Now a cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu heads to congregation for saints' causes

Vatican City, Jun 28, 2018 / 10:41 am

Newly-minted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will resign from his post as substitute of the Secretariat of State tomorrow, in anticipation of his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints later this summer.

Cardinal Becciu, 70, was elevated to the cardinalate June 28, and will resign his role at the Secretariat of State June 29. His appointment at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will take effect Aug. 31.

Referring to his new post while speaking to the press June 27, Cardinal Becciu said the Church does not exist "to create a system of power to dominate," but its primary goal is to help humanity to "experience God's existence."

The experience with God, he said, is "an experience which transforms, which day by day you make a good journey, and at the end you become a saint."

The Church's mission, then, is to remind the world of "the vocation for all men to become saints."

Because of this, Becciu said, the importance of his new office is to "discover those people who lived the Gospel in such a courageous way, and to propose them to humanity as true models of holiness. It's a very interesting challenge."

Becciu was born in 1948 in Pattada, on the island of Sardinia, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Ozieri in 1972, at the age of 24.

In 2001 he was consecrated a bishop, and appointed apostolic nuncio to Angola as well as Sao Tome and Principe. He served there until 2009, when he was appointed apostolic nuncio to Cuba.

Since 2011, he has been substitute at the Secretarat of State.

Cardinal Becciu has served as an important aide to Pope Francis, and while meeting with reporters he discussed the pope's ongoing reform of the Roman Curia.

"It's still too early to judge the reform," he said: "The work hasn't been finished" and it is still "a bit rugged".

"We're working toward an apostolic constitution that will bring everything together, giving a unified structure to the whole reform. So far we've had elements, but not a unified idea."

Cardinal Becciu's role at the Secretariat of State "all at the service of the Holy Father. It meant heping to spread his voice and helping him to carry out his mission throughout the world."

The cardinal has also served as Pope Francis' personal delegate to the Knights of Malta, tasked with overseeing a "spiritual and moral" reform of the order.