ROME (AP) – Pope Francis has officially stripped the Vatican Secretariat of State of its financial assets and real estate following its stolen management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation.
Francis signed a new law over the weekend, by which the state secretariat completed the transfer of all its funds to another Vatican office by February 4. The law also requires all donations to the pope – Peter’s Pence collections from believers, as well as other donations that had been managed by the state secretariat – to be held and managed by the Vatican treasury office as separate funds that are accounted for in the consolidated budget of the Holy See.
The changes are a response to a spiraling Vatican criminal investigation into allegations of years of mismanagement of donations and investments by the Vatican Secretariat of State, which led to losses of tens of millions of euros in a time of crisis. for the Holy See.
Francis already ordered the transfers in August and followed in November with the appointment of a committee to implement the changes. The new law makes permanent changes and sets a firm date for their execution.
Francis said he was making changes to improve the administration, control and vigilance of the Holy See’s assets and to ensure more “transparent and efficient” management.
Francis has moved against his own state secretariat amid an 18-month investigation by Vatican prosecutors into the office’s € 350 million investment in a luxury residential building in London’s Chelsea district and other hedge funds.
Prosecutors have accused several officials in the department of abusing their authority for their involvement in the deal, as well as several Italian intermediaries who allegedly fled tens of millions of euros in taxes to the Vatican.
The scandal revealed the incompetence of the Vatican’s bishops in managing the money, as they signed voting shares in the agreement and agreed to pay exorbitant commissions to Italians known in business circles for their shady relations.
Francis’s decision was an embarrassing blow to the secretariat of state as the most powerful office of the Holy See, essentially reducing it to any other department that has to propose a budget and approve and monitor it by others.
The result is essentially what was sought years ago by Cardinal George Pell, Francis’ economy prime minister, who confronted the state secretariat over its financial reforms and efforts to gain control of off-the-shelf funds. -book of the department.
Pell had to abandon those reform efforts in 2017 to deal with the sexual abuse trial in his native Australia, but was acquitted and recently told The Associated Press that he felt justified that the wrongdoing he tried to uncover was exposed.
The Holy See is facing a major cash crisis as its main source of revenue, ticket sales at the Vatican Museums, has evaporated this year due to the closure of the coronavirus. Last year, the Holy See reduced its budget deficit from 75 million euros to 11 million euros.