Giovanni Angelo Becciu was born on 2 June 1948 in Pattada, in the Sardinian province of Sassari, and was ordained a priest on 27 August 1972. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 May 1984 and served in the Central African Republic, Sudan, New Zealand, Liberia, Great Britain, France and the United States. He was Apostolic Nuncio to Angola and to São Tomé and Príncipe from 2001, and Nuncio to Cuba from 2009.
On 10 May 2011 Benedict XVI named him Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State. The Substitute runs the daily business of the Roman Curia and controls much of what reaches the pope's desk, and Becciu held the office for seven years across two pontificates. Pope Francis created him a cardinal at the consistory of 28 June 2018, assigning him the titular church of San Lino, and on 31 August 2018 appointed him Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
On 24 September 2020 the Holy See Press Office announced in a single sentence that Francis had accepted his resignation as Prefect together with his renunciation of “the rights connected to the cardinalate.” He remains a cardinal; what lapsed was the exercise of the office's prerogatives, including entry into a conclave. In December 2023 the Vatican City tribunal convicted him of embezzlement and fraud. In March 2026 the Court of Appeal declared the first trial partly null for procedural defects and ordered fresh proceedings, which opened on 22 June 2026. He has maintained his innocence throughout.
Consequential Quotes
I am innocent, and I will prove it. I ask the Holy Father to have the right to defend myself.
I am innocent and I will not tire of repeating it.
I want to shout to the world that I am innocent, that I absolutely did not commit these crimes of which I am being accused.
Major Works & Initiatives
Substitute for General Affairs
The Secretariat of State's chief of staff, running the Curia's daily business and much of the flow of business to the pope. Appointed by Benedict XVI on 10 May 2011 and retained by Francis, he held one of the most powerful posts in Rome for seven years, and the investments later at issue were made on his watch.
Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Head of the dicastery that examines candidates for beatification and canonization. He was created cardinal on 28 June 2018 and took the prefecture that August, holding it until his resignation in September 2020.
Papal representative in Africa and Cuba
Apostolic Nuncio to Angola and to São Tomé and Príncipe from 2001, then Nuncio to Cuba from 2009, where he helped prepare Benedict XVI's 2012 visit to the island.
The diplomatic formation
Seventeen years in the Holy See's diplomatic service across the Central African Republic, Sudan, New Zealand, Liberia, Great Britain, France and the United States, the training that produced an administrator rather than a theologian or liturgist.
Controversies
The London property and the 2023 conviction
Between 2014 and 2018 the Secretariat of State put roughly 350 million euros into a luxury development at 60 Sloane Avenue in London, much of it drawn from Peter's Pence. On 16 December 2023 the Vatican City tribunal convicted Becciu of embezzlement and fraud and sentenced him to five years and six months, perpetual disqualification from public office and a fine of 8,000 euros. Prosecutors argued he had directed Church funds into a speculative venture and to intermediaries who enriched themselves at the Church's expense. He answered that every decision was taken through ordinary channels, was known to his superiors, and that he never took a penny for himself or his family. The sentence has never been served; it was suspended pending appeal.
The resignation of 24 September 2020
The Press Office announced in one sentence that Francis had accepted his resignation as Prefect and his renunciation of the rights of the cardinalate, without stating a reason. At a press conference the next day Becciu said he had been told of accusations only hours earlier and had no chance to answer them. Supporters read the manner of it as a summary judgement delivered before any trial. The Vatican's position was that a pope may withdraw the prerogatives he grants, and that the gravity of what investigators had found warranted acting at once. Both readings turn on the same fact: no public charge accompanied the announcement.
Cecilia Marogna and the intelligence payments
Roughly 575,000 euros of Secretariat funds were paid to a Sardinian consultant, Cecilia Marogna, engaged in connection with the possible ransom of a kidnapped missionary. Investigators traced spending on luxury goods and travel. Becciu said he had retained her for legitimate security and intelligence work and did not control how the money was afterwards spent; she has denied wrongdoing. The episode did more than any other to shape the public picture of the case, because the sums were vivid and easy to grasp.
The 2025 conclave dispute
After the death of Francis, Becciu asserted that no formal impediment barred him from the conclave and initially claimed his place among the electors. Cardinal Parolin was reported to hold two letters signed by Francis, one from 2023 and one from March 2025, excluding him. On 28 April 2025, during the general congregations, Becciu withdrew, saying he acted for the good of the Church. He did not vote in the conclave that elected Leo XIV. Whether a cardinal who has renounced the rights of the cardinalate retains the right to elect a pope was never settled in public law; it was settled by his withdrawal.
The 2026 mistrial: the prosecution in the dock
On 17 March 2026 the Vatican Court of Appeal declared the first-instance trial partly null, finding that the process had been undermined by procedural error. The defence had argued from the start that prosecutors withheld evidence, redacted documents and did not hand over the complete investigative file, and the appeal court substantially agreed; the conduct of the former Promoter of Justice, Alessandro Diddi, was itself at issue, and the rescripts by which Francis had altered the procedure came under scrutiny. Six of the eight counts were dismissed, leaving embezzlement and fraud, and fresh proceedings opened on 22 June 2026. The court did not rule on guilt or innocence. That distinction matters in both directions: the conviction was not affirmed, and neither was it overturned on the merits.
A record without a liturgical chapter
Readers who come to this profile looking for where Becciu stood on the Traditional Latin Mass, Summorum Pontificum or Traditionis Custodes will not find it, because there is nothing substantial on the record. He is a diplomat and an administrator by formation and by career, and his public interventions concern governance, finance and the causes of saints rather than the liturgy. Saying so is more honest than assembling a position from inference.