In Becciu’s case, the Pope shows his iron fist and is left alone. Against scandals we need transparency

An unhealthy atmosphere surrounds the whole business of Becciu scandal, of the secret funds of the Holy See, of reckless and uncontrolled speculative investments made with Church money and the kidnapping of funds from members of the family clan.

It’s a Colosseum atmosphere, of blood and sand, of an audience thirsty to see how gladiators treat. the wild beasts and kill each other. Eyes turn to the emperor who showed thumb down against an untouchable, beheaded on the spot. But the thrill of the amphitheater is far from there plated.

There is no doubt that the scandal comes at a difficult time in Bergoglio’s pontificate and more than the applause of the honest faithful for his iron fist, it runs the risk of weighing on the image of a Hercules who cannot clean the dirty stables because every corner discovers new trash.

The final stage the Bergoglian pontificate has already begun. In December, Francesco turns eighty-four years old. A long season of pre-conclave where behind the scenes the various groups position themselves in search of “Fair man” to be called to guide Pietro’s ship after Francesco. They are concrete phenomena, typical of all great historical, social and political reality in a broad sense. The Church is not an angelic body, which looms over the earth, and the idea of ​​a conclave as a magical act was already ironically dismantled at the time by Joseph Ratzinger.

In these hours he rejoices in silence the anti-bergoglian zone, happy to be able to whisper in the halls that Francesco is not a miracle worker and that a prominent personality like Becciu, who had been part of the Bergoglian Secretary of State, is involved in an embezzlement scandal that floods the planetary media . It doesn’t even matter in this area, where half-figures used to pushing for decades thrive. garbage under the rugs, what will be the concrete results of the ongoing investigations by the Vatican’s judiciary. The important is that smelly miasms of dirty businesses surround the government of Pope Bergoglio.

Mute another area: the swamp. Those sectors, who do not wage war on Francisco for theological or ideological reasons (to the limit of conviction arguments), but who are used to making their career hoping that there will be no shocks in the bureaucratic machine and that, therefore, look with secularism. disenchantment to any impact to renew momentum.

But it is also silent as a whole the reform front, who must publicly declare their support for the gesture Without precedents of Francis to expel from the College of Cardinals the head of a Vatican congregation, that is, a minister in charge of the government of the Church.

Every time Francis finds himself facing tough problems and tough, risky decisions he stays alone. The reforming bishops and cardinals did not raise their voices against the unprecedented gesture of a former pontiff like Ratzinger to meddle in the government affairs of the reigning pontiff, when the resigned Benedict synod of the Amazon took sides against any opening on the subject of a married catholic clergy.

And even now there are no authorized interventions in Rome and elsewhere to support the iron fist used by Francis and cheer him up go ahead with the reorganization of the control systems of the entire Vatican financial apparatus, not just the IOR bank.

The pontiff’s iron fist shows his determination by wanting to point out that there are no personalities above the rules. But the iron fist must follow a rigorous reorganization of the Vatican financial system.

We need a regulation of control for the management of the funds of affairs reserved for you by the Secretary of State, as suggested by Cardinal Marx (president of the economic council of the Vatican) to Pope Francis some time ago. The secrecy of some funds, necessary for all state organizations, does not have to mean arbitrary management.

We need clarity to remove any residual feudalism in the Money Management, characteristic of the different Vatican administrations. Libero Milone in 2017 (through the direct intervention of Cardinal Becciu) was expelled from his post as auditor general because he did not want to stop in front of any “sanctuary”. It’s time to do it justice. Just as it would be urgent not to have more an auditor general ad interim.

Likewise, it would be necessary to finally shed light on the replacement at the head of the AIF (the Vatican’s financial control authority) of an international professional such as Renè Bruelhart, fired in 2019 at the end of his term. At the same time, as the international financial authorities have pointed out, when IDA denounces suspicious transactions meritoriously brought to light in its annual report, it is also necessary to know who the culprits were and how they were prosecuted.

In each crisis, Francisco’s loneliness is tangible. But his tenacity is known. And his personality also includes the awareness that after half a millennium the absolute and secret monarchical structure, which the Holy See has inherited from Trento council, now your time has passed.

If Francis wants to prepare the conditions for a succession that continues its innovative drivewill have to dedicate even more to reforming the structure of the Vatican in the name of efficient transparency. By temperament, he does not like organizational work. But also Moses, in his journey through the desert, had to grapple with how to organize the camp of his people on the road every night.