The 63-year-old Spanish Jesuit cited health reasons for his decision, and Maximino Caballero Ledo (pictured), the institution's secretary general since August 2020, will take his place.

"You are aware that I have undergone surgery during the course of this year, and as a result of this, I am undergoing medical treatment that has side effects that make it particularly difficult for me to carry out a task as demanding as the one I am entrusted with, and that requires a greater physical efficiency and mental concentration than what I have at this time," Fr Guerrero wrote.

Caballero, a married father of two, moved to the US in 2007.

He worked for the healthcare company Baxter International, before Fr Guerrero invited him to join him at the Vatican.

The two hail from the Spanish city of Mérida, had enjoyed a "long friendship."

Caballero's appointment means that, for the first time, the heads of all three of the Vatican's most prominent financial departments will be laymen.

The current auditor general of the Vatican is Alessandro Cassinis Righini, was appointed in May last year.

Since 2019, the head of the Holy See's Financial Supervisory and Information Authority is Carmelo Barbagallo; Pope Francis received both men in an audience on Saturday morning.

While Guerrero gave poor health as the reason for his departure, some in the Vatican say his decision to step down may also be linked to his resistance to certain points of Praedicate Evangelium, the apostolic constitution that brought reforms to the Roman Curia.

According to one highly placed Vatican source, the Spanish Jesuit had an "excessive desire to control" the Holy See's finance sector.

For instance, the source said Fr Guerrero was opposed to Pope Francis' decision last August to transfer all the Holy See's movable and liquid assets under the control of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), commonly called the "Vatican Bank."

Sources

The Pillar

La Croix International

"We are not looking for surpluses but for sustainability of the Holy See's service," Jesuit Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, told Vatican News on 5 August.

"A deficit of 3 million euros in a budget of 1.1 billion is not a lot; it is practically balanced, and it does not seem like a figure to cause concern. But if we do a more detailed analysis, there are some areas for improvement ahead," he said the day before the publication of the Holy See's consolidated financial statement for 2021.

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While most Vatican offices reduced costs, the Congregations for Eastern Churches and for Evangelization of Peoples significantly increased giving to struggling church communities.

The Vatican said the coronavirus pandemic had a severe negative impact on the Vatican's financial situation, including the deficit in the consolidated budget report for 2020.

Releasing the Vatican consolidate budget report for 2020, Fr Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, prefect of Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, said, "We come from a culture of secrecy, but we have learned that in economic matters transparency protects us more than secrecy."

The coronavirus pandemic "has given us the possibility of being able to provide additional help at a difficult moment for all humanity, thus making the church present in areas with fewer resources to deal with the pandemic," Father Guerrero said.

On the same day, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA), which administers Vatican properties and investments, made a summary of its annual budget public for the first time.

APSA reported 14% of Vatican properties they administer are rented at market rates and fund Vatican work and charity.

The remaining 86% is used by Vatican offices or provides housing for cardinals, Vatican employees and retirees. Most of the latter are rented at below-market rates.

In an interview with Vatican News, Bishop Nunzio Galantino, president of APSA, said making the budget synthesis public was "a step forward in the direction of transparency and sharing."

"The release of the balance sheet is a sign of great respect for all those who, with trust and generosity, have placed and continue to place part of their resources in the hands of the Catholic Church," Bishop Galantino said.

"I harbor a secret hope: I hope that the publication and reading of the numbers and the important notes that accompany them will foster more correct and complete information," he added.

Fr Guerrero does not appear discouraged with the budget deficit. "The budgeted expenses for 2021 are the lowest in the recent history of the Holy See. But the savings have been made without diminishing service to the Pope's mission and protecting the salaries and jobs of employees. The support of the faithful is needed."

"The economic situation was worse, but the mission expanded. This is further proof that the criteria driving the church are not economic," Guerrero concluded.

Sources

Catholic News

Vatican News

He made the comment when the Secretariat released the 2019 balance sheet for the Roman Curia last Thursday.

"We want the budget to explain how the Holy See uses its resources to carry out its mission," he added.

The balance sheet provides the Vatican's most detailed-ever financial figures.

His comments were made a week after the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Becciu from the Roman Curia, after over a year of new reports of various financial scandals involving Becciu and the Holy See's Secretariat of State.

Guerrero says he "reads the newspapers" and that "it is possible that, in some cases, the Holy See was not only badly advised but also cheated.

"I believe we are learning from past mistakes or recklessness," he said.

The Vatican may have been swindled before by unscrupulous dealings, but being like a house of glass would provide some assurance to the faithful that the Holy See's finances were being well-managed.

The balance sheet's publication coincides with an onsite financial inspection by Moneyval, the Council of Europe's anti-money laundering watchdog.

It is expected that the evaluation will look at the role of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA).

APSA is the Holy See treasury and sovereign wealth manager. It also administers payroll and operating expenses for Vatican City.

In 2018, Pope Francis asked for Vatican investments to be centralized under APSAs management.

Guerrero says work to centralise the investments in APSA is advancing "little by little."

He says in April he asked all dicasteries transfer their liquid assets to APSA, in anticipation of revenue loss due to Italy's coronavirus lockdown.

The following month, Guerrero said the Vatican forecast a reduction in income of between 30 percent and 80 percent for the next fiscal year as a result of the pandemic.

The Vatican's financial report for 2019, which was released on 1 October, shows the expenditure of 60 curial offices for 2019 was 318 million euros and its income was 307 million euros.

The report says the 11 million-euro deficit is smaller than the 2018 deficit because of 68 million euros in investment returns. The increase was "mostly attributable to the effect of the recovery of share prices in 2019," the report explains.

Financial statements for other Vatican entities which collaborate with the Holy See are not included in the report.

These entities include the governorate of Vatican City State and Peter's Pence, the pope's charitable fund which comes from an annual Church-wide collection.

These institutions and others present their results and report to the corresponding authorities.

The balance sheet shows overall income and expenditure figures for 2019 and a breakdown of how much went to each curial department.

Expense categories are listed as apostolic mission, assets management, and services and administration.

Source

• Reuters
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Vatican News

Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves is scheduled to take office in January 2020. Normally the head of such a top Vatican office would also be named a bishop, but the Jesuit Superior General, Father Arturo Sosa, asked the pope not to elevate the new prefect to the episcopate so he could return to normal Jesuit ministry after his service in the Roman Curia.

The Secretariat for the Economy has been without a prefect since last year when its former head, Cardinal George Pell, was charged and found guilty on five counts of sexual assault on two minors.

Father Guerrero, 60, is the Delegate for Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus in Rome. He is also a General Councillor.

"As a Jesuit, it is a joy to receive a mission directly from the pope. It is a privileged way to realize my vocation," the newly named prefect told Vatican News.

"The obedience I profess has always led me along unexpected paths, led me where I would never have dared to venture. And so, I am grateful. Obedience is, for me, a privileged place of encounter with the Lord," he said. Continue reading