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Hindustan Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Who is Cardinal Becciu? Why isn't he participating in conclave to elect new pope?
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 76, once a leading papal contender and a longtime Vatican diplomat, is not participating in the conclave to elect a new pope to succeed Francis, who died on April 21 at the age of 88. Becciu was forced by Francis to resign as the head of the Vatican's saint-making office, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and renounce his rights of the cardinalate on September 24, 2020.(AP file) Becciu had asserted his rights to participate in the May 7 conclave but withdrew after he was reportedly presented with two letters written by Francis before his death, saying he shouldn't participate due to allegations of corruption. The cardinal's statement released through his lawyer, Fabio Viglione, said, 'Having at heart the good of the church, which I have served and will continue to serve with fidelity and love, as well as to contribute to the communion and serenity of the conclave, I have decided to obey as I have always done the will of Pope Francis not to enter the conclave while remaining convinced of my innocence.' Becciu was forced by Francis to resign as the head of the Vatican's saint-making office, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and renounce his rights of the cardinalate on September 24, 2020, over several allegations of financial mismanagement. He is currently fighting a legal battle against the 2023 conviction by the Vatican's criminal court. The cardinal has denied all allegations and claimed that his trial was manipulated from the start. Who is Cardinal Angelo Becciu? A native of Sardinia, Becciu has served in Vatican embassies in several countries before taking up one of the most powerful jobs as 'substitute' in the Vatican Secretariat of State. It was Francis himself who made Becciu a cardinal in 2018 before the allegations surfaced. Known as a conservative from the old guard, Becciu rose to prominence under Pope Benedict XVI due to ideological affinity and became a close adviser to Francis, who advocated reforms and pursued social goals. Case linked to the Vatican's London investment A 487-page chargesheet from Vatican's prosecutors accused Becciu and nine others of money laundering, extortion and fraud among other serious allegations. The accused allegedly fleeced the Holy See of tens of millions of euros in fees and commissions during its 350-million-euro investment in a luxury London property. Becciu, then serving as the Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State, was accused of authorising the investment without proper oversight. Prosecutors also accused Becciu of sending 125,000 euros in Vatican money to a diocesan charity run by his brother in Sardinia. He argued that the money was meant for a local bishop who requested it for a bakery to employ at-risk youths, and the money remained in diocesan coffers. Becciu is also alleged to have paid a company run by a Sardinian woman, Cecilia Marogna, for its intelligence services. Prosecutors claimed to have traced transfers worth some 575,000 euros paid by the Vatican and expenditures for high-end luxury goods. The cardinal has said he thought the money was to be paid to a British security firm to negotiate the release of a Colombian nun who had been taken hostage by Islamic militants in Mali in 2017. Manipulated trial? The main allegation against the 'trial of the century' is that the prosecution's prime witness against Becciu and others was coached and manipulated by outsiders. Defence lawyers also argued that the pope's intervention, as an absolute monarch, during the trial violated their clients' right to a fair trial. The Pope's secret decrees to allow prosecutors to conduct intercepts and detain suspects without a judge's warrant were discovered during the trial and cited as interference. New evidence emerges The Vatican's tribunal had rejected these allegations, but new evidence that emerged in recent weeks about potential collusion between Vatican prosecutors and gendarmes (Vatican police) to target Becciu. An audio clip and WhatsApp chats published by the Domani newspaper suggested collusion to manipulate witnesses against the cardinal. Becciu reacted to these revelations, saying, 'From the very first moment I spoke of a machination against me: an investigation built on falsehoods, which five years ago unjustly devastated my life and exposed me to a pillory of worldwide proportions.' Hearing of his appeal against the conviction is set to begin in September. (With AP inputs)
Straits Times
27-04-2025
- General
- Straits Times
Will Pope Francis be made a saint?
For most of the church's history, decades usually passed between a person's death and the beginning of a push for their canonisation. PHOTO: REUTERS VATICAN CITY – Although two of the five popes before Pope Francis have been named saints, merely serving as pontiff is not a shoo-in to canonisation. At least not anymore. In the early years of the Roman Catholic Church, most popes, starting with St Peter, who is considered the first to hold the seat, were named saints after they died. Of the first 50 popes, 48 got the honour. Over time, it became much rarer. To date, 80 of the 266 popes to serve over nearly 2,000 years have been canonised. Eleven others are on a waiting list of sorts, having been beatified, the penultimate step to sainthood. Getting there involves years of investigation and review by the church, particularly the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Vatican officials and consultants examine candidates' goodness, holiness and devotion to God and carefully scrutinise their writings. Those who pass muster are declared 'venerable'. The next step is beatification, which requires the dicastery to accept the validity of a miracle brought about by the intercession of the candidate. After that, the Vatican must accept the validity of a second miracle attributed to the person's intercession for them to be declared a saint. The pope makes the final decision on canonisation. The most recent pope to be canonised was Paul VI in 2018. Four years earlier, John XXIII and John Paul II became saints at a joint ceremony. For most of the church's history, decades usually passed between a person's death and the beginning of a push for their canonisation. From 1588 to 1978, the average time span between a person's death and sainthood was 262 years, according to Rachel McCleary, a researcher at Harvard University. That dropped to just over 100 years during the last three papacies, in part because John Paul II shortened the waiting period to begin a cause for sainthood, as the process is known, to five years after a person's death. Even that can be waived. At John Paul II's 2005 funeral, which hundreds of thousands attended, banners and cheers rose from the mourners saying, 'Santo, subito,' or 'Sainthood now'. His successor, Benedict XVI, waived the waiting period, allowing John Paul to be canonised nine years after his death. After a Vatican report in 2020 found that John Paul may have ignored accusations of sexual abuse against disgraced former prelate Theodore McCarrick, critics wondered whether the pontiff been had been made a saint too soon. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
New York Times
26-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
Will Pope Francis Be Made a Saint?
Although two of the five popes before Pope Francis have been named saints, merely serving as pontiff is not a shoo-in to canonization. At least not anymore. In the early years of the Roman Catholic Church, most popes, starting with St. Peter, who is considered the first to hold the seat, were named saints after they died. Of the first 50 popes, 48 got the honor. Over time, it became much rarer. To date, 80 of the 266 popes to serve over nearly 2,000 years have been canonized. Another 11 are on a waiting list of sorts, having been beatified, the penultimate step to sainthood. Getting there involves years of investigation and review by the church, particularly the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Vatican officials and consultants examine candidates' goodness, holiness and devotion to God and carefully scrutinizes their writings. Those who pass muster are declared 'venerable.' The next step is beatification, which requires the dicastery to accept the validity of a miracle brought about by the intercession of the candidate. After that, the Vatican must accept the validity of a second miracle attributed to the person's intercession for them to be declared a saint. The pope makes the final decision on canonization. The most recent popes to be been canonized are John XXIII and John Paul II. They became saints at a joint ceremony that Francis presided over in 2014. For most of the church's history, decades usually passed between a person's death and the beginning of a push for their canonization. From 1588 to 1978, the average time span between a person's death and sainthood was 262 years, according to Rachel McCleary, a researcher at Harvard University. That dropped to just over 100 years during the last three papacies, in part because John Paul II shortened the waiting period to begin a cause for sainthood, as the process is known, to five years after a person's death. Even that can be waived. At John Paul II's 2005 funeral, which hundreds of thousands attended, banners and cheers rose from the mourners saying, 'Santo, subito,' or 'Sainthood now.' His successor, Benedict XVI, waived the waiting period, allowing John Paul to be canonized nine years after his death. After a Vatican report published in 2020 found that John Paul may have ignored accusations of sexual abuse against the disgraced former prelate Theodore E. McCarrick, critics wondered whether he the pontiff been made a saint too soon.
The Independent
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Vatican declares victims of 2019 Sri Lankan Easter bombings as ‘witnesses of faith'
The Vatican has named 167 of its faithful killed in the 2019 Easter bombings in Sri Lanka as "witnesses of faith" in what appears to be one of the last papal acts of Pope Francis before his death. Hundreds of people, including leaders from other regions, attended a vigil Monday in memory of the victims at the church of St Anthony targeted in the bombings. Sri Lanka on Monday marked the sixth anniversary of one of the worst attacks on the island nation, in which at least 269 people, including 47 foreigners, were killed in the targeted bombing of Catholic churches and five-star hotels during Easter Sunday mass. Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, told the attendees that Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican, has included the names of 167 Catholics who died in the bombings 'in the catalogue of the witnesses of the faith in its order book, considering the context of their heroism'. Witnesses of faith are those who sacrificed their lives for their belief. Cardinal Ranjith said they were chosen 'due to violent opposition to their faith motivated by 'odium fidei,' the hate of the faith'. He said seven victims of other faiths were 'respectfully remembered". Pope Francis formalised in 2023 a new category of recognition by the church of people who lost their lives while professing the Catholic faith and created a special Vatican commission to catalogue their cases. The commission, based in the Vatican's saint-making office, has gathered hundreds of cases, with a view to highlighting them alongside officially recognised martyrs of the church, who are on the path to possible beatification or sainthood. Two local Muslim groups that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group were accused of carrying out six near-simultaneous suicide bomb attacks. Officials have charged dozens of people who allegedly received weapons training and participated in indoctrination classes from the two local Islamic extremist groups. But no one has yet been convicted or sentenced given 23,000 charges filed against them. Experts believe the case could drag for years due to the volume of charges. The Catholic church has alleged that the government at the time covered up investigations "to protect the brains behind the attacks" and demanded further probing in the attacks. The calls for investigation grew louder after Channel 4 aired an interview of a man who claimed that he arranged a meeting between a local Islamic state-inspired group, National Thowheed Jamath, and a top state intelligence official to hatch a plot to create insecurity in Sri Lanka. He said the chaos would be used to enable former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the presidential election later that year.
The Hindu
21-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Vatican declares 167 victims of IS-inspired bombings in Sri Lanka witnesses of faith
Sri Lanka's Catholic church says the Vatican has named 167 of its faithful killed in Islamic State-inspired suicide bombings six years ago as witnesses of faith. Hundreds, including Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic religious figures, attended a vigil on Monday (April 21, 2025) in memory of the victims at the church of St. Anthony, targeted in the attacks. Gunman fires at Sri Lanka church ahead of Easter bombings anniversary Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, told the attendees Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican, has included the names of 167 Catholics who died in the bombings in the churches of St. Anthony in Colombo and St. Sebastian in Negombo 'in the catalogue of the witnesses of the faith in its order book, considering the context of their heroism.' He said they were chosen 'due to violent opposition to their faith motivated by odium fidei,' the hate of the faith.' Cardinal Ranjith also said seven victims of other faiths were 'respectfully remembered.' Witnesses of faith are those who sacrificed their lives for their belief. Sri Lanka orders new probe into Easter Sunday bombings Pope Francis formalised in 2023 a new category of recognition by the church of people who lost their lives while professing the Catholic faith and created a special Vatican commission to catalogue their cases. The commission, based in the Vatican's saint-making office, has gathered hundreds of cases, with a view to highlighting them alongside officially recognised martyrs of the church, who are on the path to possible beatification or sainthood. More than 260 people, including 42 foreigners, were killed in the near-simultaneous bombings during Easter Sunday at three tourist hotels and three churches, two Catholic and one Protestant, on April 21, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has demanded further probing in the attacks, particularly after British television Channel 4 interviewed a man who said that he arranged a meeting between a local IS-inspired group, National Thowheed Jamath, and a top state intelligence official to hatch a plot to create insecurity in Sri Lanka and enable former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the Presidential election later that year.
