The convicted cardinal will not attend the meeting of Pope Francis’ successor
An Italian cardinal convicted of embezzlement and fraud said Tuesday he would not attend a secret meeting to elect the new pope to be held next week after Pope Francis’ death.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the highest-ranking Catholic church official ever tried in the Vatican Criminal Court, was sentenced to 5½ years in prison in December 2023. He denied all wrongdoing and applied for free the appeal planned to begin in September.
“Take the interests of the church in mind. I decided to obey Pope Francis as usual, without entering the meeting, and remain firmly convinced of my innocence.”
In recent days, Becciu asserted that he has the right to begin entering Sistine Chapel with other cardinals on May 7.
Francis, who died on April 21, at the age of 88, raised Becciu and several others into the Cardinal in 2018.
The Pope allowed Becciu to retain his church title and his Vatican apartment, but deprived what he said at the time of “rights related to the cardinal,” which made him ambiguity about whether he could join the meeting.
Becciu’s troubles occur as the product of a survey of the Holy See’s investment in luxury London properties.
Prosecutors began researching other transactions, including 125,000 euros ($182,600 CDN) of Vatican currency, which he sent to his native Sadinia diocese charity. Prosecutors claimed to misappropriate the company because the charity was run by his brother. Becciu argued that the local bishop asked the money to allow a bakery to hire young people at risk, which remains in the diocese’s library.
He was prosecuted in 2021.
Sunday Magazine18:19Politics of Election of the New Pope
In the days following the funeral of Pope Francis, 135 cardinal voters will gather at a meeting at the Vatican Sistine Chapel to elect the new leader of the Catholic Church. They will not only choose faith leaders, but also world leaders. The current global turmoil and uncertainty we face will surely be disturbed in their minds. Theologian and Vatican expert Massimo Faggioli shared with Piya Chattopadhyay his insights on how the church seeks to position itself in the world in the years to come, and the true impact of the institution on the world stage today.
“Brother and sincere atmosphere”
Cardinals around the age of 80 from around the world are eligible to vote for the next head of the church to form 1.4 billion, which is subject to concerns over their financial and disagreements about their doctrine.
The first two conclusions were held in 2005 and 2013 and lasted only two days. But some have lasted for five days since the beginning of the 20th century.
Some of the cardinals appointed by Francis have never had one that they had before.
However, El Salvador’s cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez said Tuesday he believes the meeting could end quickly.
“My impression is that the conference match will be short, two to three days – it’s how we feel in the room,” he told reporters. Given that he is 82 years old, Chavez will not be eligible to vote.
Louis Raphael Sako, head of the Catholic Church in Chalde, Baghdad, also said he hopes for a brief procedure to elect Francis, the first pope in Latin America.
“There is an atmosphere of brotherly sincerity, so it is the spirit of responsibility to choose someone who continues with Pope Francis’s work,” he said.
The conference will be held at the 16th-century Sistine Church.
The Pope is elected when the candidate receives at least two-thirds of the qualified vote.
Cardinal voters come from over 70 countries, and four Canadian cardinals are eligible to attend the meeting: Thomas Collins, Michael Cherney, Francis Leo and Gaillard Lacroix.
Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet was transferred on June 81 and he was not eligible to vote but was not considered the next and 267th Pope. When the 2013 vote was revealed, Ouellet ranked third in all five votes, behind only the Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola and Argentina’s Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who chose the name of Francis as the pope in honor of St. Francis in Assisi.
The sacred tradition
The Cardinal voted for the paper printed with the Latin word “emigo in ummumum pontificem” (“I chose to be the highest Pontive”). The ballots gathered together and burned at the end of the morning and afternoon meetings, gushing smoke from the makeshift chimney above the Sistine Church.
Black Smoke shows that the vote is uncertain, while White Smoke tells the outside world that the Pope has been chosen.
The big bell of St. Peter’s Basilica will be an additional signal that the new pope has been elected.
After choosing the Pope, a high-ranking cardinal appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and declared in Latin: “Annuntio Vobis GaudiumMagnum. Habemus Papam.” This means: “I declare to you very happy. We have a pope.”
The Cardinal then used his name to identify the new pope, whose name was translated into Latin, and then announced that the new leader of the church had announced the name of the pope in Latin.
The most common papal names are John (23 times), Gregory (16), Benedict (16), Clement (14), Innocent (13), Leo (13), and Asylum (12).
