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       ROME: Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a convicted embezzler stripped by Pope Francis of his privileges, will not take part in the conclave to elect the new Catholic leader, Italian media reported on Monday.

       Cardinals are meeting from around the world for the vote, which begins on May 7.

       The prelate — once one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican — had reportedly been pushing to take part, despite not being on the official list of electors. But on Monday Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who as secretary of state was Pope Francis’s number two, presented Becciu with two documents signed by the Argentine pontiff which said he could not, the media reports said.

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       The letters dated from 2023 and last month, according to the Domani newspaper. Becciu, 76, a former adviser to Pope Francis who was once considered a papal contender himself, was removed from office and stripped of his cardinal “rights and privileges” by the pope in September 2020. He was sentenced in 2023 to five years and six months in jail for financial crimes and has appealed the conviction.

       The cardinal had been one of 10 defendants in a trial focused on a disastrous Vatican investment in a luxury building in London. The surprise 2020 decision to strip Becciu of the rights associated with being a cardinal — a very rare punishment — came as Francis enacted a series of reforms aimed at cleaning up the Vatican’s notoriously murky finances.

       Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2025