Australia’s Pell to fix Vatican’s economy

Pope Francis, Monday, started to reform the Vatican’s scandal-plagued financial system by announcing a new Secretariat for the Economy.

The secretariat, a new co-ordination structure for economic and administrative affairs of the Holy See and Vatican, will be headed by Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell.

Cardinal Pell will have authority over all economic and administrative activities with a view to streamlining the systems and eliminating redundant offices, increasing accountability and financial safeguards, reports RNS.

In turn, the secretariat, with Cardinal Pell acting as a comptroller, reports to and implements policies determined by a new Council for the Economy comprising eight cardinals or bishops reflecting the different parts of the world and seven lay experts of different nationalities.

As part of establishing the secretariat, an official will be empowered to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican City State at any time.

One of Pope Francis’ eight advisory Cardinals, Cardinal Pell is one of Pope Francis’ closes advisors on reform.

Prior to Pope Francis’ election, Cardinal Pell was very candid about the 2012 Vatican leaks, saying it showed a failure of governance under Benedict.

“Problems there have been, problems there are, and this is one factor that has to be addressed as the new pope comes into office”.

“It would be useful to have a pope who can pull the show together, lift the morale of the Curia (Vatican bureaucracy), and strengthen a bit of the discipline there and effectively draw on all the energies and goodness of the great majority of the people in the Curia,” Pell said.

In a letter to his staff disclosed by Catholic blogger, Rocco Palmo, Cardinal Pell, 72, announced Monday, he would be leaving Sydney for Rome at the end of March.

Writing in RNS, David Gibson observes: “Francis’ move also removes Pell – a vocal conservative and frequent lightning-rod for criticism – from the Australian hierarchy and places him in a Roman role that will make use of his administrative talents and perhaps reduce his visibility on doctrinal matters.”

The role and structure of the Vatican Bank, a separate entity, will not change for now.

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