Convicted Cardinal Becciu Claims He Can Join Conclave Despite Vatican Ban

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, once one of the Vatican’s most powerful officials and now a convicted felon, has reignited controversy by claiming he is eligible to vote in the upcoming papal conclave despite being formally listed as a “non-elector” by the Holy See.

Becciu, 76, was stripped of his cardinal privileges by Pope Francis in 2020 after becoming embroiled in a high-profile financial scandal involving the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. In 2023, he was convicted of embezzlement and fraud related to a failed London property deal that cost the Church tens of millions of dollars. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison but is currently appealing the ruling and continues to live in a Vatican apartment while that process unfolds.

Despite his conviction and demotion, Becciu told a Sardinian newspaper this week that there had been “no explicit will to exclude me from the conclave nor a request for my explicit renunciation in writing.” He remains technically a cardinal and is under the age of 80, the cutoff for voting in a papal election.

Whether he will be allowed to take part in the vote remains unclear. The final decision will likely fall to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who will oversee the conclave proceedings inside the Sistine Chapel.

Becciu’s case has drawn attention to the limits of papal authority and transparency within Church governance. Pope Francis had pushed through a legal reform to allow cardinals like Becciu to be judged by Vatican courts, a significant shift from centuries of internal handling.

Though removed from his former role as “sostituto,” a powerful deputy to the Secretary of State, Becciu retains the right to attend pre-conclave meetings. His claim to participate in the vote itself, however, may test the boundaries of Vatican law and tradition.

As of now, 135 cardinals under age 80 are eligible to vote in the conclave. Whether Becciu will be allowed to join them remains one of the more unusual questions hanging over the proceedings.