Convicted fraudster cardinal stripped of papal conclave voting rights insists on participating as Pope Francis lies in state

A cardinal convicted of fraud and embezzlement by the Vatican and designated as a “non-elector” is demanding he be allowed to participate in the process to elect the next pontiff, as thousands of mourning faithful line up to pay their last respects to Pope Francis in Rome.Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, 76, was investigated for taking part in an investment scheme involving a property in London, which wound up costing the church tens of millions of dollars.Upon his conviction by a Vatican tribunal of judges, he was ordered to serve a five-and-a-half-year jail sentence, and personally ordered by the late Pope Francis to resign the “rights and privileges” of his position in 2020, according to CNN.It was a spectacular fall from grace for Becciu, who once held the lofty position of “sostituto” (“substitute”) in the Holy See’s Secretariat of State — effectively a chief-of-staff to the pope — becoming the first cardinal ever convicted by the Vatican’s own criminal court in 2023.His role even afforded him walk-in privileges to see the pope.After his conviction, Becciu was also accused of using Vatican funds to bribe witnesses in the sex-abuse trial of his rival, Cardinal George Pell, whose conviction was overturned in 2020 after spending 13 months in prison in Australia.Vatican prosecutors compiled a dossier of evidence that showed Becciu wired more than $800,000 to help sway the testimony against Pell’s case — charges he vehemently denied.The cardinal maintains his innocence and is in the process of appealing his fraud conviction, during which he’s been allowed to live in his Vatican apartment.Although the Holy See’s press office now designates him as a “non-elector,” Becciu claimed “there was no explicit will to exclude me from the conclave nor a request for my explicit renunciation in writing” in an interview with a Sardinian newspaper, the outlet writes.Becciu being stripped of his rights as a cardinal didn’t officially boot hi...