Pope Francis I Dies

First Guy Convicted in Vatican Criminal Court Wants to Go to the Conclave

Pope Francis I died the day after Easter following a long, severe illness and, upon his burial, the next pope is selected in a process that marries ancient and arcane historical traditions with good old-fashioned slugfest politics with a dash of modern-style money-laundering corruption. It’s called the conclave.

Although the pope is elected, the Roman Catholic Church is not a democratic institution. The pope is elected by the faithful but rather by a group of men known as the college of cardinals. These are high-ranking, deeply entrenched clerics who often wield considerable power and control a lot of money. If this was the U.S. government, we’d call the college of cardinals “the cabal,” the deepest parts of the Deep State. Any time there is a Vatican scandal, at least one of the conclave guys is implicated.

So the conclave, as we must assume, generally elects one of their own. (Actually, any baptized adult male Catholic can be pope—but they never get elected. I suppose that the conclave could elect J.D. Vance pope, if they wanted to, which would make for a byzantine conflict of interest.) Cardinals are not just high-ranking clerics. They are advisors to the Pope, hand-selected, carefully chosen, and formally installed by the Pope. A cardinal serves for life, unless, of course he goes to prison. Even then, it’s not so sure.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu

In 2023, Cardinal Angelo Becciu (his surname sounds a little like achoo) was convicted of embezzlement and fraud in the Vatican’s Criminal Court. You wouldn’t think they’d need a criminal court in Vatican City, but here we are. Becciu has a number of notable events attached to his biography, one of which is that he’s the first guy the Vatican Criminal Court ever convicted. He pled innocent and has appealed his sentence. The appeal is pending.

You may have missed all the high drama in September 2020 (when the COVID pandemic was still raging) when Pope Francis called Cardinal Becciu, his right-hand man, to a special meeting. Becciu arrived only to be fired from one of his many jobs. The job he lost was a strange job to lose. Becciu has a seat in a committee that decides who will become saints. Pope Francis fired Becciu from this committee but not from being a cardinal or other work—just that job.

According to Becciu, he was shocked, but the pope said he no longer trusted Becciu, accusing him of embezzlement and nepotism. However, Pope Francis was not mad enough to take away Becciu’s apartment in the Vatican or his various titles. He still can wear the red skullcap and robes. He kept a lot of his jobs. But the Pope added that Becciu was otherwise losing his rights associated with the college of cardinals.

The Conclave

This would all be filed under the general category of “news we don’t care about” except for the fact that a conclave is coming up. They happen only rarely. Becciu claims that he has a right to participate in this conclave and vote on the next pope.

Technically, the conclave is open to any member of the college of cardinals who have not yet reached the age of 80. They meet in the Sistine Chapel to carry out voting so secret, they made it into a Netflix movie.

About 135 cardinals are expected to attend this next clambake, which is expected to begin in early May. Cardinals over the age of 80 may attend and likely will kibbitz with the others, but they may not vote. They’re called “non-electors.” Becciu’s name appears on the list of conclave invitees, but he's grouped with the geriartic “non-electors” although he is a spritely 76 years of age.

Becciu wants not only to attend this next conclave but to vote. After all, his case is under appeal and his voting rights as a cardinal were never officially removed. Becciu claims that since his awful meeting in September 2020 with an angry Pope Francis, he had many more private meetings with the pope that were more conciliatory and favorable. Becciu said no official ruling was made barring him from the conclave, and he wants to participate and vote. The pope never issued any formal statements or rulings one way or the other, nor is there any evidence evident at the moment that the pope did not want Becciu to vote.

Of course, Becciu may attend the top-secret conclave, that much is certain. He is also free to attend the General Congregations, a series of special administrative and religious meetings that precede the conclave. His right to vote is not established.

So What Did He Do?

Well, what didn’t he do?

Becciu was appointed by Pope John Paul II as Nuncio to Angola. A nuncio is a diplomatic position along the lines of an ambassador. He was apparently successful in this diplomatic role, and in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Nuncio to Cuba. This seems strange, as Cuba is an atheist state and quite antithetical to Catholicism.

In May 2011, Pope Benedict promoted Becciu to the “Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State,” which is sort of like Secretary of State but with more pomp and ceremony. In this role, Becciu had virtually unfettered access to the pope without going through scheduling and appointments. (This is very rare, most people, even close advisors, have to seek permission to meet with the pope.) The job he held was considered to be one of the most complex and important jobs of the Vatican. He was the Chief of Staff for the Curia, the Secretary of State to the Vatican, and the Pope’s confidante and consigliere.

This did not stop Becciu from being involved in a variety of large and small scandals, which is probably the expected result of having a high position in a complicated secretive organization. There was a scandal about stolen financial documents from the Vatican (2012), a scandal about a “gay network” in the Pope’s military unit, the Swiss Guard (2014), and mismanagement of funds at the Vatican Bank (2016). Becciu navigated these by denying and downplaying everything. In the 2016 case, there was to be an official audit of the Vatican Bank, which he called off. He once said, Nixon like, “The Vatican is not a den of thieves.”

This isn’t even the whole list.

In 2017, a big crisis occurred when jihadists in Mali kidnapped a Colombian nun. According to Becciu, Pope Francis tapped him to use his former diplomatic chops to get the nun released. According to Becciu, the pope had authorized the payment of up to $1M to free the woman. Her name is Sister Gloria Narvaez Argoti. For reasons unknown, they waited several years—until 2021—to make the offer. Becciu enlisted the services of a woman named Cecilia Marogna who took 575,000 Euros (over half a million dollars) and ran it through a series of Slovenian companies, only in the end to spend the money on herself, buying luxury goods and fancy high-end resort vacations.

Who is this Cecilia Marogna? Well, we don’t really know much. She’s been described as a “spy,” and she was affiliated with a company called The Inkerman Group, which allegedly specialized in protection and intelligence services to private clients. Turns out she was more of a grifter. Her official “secret” job was to use the money to secure the release of the poor nun held hostage in Africa.

Marogna also said that she worked as a consultant for Becciu in other ways, mainly gathering dossiers of information on the other clerics.

Marogna got the money from Becciu, all right, then she funneled a lot of it through some Slovenian companies, only to get it out at the end and spend it on herself. Massively embarrassed, Becciu offered to repay the Vatican the $1M out of his own money just to keep the scandal from hitting the press. This causes me to question the vow of poverty, but that’s another story for another day.

Becciu said that Pope Francis knew about Cecilia Marogna and had authorized the hush-hush payment. And it’s worth noting that somebody must have done something, because the nun was released on October 9, 2021. However, there is a pretty good reason to think Marogna was not involved, mainly because the Italian Foreign Ministry claimed that it secured the release of the nun working with the authorities in Mali and Colombian operatives.

Marogna said she could not be tried for embezzlement because she did intelligence work for the Vatican and she could not defend herself in court because of various state secrets. That failed. Why does the Vatican need spies?

Becciu and the woman the Italian press called “his lady” did indeed stand trial. Cecilia Marogna also said rather cryptically when she was first accused of money laundering, “I can also tell you that Becciu and I weren’t the only ones running certain businesses.”

Do tell.

That’s not even the big Becciu scandal. The big Becciu scandal involves a $200M purchase of London real estate that has been described by the normally dour Wikipedia as “creative accounting.” It was a way of laundering or at least moving around Vatican Bank funds. The reporting from Italy on these cases is plentiful but hard details are sparse.

As secretary of state at the Vatican, Becciu had a number of staff people including lay people. One of these guys was named Fabrizio Tirabassi and he has admitted to blackmailing Becciu. I can’t find out for what and I don’t know if Tirabassi’s statement helps or hurts the Becciu case.

In 2021, the Vatican Criminal Court decided to try Becciu for embezzlement and other financial crimes. These involve the nun ransom and the London real estate deal, mainly. Becciu said he was a victim of a conspiracy and innocent of all charges, which include embezzlement, money laundering, fraud, extortion, and abuse of office. That may be a normal day’s work in the Democrat caucus in Congress, but it was a big stink at the Vatican. Nine other people were caught up in these charges, including more of Becciu’s staff. People who complain that DOGE is coming after their jobs should be glad they weren’t working for Becciu. Some of those guys are going to prison.

During Becciu’s trial—this was in March 2023—letters from Pope Francis I were entered into evidence that stated that Pope Francis never authorized Becciu to give $1M to Cecilia Morgana or to invest $200M Vatican Bank funds in London real estate. He was found guilty, and an appeal is in the works. Italy’s judicial system is as slow as our own.

What Happens Now

Legally speaking, it will take a while for Becciu to get his next day in court in the appeal. Margona, now age 43, was charged with embezzlement and has been dubbed in some European papers as "The Cardinal’s Lady.” She is an attractive woman, as one may well imagine. She was sentenced for four years and nine months in prison (Vatican prison terms are extremely specific), but I cannot find out where she is now.

In a strange twist, Margona—who resides in Italy—has to be “extradited” from Italy to Vatican City, which is located in Rome. This is like having to be extradited from Maryland to Washington, D.C. I don’t know if she’s in prison now, out on appeal, or on the lam. One AI says she is in prison but a different AI engine says she is not. Google does not seem to address the topic.

It is unclear to me why Becciu is so adamant about having to vote in the conclave. A member of the conclave will almost assuredly get to be the next pope and that is not going to be Becciu. Joe Rogan is more likely to be elected pope than Becciu. And one vote out of over 100 votes isn’t going to tilt the election one way or the other.

If Becciu just wishes to be part of an historic event or perhaps to be able to discuss the relative merits of various papal candidates, he can still attend. Nothing is stopping him. And he can participate in discussions even try to campaign for this or that person. Attendance is not denied to him. He can observe all he wants.

Why is he making such a big fuss about this? I guess some people just like making trouble.