A cardinal convicted of embezzlement and fraud has bowed out of the conclave to elect a new pope after reportedly being shown a request by Francis asking him not to participate.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 76, formally withdrew from the process on Tuesday, April 29, despite previously insisting he was still entitled to cast his vote.

He said: 'I have decided to obey the will of Pope Francis, as I have always done, and not enter the conclave despite remaining convinced of my innocence.'

The Vatican's criminal court jailed Becciu for five and a half years in December 2023 for his role in a scandal involving Vatican spies and property investments in Chelsea. He denies all wrongdoing and is free pending an appeal.

Francis, who died on April 21 at the age of 88, had fired Becciu from a senior Vatican job in 2020 before his trial.

However, the Pope allowed him to keep his ecclesiastical title and his Vatican apartment, creating ambiguity over whether he could join the conclave.

The reports of letters left by Francis asking a cardinal not to participate recall the plot of the film Conclave, which follows the story of a cardinal played by Ralph Fiennes who hunts for a note left by a late pope calling for another cardinal to resign.

Becciu's withdrawal could deal a blow to Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a senior Vatican official who is seen as a leading candidate to succeed Francis.

Some 135 cardinals under the age of 80, from all corners of the globe, are eligible to take part in the vote for the next head of the Catholic Church.

Two cardinals have said they cannot take part for health reasons, the Vatican said on Tuesday, bringing the possible number of electors to 133 - the largest number ever.

Cardinals must decide whether to continue the reformist path and open approach followed by Francis or return to something more traditional.

'I believe that the path of dialogue, in which the Church has long been engaged and which Pope Francis has intensified on all fronts, should be pursued without fear,' said Father Donato Ogliari in a sermon on Tuesday to a group of cardinals.

The previous two conclaves, held in 2005 and 2013, lasted just two days, but there have been suggestions that things might take longer this time.

Some of the cardinals appointed by Francis, who named cardinals from numerous countries that had never had them before, have not previously met. They have taken to wearing name tags to help them make introductions, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

However, Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez of El Salvador said on Tuesday he felt this conclave could be wrapped up swiftly.

'I have the impression that the conclave will be short, two or three days, this is the feeling we have inside the room,' he told reporters.