A cardinal convicted of financial crimes by the Vatican said Tuesday he will not participate in the conclave to elect a new pope.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becchio, once one of the Vatican’s most powerful figures, was ordered by Pope Francis in 2020 to resign from the “rights and privileges” of the cardinalate after being implicated in a financial scandal.

After the pope’s death last week, Becchio appealed to uphold his right to participate in the conclave, but on Tuesday said he was formally withdrawing. “I have decided to obey, as I have always done, the will of Pope Francis not to participate in the conclave, remaining convinced of my innocence,” he said.

The cardinals have chosen May 7 as the date for the start of the conclave and election of a new leader for 1.4 billion Catholics around the world, the Vatican said Monday.

Becchio’s decision to withdraw from the conclave comes just seven days after he told an Italian newspaper that “there was no explicit will to exclude me from the conclave nor a written request for my explicit resignation.”

The Cardinal of Sardinia previously held the position of “sostituto” (“deputy”) in the Secretariat of the Holy See, a position equivalent to that of the Pope’s chief of staff. This role afforded Becchio the privilege of seeing the Pope and gave him enormous power over the entire central administration of the Church. He was later transferred to a position in charge of the Vatican’s canonization department.

Betsiou was convicted of embezzlement and fraud in 2023 and given a 5.5-year prison sentence. He is the first cardinal to be convicted by the Vatican’s criminal court. However, he filed an appeal, which is still under review.