By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Cardinals in meetings ahead of the start of a secret conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis are scratching the hair under their red skull caps as they try to decide whether a cardinal convicted of embezzlement and fraud can join in the vote.

Their quandary concerns Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who in December 2023 was sentenced to 5-1/2 years in jail. He was the most senior Catholic Church official ever to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court.

Becciu has denied all wrongdoing and is appealing the court's ruling. The Italian cardinal, who is free pending his appeal, confirmed in a conversation with Reuters on Thursday night that he felt he should be allowed into the conclave.

His complex legal standing in Church law goes back to the night of September 24, 2020, when Francis summoned Becciu to his residence and summarily fired him from the job as head of the Vatican department that decides who will be saints, as the cardinal recounted.

Francis bluntly accused a shocked Becciu of nepotism and embezzlement, saying: "I no longer have trust in you."

The pope allowed Becciu to keep his ecclesiastical title and his Vatican apartment but stripped him of what the Vatican said were "the rights associated with the Cardinalate".

At the time, Becciu said this included losing the right to take part in a future conclave.

Under Church law, cardinals under the age of 80 can enter the Sistine Chapel for a secret conclave where they cast their votes under the gaze of a severe God depicted in Michelangelo’s Last Judgement fresco behind the main altar.

The conclave is not expected to start before May 6.

About 135 cardinals are currently eligible to take part. On its website, the Vatican lists the 76-year-old Becciu as a "non-elector," lumping him with those who have reached the age of 80.

Between the time of his sacking and the end of the trial, Becciu had several meetings with the pope, including at a Mass in the cardinal's private chapel.

CARDINAL SAYS STATUS HAS CHANGED

Becciu says his status has changed since that night in 2020 when the pope punished him.

Becciu told L'Unione Sarda, the main newspaper on his native island of Sardinia, that the Vatican list of non-eligible cardinals "has no legal value," that there had been "no explicit willingness" to bar him from the conclave and that he had never been asked to formally renounce the privilege in writing.

In the conversation with Reuters near the Vatican on Thursday night, Becciu confirmed the comments he made to the newspaper and added that he believed the pope was close to making a decision on his status.

He told Reuters that he met with the pope in January, before the pontiff was hospitalized in February, and quoted the pontiff as saying, "I think I have a found a solution".

Becciu said he did not know if the pope had left any written instructions about his situation.

In briefings since the pope died on Monday, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni has repeatedly declined to answer questions about Becciu's position, suggesting he may tackle the topic after Francis' funeral on Saturday.

Before the conclave starts, all cardinals, regardless of their age, can take part in daily meetings known as General Congregations, where they mainly discuss the day-to-day business of running the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church.

Most cardinals entering the Vatican for the General Congregations have not spoken to reporters or have declined to discuss the Becciu issue.

"It will be my brother cardinals who will decide," Becciu told Reuters, referring to all the roughly 250 prelates, including electors and non-electors – who will take part in the General Congregations before the conclave.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; additional reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Gareth Jones and Diane Craft)