Disgraced cardinal Angelo Becciu insists he can vote in conclave to elect next Pope

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the arch nemesis of Cardinal George Pell, says ‘there was no explicit will to exclude me’ and has pointed to his participation in the Consistory last year as evidence he retains his Cardinal rights.

Disgraced cardinal Angelo Becciu and Pope Francis.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the arch nemesis of Cardinal George Pell, and who has been sentenced to more than five years jail by the Vatican court for fraud, is insisting he can vote in the conclave to elect the next Pope.

Becciu says that “there was no explicit will to exclude me” and has pointed to his participation in the Consistory late last year when Pope Francis appointed new cardinals, including Mykola Bychok, the Ukrainian bishop in charge of the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Melbourne, as evidence that he retains his Cardinal rights.

Becciu, 77, has flown from his Sardinian home and is in Rome participating in the College of the Cardinals, which has been deciding on the program of official mourning following the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu walks in procession during a mass for Palm Sunday at St Peter's square in the Vatican. Picture: Tiziana FABI / AFP

But a list of eligible voters issued by the Vatican press office listed Becciu as a non-elector, prompting the Sardinian to appeal to the College of Cardinals to assert his voting rights.

He told the Sardinian news paper L’Unione: “ Referring to the last Consistory, the Pope has recognised my cardinal prerogatives intact, as there was no explicit will to exclude me from the Conclave nor the request for my explicit renunciation in writing”.

The Apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis says that cardinals who have renounced the dignity of cardinal with the Pope’s consent cannot participate in the conclave. However Becciu says that Pope Francis had not formalised the renunciation in writing.

Becciu has been a highly controversial figure in the Catholic Church ever since Pope Francis asked Pell to clean out the Vatican finances back in 2014. The Australian uncovered evidence of embezzlement and kickbacks involving Becciu, the Vatican’s then deputy secretary of state.

The most high profile example was a disastrous property development in Sloane Avenue, London, which cost the church hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pell also queried why $2.3m was paid to a Melbourne computer company in 2017 and 2018 to register the domain name “catholic”.

These payments became embroiled in a later conspiracy theory that the moneys were being used to smear Pell’s name as he fought a criminal trial in 2017, concerning allegations of historic sex offences in country Victoria involving two boys. Pell’s conviction was later overturned by the High Court because “the evidence did not establish guilt’’ and he was exonerated. Pell died in 2022 after a routine hip operation in a Rome hospital.

Last year Becciu told a Belgium television program “The Vatican: The State of the Church” that accusations the money sent to Australia was intended to influence Pell’s trial was “crazy, crazy stuff’’.

Cardinal Becciu after paying his respects during a ceremony inside St Peter's Basilica. Picture: Tiziana FABI / AFP

In 2023, after a two-year trial before the Vatican Tribunal, Becciu was found guilty of fraud and financial crimes involving the London property, but also for transferring Vatican 575,000 euros to a female Sardinian consultant who used part of the money to buy luxury goods and expensive resort holidays and 125,000 euros transferred to a Sardinian church charity managed by his brother Antonio.

Becciu was sentenced to five and a half years in jail and was permanently disqualified from holding public office.

He is still appealing that conviction.

As an aside Becciu’s brother, Antonio, is currently facing money laundering and fraud charges involving alleged misuse of charity and taxpayer moneys. One of the contested charges is that Antonio Becciu had falsely claimed to have bought bread for the poor.