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The Vatican’s murky finances have been spotlighted again by economy secretariat head, Cardinal George Pell.
Late last week, at a news conference, Cardinal Pell said hundreds of millions of euros had been found, squirrelled away in various Holy See departments.
The millions did not appear on the Vatican’s statements of financial position.
Pell was quick to point out that there was no wrong-doing because Vatican departments had long had “an almost free hand” with their finances.
He said the management of departmental affairs followed “long-established patterns”.
Writing in Catholic Herald, Pell seemed to take some delight in stating the obvious that the overall Vatican finances were in better shape than previously believed.
“In fact, we have discovered that the situation is much healthier than it seemed, because some hundreds of millions of euros were tucked away in particular sectional accounts and did not appear on the balance sheet,” he wrote.
“It is important to point out that the Vatican is not broke. Apart from the pension fund, which needs to be strengthened for the demands on it in 15 or 20 years, the Holy See is paying its way, while possessing substantial assets and investments.,” Pell wrote.
“Very few were tempted to tell the outside world what was happening, except when they needed extra help,” he said.
Calling the accounting practices “arcane” Pell singled-out the once-powerful Secretariat of State as one department that had especially jealously guarded its independence.
Lombardi clarifies
However late Friday, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ seemed to be slightly at odds with Pell.
Fr Lombardi stressed to Vatican Radio that as the Prefecture for Economic Affairs had already amply explained and made known to the public, the yearly consolidated financial statements of the Holy See and Vatican City State, which are presented to the Council of 15 Cardinals for review, have never been exhaustive, but have included only the principal institutions of the Curia and the Vatican City State.
Lombardi called ‘the find’ as “precisely the sign and fruit of constructive cooperation among the different institutions of the Vatican”.
Pope Francis, February, appointed Cardinal Pell to the newly created Secretariat for the Economy.
Come the year’s end the “economic czar” is symbolically asserting his control over Vatican money by moving into the enormous office of the president of the Vatican bank.
“A church for the poor should not be poorly managed”, Pell wrote in the Catholic Herald.
As part of a broader administrative reform, in November Pell released a 45 page manual spelling out new rules for budgeting and financial reporting that all Vatican offices must follow beginning January 1.
Sources
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News category: World.
