logo
Convicted cardinal wants to vote for pope; his brother prelates must decide

Convicted cardinal wants to vote for pope; his brother prelates must decide

The Star24-04-2025

FILE PHOTO: Cardinal Angelo Becciu greets Cardinal Matteo Zuppi during a consistory ceremony to elevate Roman Catholic prelates to the rank of cardinal, at Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, August 27, 2022. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - 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 December 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 September 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.
Under Church law, cardinals under the age of 80 can enter the Sistine Chapel for a secret conclave where they cast their votes under the gaze of a severe God depicted in Michelangelo's Last Judgement fresco behind the main altar.
The conclave is not expected to start before May 6.
About 135 cardinals are currently eligible to take part. On its website, the Vatican lists the 76-year-old Becciu as a "non-elector," lumping him with those who have reached the age of 80.
Between the time of his sacking and the end of the trial, Becciu had several meetings with the pope, including at a Mass in the cardinal's private chapel.
CARDINAL SAYS STATUS HAS CHANGED
Becciu says his status has changed since that night in 2020 when the pope punished him.
Becciu told L'Unione Sarda, the main newspaper on his native island of Sardinia, that the Vatican list of non-eligible cardinals "has no legal value," that there had been "no explicit willingness" to bar him from the conclave and that he had never been asked to formally renounce the privilege in writing.
In briefings since the pope died on Monday, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni has repeatedly declined to answer questions about Becciu's position, suggesting he may tackle the topic after Francis' funeral on Saturday.
Before the conclave starts, all cardinals, regardless of their age, can take part in daily meetings known as General Congregations, where they mainly discuss the day-to-day business of running the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church.
Most cardinals entering the Vatican for the General Congregations have not spoken to reporters or have declined to discuss the Becciu issue.
All that Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, 81, would say on Thursday as he entered the Vatican was that the cardinals – all the roughly 250 prelates, including electors and non-electors - would have to decide as a group.
(Reporting by Philip Pullella; additional reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Ukrainian woman searches for husband lost in action two years ago
Ukrainian woman searches for husband lost in action two years ago

New Straits Times

time27 minutes ago

  • New Straits Times

Ukrainian woman searches for husband lost in action two years ago

WHEN gaunt Ukrainian soldiers dismount from buses as part of prisoner swaps with Russia, Mariia Pylnyk tries to find out anything she can about her missing husband from the freed men, and hopes, just maybe, that he will be among them. Holding up a photograph of Dmytro Pylnyk, lost in action in early 2023, she has many questions. What happened to his unit when it was ambushed by Russian forces? Was he captured by Russia? Could he eventually be released? The mass prisoner swap last month was an opportunity for people like her to ask troops just out of Russian captivity about missing loved ones who they believe, or simply hope, are prisoners of war. The alternative is unthinkable. "I hold out great hope that someone has heard something, seen something," Pylnyk, 29, told Reuters at a recent exchange in May, flanked by other relatives of those missing in action. "My son and I are waiting for (his) dad to come home. Hope dies last. God willing, it'll all be okay and dad will come back." Precise numbers for soldiers missing in action are not made public. For Ukrainians, and for Russians on the other side of the conflict, it can be hard to find out even basic information. Pylnyk says she has written to government agencies and Russian authorities and learned almost nothing. Ukrainian officials say more than 70,000 Ukrainians have been registered missing since 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The majority are from the military but the figure also includes civilians. Another 12,000 have been removed from the list after being identified among the dead or returned in exchanges. Petro Yatsenko, a spokesman for the Coordination Council that arranges prisoner swaps from the Ukrainian side, said Russia had never notified Kyiv which soldiers it is holding prisoner. Ukraine collects that data by other means as best it can, he said. Pylnyk and others like her share information in online chat groups and use it to try to piece together what happened. "Misfortune brought us together," she said. "After two years of this, we're like a family." Dmytro Pylnyk, an electrician by trade, was drafted into the army in late 2022. He phoned home often so that his wife did not worry but last called on their son Artem's third birthday on Feb. 27, 2023. He was deployed from Kharkiv region towards Bakhmut, a small city that later fell to Russian forces after fierce fighting. His unit's convoy was caught in a Russian ambush, Mariia Pylnyk said she had learned. "The guys ran any which way," she said, citing conversations with commanders who told her 41 soldiers were missing in action. Two were captured and have since been released. One, who was freed in an exchange at Easter and had lost both his arms, was unable to share any valuable information, she said. The second refused to talk. The pace of prisoner swaps has increased in the last month. Ukraine and Russia each released 1,000 prisoners in a three-day exchange last month, the only tangible outcome of direct talks in Istanbul. A prisoner swap of under-25s on Monday was the first in a series of exchanges also expected to include each side repatriating the remains of thousands. Mariia Pylnyk has given her son's DNA to the authorities so that if Dmytro is confirmed killed in action they will be notified. "We all understand that this is war and anything is possible. But to this day, I don't believe it and I don't feel that he is dead. I feel like he's alive and God willing he'll return," she said. She lives with Artem, now five, in Pakul, a village in the northern Chernihiv region that was briefly occupied by Russians. She has not told Artem his father is missing in action. "He knows that dad is a soldier, dad is a good man, dad is at work and just doesn't have any signal to call," she said. She takes comfort from seeing families reunited and never allows herself to cry in front of her son. She used to work in a shop, but Artem has often been ill. The angst of the last two years have taken their toll on her health too. She receives state support. Pylnyk has vowed to find her husband but has often not had time to attend prisoner swaps while looking after their son. "Only a weakling can give up, you know, throw up their hands and say that's it, he's not there," she said, adding that she was very emotional when she attended last month's big exchange. "When I was there, the fighting spirit awoke in me that I needed. I have to do this. Who else will do it but me?" '

One person killed, several injured in Austrian school attack, media report
One person killed, several injured in Austrian school attack, media report

The Star

time39 minutes ago

  • The Star

One person killed, several injured in Austrian school attack, media report

VIENNA (Reuters) -At least one person has been killed in an attack on a school in the Austrian city of Graz and several others were injured, Austrian media including tabloid Kronen Zeitung reported on Tuesday. Citing local police, Austrian state media ORF said several people had been seriously injured, including students and teachers. It said the suspected perpetrator, reportedly a pupil, is believed to have killed himself. Police said an operation was underway in a street called Dreierschuetzengasse, on which there is a secondary school, but declined further comment. (Reporting by Francois Murphy and Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich, Editing by Friederike Heine)

EU will propose more flexibility for defence procurement, commissioner says
EU will propose more flexibility for defence procurement, commissioner says

The Star

timean hour ago

  • The Star

EU will propose more flexibility for defence procurement, commissioner says

FILE PHOTO: EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius speaks during an interview with Reuters in Brussels, Belgium December 6, 2024. REUTERS/Bart Biesemans/File Photo BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will propose next week to give governments more flexibility on defence procurement and make access to European funding easier, European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said on Tuesday. "Without this simplification, nothing else in defence readiness will be possible to achieve," Kubilius told a conference in Brussels. "Putin will not wait for us to get our paperwork in order," he added. The European defence industry has raised concerns about EU red tape and delays in accessing funds. The proposal, expected to be presented on June 17, will aim to address some of these complaints. "We intend to give more flexibility to member states in common procurements, more flexibility on framework agreements, and we intend to facilitate innovation procurement," he said, adding that the Commission also wants to make access to the bloc's defence fund "easier". The commissioner said it would also be important to look at other rules that impact defence, pointing to permits, reporting obligations, competition rules and sustainable finance. Kubilius said the Commission will propose simplifying a directive on defence procurement and a directive on intra-EU transfers of defence products. (Reporting by Lili Bayer, editing by Bart Meijer)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store