The new Vatican Secretary of State, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, has officially assumed his new role, but he could not attend the hand-over ceremony because of emergency surgery. The reason for the surgery was not made known at the time, but a Vatican source later said the 58-year-old archbishop — seen as the key person to Read more
The Vatican City State has adopted a new law cracking down on financial transactions that could enable money-laundering and imposing a new level of transparency and supervision. The Holy See Press Office said the new norm, Law XVIII, “strengthens the current internal system for the prevention and countering of money laundering and the financing of Read more
The reform of the Roman Curia, the function of the Vatican Secretariat of State and the role of the Synod of Bishops have occupied Pope Francis and his advisory council of cardinals during their first meeting. The three-day meeting opened with a talk by the Pope on the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. This Read more
As the Vatican Bank took the unusual step of publishing an annual report for the first time in its 125-year history, its president said the most surprising thing was “how unsurprising it is”. “You see a rather conservatively managed financial institution safeguarding assets, investing in very conservative investments like government bonds and bank deposits,” said Read more
Pope Francis has named an international commission of eight business and legal experts — mainly lay people, including one woman — to plan a reform of the Holy See’s economy and administrative structures. The commission’s president, Maltese economist Dr Joseph Zahra, is already an auditor of the Vatican’s budget management office. The other members come Read more
To achieve the transparency and accountability he wants in the Vatican Bank, Pope Francis has set up a new commission to allow “a greater harmonisation” with the universal mission of the Church. This was “Pope Francis’ personal choice. It strays from the usual dynamic through which these decisions are taken,” a Vatican official speaking under Read more
Pope Francis has called in a German management consultant to help him reform the Vatican administration. Thomas von Mitschke-Collande, a manager of the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company, was recommended to the Pontiff after he helped to streamline the financial affairs of the Berlin archdiocese and the German bishops’ conference. Last year he published Read more
The president of the German Catholic bishops’ conference has called for a new office of women deacons in the Catholic Church. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg made it clear he was calling for a new office specifically for women, rather than admission of women to the sacramental diaconate. He called for the move at the Read more
Pope Francis has reaffirmed the need to reform the major group of women religious in the United States, accepting the Vatican’s 2012 assessment that found it had “serious doctrinal problems”. The Pope’s view was conveyed to representatives of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, led by president Sister Florence Deacon, by the prefect of the Read more
Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil has confirmed that he and other cardinals are convinced of the need for reform of the Roman Curia. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Avvenire — which is owned by the Italian Catholic bishops’ conference — he said : “The topic of the Roman Curia has been much discussed Read more