The decision of the Italian cardinal Angelo Becciu to withdraw from the upcoming conclave to elect a successor to the late Pope Francis could spare the Catholic Church of embarrassment and the scandal that threatened to overshadow the procedure.
The Vatican Criminal Court sentenced the Becciu in 2023 of embezzlement of funds and other charges related to finances at the end of the so-called “trial of the century”.
He is free when he appeals to conviction and five years in prison and a half and participated in meetings before the contractions, including Monday.
However, Tuesday, the 76 -year -old man said he would not participate in the conclave for the “good of the Church” and because of his “love” for Pope Francis.
“I decided to obey because I have always made Pope Francis' will not to enter the conclave while remaining convinced of my innocence,” said Becciu in a statement.
The case had become a headache for the Catholic Church and in particular for the credibility of the reforms which had been undertaken by the late Pontiff, but not finished.
Pope Francis appointed 110 of the 135 cardinals who will vote in the conclave starting on May 7, some Vatican observers suggesting that he did so in order to ensure that his values and priorities would be transported in the following papacy.
Becciu's conviction drags above the Vatican
Becciu was formerly an influential Vatican chief of the Vatican and a leading papal candidate.
But he fell from grace in 2020 when Pope Francis forced him to resign from his post as chief of the Vatican Saints Manufacturing Office and his rights as a cardinal due to allegations of financial misconduct.
Becciu denied any reprehensible act, but was sentenced in December 2023. His call should start in September.
According to the decision of the Vatican Criminal Court, Becciu managed in 2014 the purchase of London property with funds from the Vatican State Secretariat.
In 2022, the property was sold by the Holy See, for around 214 million euros, to the Bath capital investment company, resulting in net loss for the Vatican of more than 100 million euros.
According to reports in the Italian media, Pope Francis had written letters expressing his desire for Becciu to be excluded from a conclave. These letters would have been demonstrated in Becciu by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a senior Vatican official who is considered a leading candidate like the next pontiff.
“ Note of the note '' for the faithful
The Becciu affair took place at a delicate moment for the Catholic church. Pope Francis oversees major reforms, including a drastic reduction in the central role of the Vatican State Secretariat in favor of local communities around the world.
Despite the scandal around him, Becciu was an ally of Pope Francis in his desire to restructure the institutions and finances of the Vatican.
ADVERTISEMENTAccording to the lawyer and vice-rector of the University of Luist in Rome, Francesco Di Ciommo, Becciu “was very close to the pope, he was his trusted man and I believe that he also loved the friendship of the Holy Father and personal consideration in one way or another”.
But with regard to the scandal around the purchase of London property, Di Ciommo said that this shows that the late pontiff was “uninformed” as to the management of the Vatican.
“If, instead, it had been found that the assets of the Holy See had been managed by agreed investments with the Holy Father or in any case without its reservations, it is clear that the trial would have taken place differently and that the result would have been different,” Da Ciommo told Euronews.
The agreement was risky because it was not only a simple acquisition of a luxury property, but also an investment in a hedge fund (the Global Opportunities Fund), the lawyer said.
ADVERTISEMENT“Vatican assets have also been invested in assets that have nothing to do with the main mission of the Vatican. This is true,” said Di Ciommo.
“However, to invest in a commercial property in the center of London, for the faithful, I imagine that it is a discordant note,” he added.
Dark past
Pope Francis' reforms also concerned the Vatican public finances.
During his pontificate, an anti-whiteness authority was established, the task of which also consists in supervising the Vatican bank, the Institute for Religion Works (IOR).
ADVERTISEMENTThe IOR has a controversial history dating from the early 1980s.
For example, the bank was entangled in the bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano, then the largest private banking in Italy.
Banco Ambrosiano president Roberto Calvi, known as “Banker of God” because of his Vatican ties, was found suspended from the London Blackfriars bridge in June 1982.
The IOR had a small part of Ambrosiano and was considered in part responsible for $ 1.3 billion (1.1 billion euros) in questionable receivables left by the collapse of private banking.
ADVERTISEMENTHowever, for most observers, the case of Becciu is very different from dark times decades ago.
“The case took place at the turn of a vintage passage. Before Pope Francis, there was no transparency. There was no commission of inquiry which mentioned, among other things, the affair of London property,” said Di Ciommo.
“Without this interventionism of Pope Francis, he would probably never have had this scandal and this case would never have been revealed, and it is therefore certainly possible that there have been other similar events in the past,” he added.
