LifeSiteNews’ archive reporting on the prelate here.]
In August 2022 he attested that Francis had personally informed him of his rehabilitation as a cardinal, and subsequently has taken part in consistories since that time. “On Saturday, the Pope phoned me to tell me that I will be reinstated in my cardinal duties and to ask me to participate in a meeting with all the cardinals that will be held in the coming days in Rome,” Becciu said at the time.
It was after this time that he received his prison sentence in the Vatican’s high-profile financial trial.
He has already been a public figure in the nightly rosaries held for Pope Francis in recent weeks, and has already been seen attending the General Congregations the cardinals are holding.
But his determination to participate in the conclave is being fought. According to the well-sourced Vaticanista Francesco Grana, Becciu’s participation in the conclave is being opposed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who served as Secretary of State for Pope Francis.
Parolin, as the senior member of the order of cardinal bishops, will have rank to preside over the conclave itself, meaning that Becciu will have to fight his case directly against the man he formerly worked alongside very closely in the Secretariat of State.
Cardinals drop out
Meanwhile, two cardinals known somewhat for their conservative theological or liturgical positions, have declared that they will not participate in the conclave.
The theologically conservative Croatian Cardinal Vinko Puljić, aged 79, told media he would not be participating in the conclave due to his health.
So also did Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, who is the emeritus Archbishop of Valencia and former prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Also aged 79 and a champion of the traditional Mass, Cañizares cannot participate either due to health reasons.
Maronite Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi also had a hip fracture this past weekend, making his presence unlikely at the General Congregations. But aged 85 he would not have been a voting member of the conclave itself.
There are currently 135 cardinal electors, with 108 of those having been created by Francis in 10 consistories. So far, only 133 will attend.
EXPLAINER: What happens now that Pope Francis has died?
Pope John Paul II’s document Universi Dominici Gregis (UDG) stipulates that “the maximum number of Cardinal electors must not exceed one hundred and twenty.”
Commenting on this passage from UDG and the likelihood of a conclave taking place while there are more than 120 cardinal voters, canon lawyer Father Gerald Murray explained to LifeSiteNews that since the first line of UDG section 33 preserves the right only to cardinals of electing the pope, in this case “all cardinals under age 80 have the right to enter the conclave and to vote for the next pope.”
“The limit of 120 cardinal voters is effectively rendered null when the pope creates more than that number,” Murray added.
As outlined in LifeSiteNews’ explainer of the procedures surrounding the conclave, only cardinals under the age of 80 can vote in the conclave. Those older can participate in the pre-conclave General Congregations in order to impart their wisdom to their younger brothers in the episcopacy.
As for who can be elected pope, it is most likely to be one among the voting cardinals, although it does not have to be – the last pope elected who was not part of the College of Cardinals was Pope Urban VI in 1378.
The requirements are:
That the candidate be a baptized, Catholic man having reached the age of reason.
If he is not a bishop, he must be consecrated prior to taking on the office.
However, the chances of the pope being someone other than one of the cardinals taking part in the conclave are immensely slim.
A majority of two-thirds of the vote is necessary for a candidate to be elected.
As for when the conclave itself starts, the Church’s law stipulates it must begin between 15 and 20 days after the death of the pontiff. So far, no formal date has been set.
As for the funeral of Pope Francis, it is due to be on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., followed by his interment in a side chapel in St. Mary Major’s Basilica.
