Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will not participate in the conclave, the secret vote that will elect Pope Francis’ successor. He reported his resignation to other cardinals almost crying, according to the Italian press.
The decision would have been made on the morning of Monday (28), after a meeting at the Vatican. To resolve the issue, Cardinal Pietro Parolin would have shown Becciu two letters signed by Francisco.
In these documents, Becciu was formally excluded from participating in the conclave. However, the two letters were never published and there were some doubts about their legal value.
The first letter has a chirographic signature, and the second has the initial name of the Pope, “F” at the bottom.
After talking to various cardinals, Becciu himself would have understood that to contest this decision it would be necessary to contest Pope Francis’ own will and would have agreed to take a step back “for the good of the church.”
In recent days, the cardinal had said that it could not be excluded from the conclave because it had been forgiven by the pontiff.
The clarification meeting held at Santa See this Monday, during the General Congregation in Paulo VI class, would have served to convince him not to feed the controversy further.
For the fifth consecutive time, the congregation of cardinals was “paralyzed” by the case of suspension of cardinal rights. His eventual presence in the conclave had become the predominant subject of the meeting.
Who is Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Cardinal banned by Pope Francis?
Giovanni Angelo Becciu was born in Pattada, Sassari, Italy, on June 2, 1948.
He was ordained priest on August 27, 1972. he graduated in canon law.
He entered the Vatican diplomatic service on May 1, 1984, having served in the Pontifical Representations in the Central African Republic, Sudan, New Zealand, Liberia, the United Kingdom, France and the United States.
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Understand the case involving Cardinal banned by Pope Francis
Becciu was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement and fraud in 2023 in a case involving the purchase of a luxury building in London that left a break of 139 million euros in the Vatican finances. He became the first cardinal to be sentenced by a Criminal Court of the Holy See.
The cardinal always claimed innocence and filed a feature that is still under analysis. He is allowed to continue living in an apartment in the Vatican while the process is underway.
Before the trial began, Pope Francis fired Giovanni Becciu from the position of Leader of the Vatican Department for the canonization of Santos. The Pontiff also ordered him to renounce Cardinal’s “rights and privileges”.
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This content was originally published in Cardinal banned by Pope Francis will not participate in the conclave, says media on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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