Vatican economic reform plans meeting resistance, leading Italian journalist reports

February 17, 2015

Cardinal George Pell has encountered resistance from other Vatican officials in his effort to bring all Vatican financial affairs under the supervision of his Secretariat for the Economy, reports Andrea Tornielli of La Stampa.

Tornielli writes that when Cardinal Pell delivered a report to the extraordinary consistory of cardinals last week, he encountered sharp questions. “Heated arguments ensued,” the prominent Vatican-watcher reports.

Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (which is the Vatican’s top office for canon law) reportedly questioned the scope of the authority given to the Secretariat for the Economy. These questions involved not the demand for transparency in all financial operations, but the consolidation of management under the Secretariat for the Economy.

Cardinal Pell has acknowledged that some Vatican officials have balked at the imposition of new rules for financial transactions. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa, a member of the Council for the Economy (which oversees the Secretariat), has been more direct, naming the Congregation for Evangelization as one source of resistance.

The statutes of the Secretariat for the Economy have not yet been finalized.

 

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Further information:

• Vatican: Doubts grow over Pell’s excessive powers (La Stampa)
• Vatican economics secretariat discovers $1.5 billion in unreported assets (CWN, 2/16)