Pope Leo XIV received Cardinal Angelo Becciu on Tuesday, the purple that in September 2020 resigned from his cardinal rights at the request of Pope Francis after being involved in a financial scandal for which he was sentenced in 2023.
So far no details of the meeting are known, which was announced in the Official Gazette of the Vatican Press Office
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Becciu was one of the three cardinals under 80 who did not participate in the conclave that chose Leo XIV. While the other two did not attend for medical reasons, Cardinal Becciu did not enter the Sistine Chapel following the controversy that turns on his person.
El Caso Buddier
Cardinal Ángelo Becciu was prosecuted by the Vatican court between July 2021 and December 2023 by the financial scandal around the purchase of a property in London, whose acquisition happened when the purple was a substitute for the Vatican State Secretariat.
The court declared him responsible for the purchase and sentenced him to five years in prison and a fine of 8,000 euros. In addition, he disabled it perpetually to exercise public office.
The purple insists on his innocence and has appealed the sentence.
After the death of Pope Francis, Cardinal Becciu expressed his willingness to participate in the conclave by stating that his cardinal privileges remained “intact” and that there was “no formal or legal impediment” to be in the conclave.
The controversy reached the general congregations that are carried out days before the conclave. However, on Monday, April 28, the purple met with the dean of the Cardinal College, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re; and then with the former Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The next day, Vatican News reported that Cardinal Becciu announced in a statement that it would not participate in the conclave.
“Having in the heart the good of the Church, which I have served and I will continue to serve with fidelity and love, as well as contribute to the communion and serenity of the conclave, I have decided to obey as I have always done to the will of Pope Francis of not entering the conclave remaining convinced of my innocence,” wrote Cardinal Becciu.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Press, I have been sent to cover the trips of Pope Francis to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synod of Sinodality in the Vatican in 2023.