Giovanni Angelo Becciu (, ; born 2 June 1948) is a Sardinian Catholic prelate and convicted felon who was prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 2018 until his resignation under duress in 2020. Pope Francis had made him a cardinal in 2018. On 24 September 2020, Becciu resigned the rights associated with the cardinalate while retaining the title of cardinal. In July 2021, a Vatican judge ordered Becciu and nine others to stand trial on charges of embezzlement, abuse of office and subornation. On 16 December 2023, the Vatican announced that he had been found guilty and sentenced to five years and six months imprisonment, permanent disqualification from public office, and a fine of €8,000.
An archbishop since 2001, he held several appointments in the diplomatic service of the Holy See between 1984 and 2011, including those of Apostolic Nuncio to Angola and to Cuba. From 2011 to 2018 he was Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State, a key position in the Roman Curia. He was head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 2018 to 2020, when he resigned after being implicated in a financial corruption scandal. In 2021, he was charged with embezzlement, abuse of office and subornation in connection with an investment in London real estate. Becciu said he was innocent and "the victim of a conspiracy". Becciu's trial was the first criminal trial of a cardinal in a Vatican court.Francis X. Rocca, Vatican Indicts Cardinal, Nine Other People Over London Real-Estate Deal, Wall Street Journal (July 3, 2021). He was convicted in the Vatican in December 2023 and sentenced to years in prison.
Early years
Becciu was born in 1948 in Pattada, Sassari, Sardinia. After completing his studies in theology and philosophy, he was ordained to the priesthood on 27 August 1972. He attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, where he earned a doctoral degree in canon law.
In diplomatic service
He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 May 1984. He worked at the missions in Central African Republic, Sudan, New Zealand, Liberia, Great Britain, France, and the United States. Becciu knows French, English, Spanish, Sardinian, and Portuguese.
Nuncio to Angola
On 15 October 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Angola and Titular Archbishop of Rusellae. On 15 November, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to São Tomé and Principe as well. He received his episcopal consecration on 1 December 2001 from Cardinal Angelo Sodano with co-consecrators Archbishop Paolo Romeo, a Vatican diplomat, and Bishop , who hailed from Becciu's native diocese in Sardinia.
Becciu "played a crucial rôle" in the controversial 2005 appointment of Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias, then auxiliary bishop of Luanda, as bishop of Cabinda in Angola. Because he was not from Cabinda and because of his family links to the regime of José Eduardo dos Santos, Vieira Dias's appointment was met with massive protests by Cabindan Catholics, and his installation was delayed for well over a year. The controversy around Vieira Dias's nomination resulted in the beating of Apostolic Administrator Eugenio Dal Corso while he was preparing to celebrate mass, the suspension of a number of priests, and a protracted strike in which many Cabindan clergy refused to celebrate mass for several months. In response, Becciu emphasized that Vieira Dias's nomination was a matter of papal prerogative and would not be revoked. Becciu went to Cabinda in order to meet with Dal Corso and with local clergy and laypeople. His meeting with laypeople was "hostile" and his car was stoned by a crowd. Vieira Dias's installation ultimately took place in June 2006.
In advance of Benedict XVI's 2009 visit to Angola, Becciu defended the pope's rejection of condoms as a means of preventing the spread of AIDS, saying "It's too easy and it's very cheap to say the solution of AIDS is the condom, you don't have the solution there.... So what the Pope is saying is that we must surpass this, because AIDS means there is a lack of understanding of the concept of true love between men and women.... Because of that, many times we are not of the same thinking as NGOs." As he left Angola for his next assignment, Becciu denounced popular belief in witchcraft that led to children being accused as sorcerers and abused: "the charges are a frequent practice on the African continent and they must be eliminated".
Nuncio to Cuba
On 23 July 2009, Pope Benedict named him Apostolic Nuncio to Cuba. Becciu's selection for this challenging role was seen by observers as a sign of his high reputation in Rome. Cuban President Raúl Castro praised his work on behalf of improved relations between Cuba and the Holy See.
In January 2015, after Cuba and the United States announced efforts to improve their relationship, Becciu, now the Substitute of the Secretariat of State, expressed his support for an end to the U.S. embargo, citing "the right of peoples not to be deprived of daily economic and social subsistence". He credited the thaw in relations to Pope Francis and said that he expected the Cuban government to introduce a less centralized economic system.
Secretariat of State
On 10 May 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Becciu to the office of Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State, replacing Fernando Filoni. The Substitute for General Affairs reports to the Cardinal Secretary of State. He usually met with the Pope each day to handle the business of the Roman Curia; his position was comparable to chief of staff. It had been described as "the most complex job in the Roman Curia" and a key to "the administrative success or failure of a papacy". Though Becciu was viewed as "a genial and effective diplomat", his appointment was unusual in that he lacked experience in the Curia. It was also reported that his position as Substitute (sostituto) in the Secretariat of State also made Becciu the equivalent to being the papal chief of staff.
2013 conclave
During the conclave that followed the resignation of Benedict XVI, Becciu was responsible for directing the Vatican personnel who ensured the security and secrecy of its proceedings. A few months after his election as pope, Francis named a new Secretary of State and confirmed Becciu's appointment as Substitute.
Public statements
In his role as substitute, Becciu periodically spoke on behalf of the Vatican, addressing specific events in the news while allowing the Pope to avoid becoming involved in public debates.
On scandals in the Curia
When stolen documents about Vatican finances were leaked to the press, Becciu downplayed the sharp disagreements between Curial officials that they documented. He wrote in 2012 that some "criticize the monarchic and absolutist nature of the church's central government" but then pretend to be "scandalized because someone writing to the Pope expresses ideas or even complaints about how that government is organized. Many of the published documents do not reveal power struggles or vendettas, but the freedom of thought which the church is criticized for not allowing."
In January 2014, when retired Commander of the Swiss Guard Elmar Mäder told the Swiss weekly Sonntag that a gay network existed in the Roman Curia, Becciu condemned "generic accusations" and challenged Mäder to provide specifics: "When he was in service, did he have any suspects? Are these suspects still present? Come here and tell us exactly to whom it relates."
In January 2016, discussing books that charged the Vatican with financial mismanagement, Becciu defended Vatican employees: "The Vatican is not a den of thieves. To represent it as such constitutes an absolute falsehood. I find it extremely unjust that our employees, proudly carrying out a service for the Pope and the church, have gotten to the point, for some time now, of being ashamed to tell people they work here."
On Amoris laetitia
In December 2016, Becciu addressed reactions to Pope Francis' comments in his apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia on the pastoral care of Catholics in irregular marriages: "I will not go into the controversies but I do wish to reiterate the principles I have always been taught by the healthy tradition of the Church: as the Pope's humble collaborator, I feel I have a duty to loyally tell him what I think when a decision is being taken. Once it is taken, I obey the Holy Father fully."
On same-sex unions
When a Catholic radio station broadcast a Dominican friar's statement that the enactment of same-sex civil unions had caused recent earthquakes, Becciu said, "They are offensive statements for believers and scandalous for those who do not believe."
On immigration
Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's order restricting immigration in January 2017, Becciu stated: "Certainly there is concern because we are messengers of another culture, that of openness. The pope insists on the capacity for integration [of] those who arrive in our society and culture. We are builders of bridges, not of walls. Christians must be strong in reaffirming this message."
McCarrick scandal
In his August 2018 "Testimony", Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò alleged that Becciu, as substitute, "knew in every detail the situation" regarding former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's sexual abuse of adult priests and seminarians, reports of which had reached Rome. In his capacity as substitute, Becciu had direct contact with McCarrick on numerous occasions. In his book Il Giorno del Giudizio, Andrea Tornielli states that after each of the international trips McCarrick undertook in and around the year 2012—unauthorized trips that he was not supposed to undertake—McCarrick would send detailed reports that he addressed to the Pope, Vatican Secretary of State Bertone, and Substitute Becciu, even receiving responses of thanks from the Secretariat of State. Further, according to emails leaked by Anthony Figueiredo, a former aide to McCarrick, McCarrick had plans to meet with Becciu in person on 14 February 2013, immediately before the 2013 conclave; he was also involved in helping arrange a 2016 meeting between Pope Francis and McCarrick.
Substitute for General Affairs Becciu, as Substitute for General Affairs, was involved in securing the freedom of a Colombian nun kidnapped by jihadists in Mali in 2017 and liberated in 2021. Pope Francis, according to Becciu had authorised paying a ransom of up to $1 million to secure Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez.
Financial dealings
Audit
An internal audit in 2016 was suspended on Archbishop Becciu's instruction, countermanding an order from Cardinal Pell, prefect of the secretariat of the economy.Vatican's suspension of major PwC audit exposes internal rift
IDI
During his time as substitute, Becciu was reportedly involved in repeated attempts to secure loans to support the Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata (IDI), a struggling hospital in Rome originally owned by the Italian province of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception (PICFIC).
In July 2011, Fr. Franco Decaminada, the president of the IDI, approached Becciu with a proposal that the Vatican supply the IDI with 200 million euros to take over Milan's San Raffaele Hospital. In September 2011, Decaminada hired Becciu's niece Maria Piera Becciu as his personal secretary. The proposal to buy San Raffaele ultimately came to nothing. In October 2019, Becciu professed not to remember the proposal and stated that he "never dealt with this question."
The IDI eventually went bankrupt in 2012 with debts of more than 800 million euros. PICFIC was declared insolvent by an Italian court in 2013, and Decaminada was arrested in 2013 and, along with 40 other figures in the IDI's administration, was charged with using the hospital for embezzlement and money laundering, including the diversion of hundreds of thousands of euros of IDI money into an oil exploration company. Decaminada was sent to prison and laicized.