Cardinal who threatened to overthrow the conclave now

When more than 130 cardinals solemnly submit to the Sistine chapel on May 7 to vote, who among them leads the Roman Catholic Church as the next Pope, it will be left out in the cold.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu – a former power player, before he was involved in a Vatican financial scandal, prompted him to discard his positions and to do without some of the privileges of a cardinal – on Tuesday that he would suspend it.

For the good of the Church, he said in a statement sent by his lawyer that he swore, “not to go into the conclave of Pope Francis' will, even though I am convinced of my innocence”.

But in the days after Franci's death last week it was unclear whether the Pope had actually robbed the cardinal of his voting rights or whether he might have stopped it again. Cardinal Becciu, who received a guilty judgment of a Vatican tribunal in 2023, saw the migration of cardinals to Rome for the conclave and wanted.

The cardinal, a former papal chief of staff, who also led the church's office, flew from his homeland of Sardinia to Rome. He insisted to join his colleagues behind closed doors in pre-concrete meetings, where they discussed the great challenges for the church. But he too.

The prospect of Swiss guards who bounce off a 76-year-old cardinal from the Sistine chapel led to gossip and speculation in restaurants in the Vatican. Italian television reporters ran to Cardinals around St. Peter's Square and called: “Will Becciu be on the conclave?” The problem kidnapped the Vatican press conference, in which reporters asked whether the event would move the start date of the conclave. (“In that sense”, one asked, “that no Becciu, no complain?”)