VATICAN CITY: Cardinals in meetings ahead of the start of a secret conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis are scratching the hair under their red skull caps as they try to decide whether a cardinal convicted of embezzlement and fraud can join in the vote.

Their quandary concerns Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who in Dec 2023 was sentenced to 5-1/2 years in jail. He was the most senior Catholic Church official ever to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court.

Becciu has denied all wrongdoing and is appealing the court’s ruling. The Italian cardinal, who is free pending his appeal, did not immediately return a message asking for comment on Thursday.

His complex legal standing in Church law goes back to the night of Sept 24, 2020, when Francis summoned Becciu to his residence and summarily fired him from the job as head of the Vatican department that decides who will be saints, as the cardinal recounted.

Francis bluntly accused a shocked Becciu of nepotism and embezzlement, saying: “I no longer have trust in you.” The pope allowed Becciu to keep his ecclesiastical title and his Vatican apartment but stripped him of what the Vatican said were “the rights associated with the Cardinalate”.

At the time, Becciu said this included losing the right to take part in a future conclave.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2025