One of the Vatican's most influential cardinals, the Italian Angelo Becciu, mysteriously resigned from his post in the Holy See government on Thursday, which has provided no explanation.
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"The Holy Father has accepted the renunciation of his office of prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and of his rights related to the cardinalate presented by his eminence Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu"
, announced Thursday evening the Holy See in a laconic statement .
After a career as a
“nuncio”
(ambassador), the Italian prelate had served for seven years as a substitute for the State Secretariat, the equivalent of a
“Minister of the Interior”
, in constant contact with Pope Benedict. XVI then Pope Francis.
Just created a cardinal in the summer of 2018 by Pope Francis, he took over as head of the administration of the Holy See responsible for investigating and deciding on beatifications and canonizations.
Investigation into the purchase of a building in Chelsea
His resignation at 72, premature in the practice of the Church, has all the features of a sanction.
The short Vatican press release specifies that he remains a cardinal but loses all the rights attached to this function, in particular the possibility of electing a new pope during a conclave or of advising the current sovereign pontiff.
The name of the cardinal has been mentioned many times in the context of an explosive investigation, launched a year ago, into opaque financial arrangements to buy a building in the chic London district of Chelsea.
The purchasing process began in 2014 when Mgr.
Becciu was still in the Secretariat of State, the central administration of the Holy See deciding for this investment.
At the beginning of the year, he had defended the merits of this real estate purchase in interviews.
As part of this investigation, five employees of the Secretariat of State are in particular in the crosshairs of the Vatican justice.
An Italian businessman was arrested last June on suspicion of extortion against the Holy See in connection with the purchase of the London building, before being provisionally released.