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ROME: Pope Francis has formally stripped the Vatican’s secretary of state of its financial assets and real estate following its failed management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation.
Francis signed a new law over the weekend ordering the secretary of state to complete the transfer of all his possessions to another Vatican office by February 4. The law also requires all donations to the Pope – Peter’s Pence collections from the faithful and other donations that had been administered by the secretary of state – to be retained and administered by the Vatican treasury office as separate funds that are accounted for in the consolidated budget of the Holy See.
The changes are a response to a spiraling criminal investigation by the Vatican into allegations of years of mismanagement of donations and investments by the Vatican secretariat of state, which has resulted in losses of tens of millions of euros in a time of crisis. financial for the Holy See.
Francis had already ordered the transfers in August and followed in November by appointing a commission to implement the changes. The new law makes the changes permanent and sets a firm date for their execution.
Francis said he was making the changes to improve the administration, control and surveillance over the assets of the Holy See and guarantee a “more transparent and efficient management”.
Francis moved against his own secretary of state amid an 18-month investigation by Vatican prosecutors into the office’s € 350 million investment in a luxury residential building in the London borough of Chelsea and other funds. speculative.
Prosecutors have accused several department officials of abusing their authority for their participation in the deal, as well as several Italian intermediaries of allegedly stripping the Vatican of tens of millions of euros in fees.
The scandal has exposed the incompetence of the Vatican monsignors in managing money, since they signed voting shares in the deal and agreed to pay exorbitant fees to Italians who were known in business circles for their shady deals.
Francis’ decision has been an embarrassing blow to the secretary of state’s position as the most powerful office in the Holy See, essentially reducing it to any other department that must propose a budget and be approved and overseen by others.
The result is essentially what Cardinal George Pell, Francis’ economy prime minister, sought years ago, who took on the secretary of state over his financial reforms and his efforts to wrest control of unofficial funds from the department.
Pell had to abandon those reform efforts in 2017 to face a sexual abuse trial in his native Australia, but he was acquitted and recently told The Associated Press that he felt vindicated that the wrongdoing he tried to uncover was being exposed.
The Holy See is facing a major cash crisis as its main source of income, ticket sales to the Vatican Museums, evaporated this year due to coronavirus closures. Last year, the Holy See reduced its budget deficit from € 75 million to € 11 million.
