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Papa Francesco takes on Vatican Bank
Charlie Pierce:
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a34838/papa-francesco-would-like-to-see-the-real-books-please/
Your Occasional Pope
In which, thanks to Papa Francesco, shit's about to get real in the Vatican.
We've all had some dark-humored fun about papal food-tasters since Papa Francesco took a seat in the Chair of Peter. However, history tells us that shit's about to get seriously real around the Curia. . . .
In which, thanks to Papa Francesco, shit's about to get real in the Vatican.
We've all had some dark-humored fun about papal food-tasters since Papa Francesco took a seat in the Chair of Peter. However, history tells us that shit's about to get seriously real around the Curia. . . .
Pierce's article cites this longer piece from Bloomberg News: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-05/pope-francis-reforms-a-vatican-bank-steeped-in-dan-brown-intrigue
Pope Revamps the Scandal-Wracked Vatican Bank
Pope Francis has brought in outsiders to clean up the Vatican’s finances—risking a confrontation with the powerful Curia that governs the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis listens attentively at the front of the packed lecture hall,. . .The pope and these “princes” of the Roman Catholic Church have gathered in Vatican City’s Synod Hall, a modern glass and steel building steps from the Renaissance-era St. Peter’s Basilica, to get an update on the financial health of the Holy See.In any other setting, the scene would have been unremarkable: PowerPoint presentations, charts, graphs. But the Vatican has until recently regarded its finances as so sensitive that its full accounts were known only to the pope and his closest aides. The Feb. 13 briefing, says Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, was the first time the Consistory of Cardinals had ever received such a detailed look at the books. Equally groundbreaking, the presenters included lay experts, not just clergy. . .
When the College of Cardinals selected Jorge Mario Bergoglio to be pope in March 2013, it gave the Argentine prelate a mandate for financial reform, according to Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, the archbishop of Durban, South Africa. . . “We needed to get rid of this cloud that was hanging over the church: The Vatican Bank could be used for money laundering; the Vatican Bank is not being run properly,” he says.The Vatican Bank has seen enough scandal and intrigue to fill a bookshelf of Dan Brown novels. . . .
With the new statutes, Allen says, Francis has proved he won’t be intimidated or hamstrung by the Curia. . .. The Vatican Bank itself was fortunate to survive Francis’s financial housecleaning. The pope at one point considered simply closing it. “St. Peter didn’t have a bank account,” Francis said during a mass on June 11, 2013. But the reform efforts of Ernst von Freyberg. . . convinced Francis the institution still serves a vital purpose: It helps poor dioceses, especially in Africa and Asia, safeguard their limited funds, and it enables charities to transfer money to the needy in remote or war-torn places, such as Syria. In addition, the Holy See is dependent on the bank’s profits. Without income from the bank, the state would operate in the red. . .
Having spared the Vatican Bank, Francis has big plans for it. , , ,Francis’s vision is of a bank offering Catholic institutions attractive, socially responsible returns. The concept has potential, says Crux’s Allen. But, he cautions, “a lot of bishops would be very skeptical investing any money they ever need to see again in something run by the Vatican.” It’s possible that Francis, who has surprised Catholics and others in so many ways so far, will overcome this skepticism, too. As his chief reformer Pell has written, Francis knows that “a poor church, for the poor, should not be poorly managed.”
Pope Francis has brought in outsiders to clean up the Vatican’s finances—risking a confrontation with the powerful Curia that governs the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis listens attentively at the front of the packed lecture hall,. . .The pope and these “princes” of the Roman Catholic Church have gathered in Vatican City’s Synod Hall, a modern glass and steel building steps from the Renaissance-era St. Peter’s Basilica, to get an update on the financial health of the Holy See.In any other setting, the scene would have been unremarkable: PowerPoint presentations, charts, graphs. But the Vatican has until recently regarded its finances as so sensitive that its full accounts were known only to the pope and his closest aides. The Feb. 13 briefing, says Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, was the first time the Consistory of Cardinals had ever received such a detailed look at the books. Equally groundbreaking, the presenters included lay experts, not just clergy. . .
When the College of Cardinals selected Jorge Mario Bergoglio to be pope in March 2013, it gave the Argentine prelate a mandate for financial reform, according to Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, the archbishop of Durban, South Africa. . . “We needed to get rid of this cloud that was hanging over the church: The Vatican Bank could be used for money laundering; the Vatican Bank is not being run properly,” he says.The Vatican Bank has seen enough scandal and intrigue to fill a bookshelf of Dan Brown novels. . . .
With the new statutes, Allen says, Francis has proved he won’t be intimidated or hamstrung by the Curia. . .. The Vatican Bank itself was fortunate to survive Francis’s financial housecleaning. The pope at one point considered simply closing it. “St. Peter didn’t have a bank account,” Francis said during a mass on June 11, 2013. But the reform efforts of Ernst von Freyberg. . . convinced Francis the institution still serves a vital purpose: It helps poor dioceses, especially in Africa and Asia, safeguard their limited funds, and it enables charities to transfer money to the needy in remote or war-torn places, such as Syria. In addition, the Holy See is dependent on the bank’s profits. Without income from the bank, the state would operate in the red. . .
Having spared the Vatican Bank, Francis has big plans for it. , , ,Francis’s vision is of a bank offering Catholic institutions attractive, socially responsible returns. The concept has potential, says Crux’s Allen. But, he cautions, “a lot of bishops would be very skeptical investing any money they ever need to see again in something run by the Vatican.” It’s possible that Francis, who has surprised Catholics and others in so many ways so far, will overcome this skepticism, too. As his chief reformer Pell has written, Francis knows that “a poor church, for the poor, should not be poorly managed.”
a graphic overview of the more sordid aspects to the history of the Vatican Bank (for full gory details , see the full text of Bloomberg article)
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