VATICAN CITY – Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was convicted of fraud and embezzlement in Vatican court in 2023 has officially announced he will not enter Conclave on May 7, after initially contesting his removal from the list of eligible cardinals. 

 In a statement Becciu said, "taking to heart the good of the Church, which I served and continued to serve with loyalty and love, as well as contributing to the communion and serenity of the conclave, I decided to obey, as I have always done, the will of Pope Francis and not to enter the conclave, while remaining myself convinced of my innocence." The announcement came while the sixth Congregation of Cardinals in the Vatican began the Conclave.

 After much controversy and speculation, the case of the high Sardinian prelate is therefore closed. The Cardinal, who was sentenced at first instance by the Vatican Court for the Sloane Square debacle in London, which has been covered by the Italian Insider previously, is awaiting the appeal and thus, has been denied his ‘right’ to vote in the conclave as a cardinal.

 According to Italian Media Becciu was one of the biggest disappointments for Pope Francis. Ordained priest in 1972, the Sardinian prelate boasts a long 'diplomatic' career.  He entered the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See on May 1, 1984, and worked in the Central African Republic, Sudan, New Zealand, Liberia, Great Britain, France and the United States. Under Pope John Paul II he was an apostolic nuncio in Angola, to São Tomé and Prince. Under Benedict XVI, however, it was Nunzio in Cuba. In 2011 he entered the Secretariat of State as a substitute for General Affairs, a role which was confirmed by Pope Francis. In 2018 Bergoglio appointed him Cardinal and the following year prefect of the Congregation of the causes of the saints, which he enjoyed up until his trial and initial conviction in 2023. 

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