Pope Begins Reshaping Vatican’s Financial Management
By JIM YARDLEY
The creation of an auditor general post is the latest example of how Francis is confronting management problems.
ROME
— Pope Francis on Monday announced a major restructuring of the
Vatican’s outdated administrative and economic bureaucracy as he
established an agency to oversee budgets and financial planning and also
created a powerful post of auditor general to guard against fiscal
mismanagement.
The
changes are the latest example of how Francis is moving to confront
management problems in the Vatican as part of his broader mandate to
overhaul the Roman Curia, the administration that runs the Holy See. He
has begun shuffling personnel while also speaking out against careerism
in the Roman Catholic Church, especially inside the Vatican.
To
lead the new agency, the Secretariat of the Economy, Francis selected
Cardinal George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, who is also one of eight
cardinals serving on a special commission advising the pope on
administrative overhaul and other issues. Shortly before Francis was
elected pope last March, Cardinal Pell was openly critical of
mismanagement under Pope Benedict XVI — in particular a scandal over
private letters leaked by Benedict’s butler.
“It
would be useful to have a pope who can pull the show together, lift the
morale of the Curia and strengthen a bit of the discipline there,”
Cardinal Pell told The Associated Press at the time.
One
question that remains is the fate of the Vatican Bank, officially known
as the Institute for the Works of Religion. Magistrates in Italy are
investigating allegations of money-laundering linked to the bank.
Meanwhile, a management team, appointed by Benedict in the final days of
his papacy to address the problems, has been poring over the bank’s
accounts, looking for irregularities, while also working to bring the
institution into compliance with international norms.
Francis
has not yet signaled his plans for the bank — one possibility would be
to shut it down — and the announcement on Monday did not mention it.
“We have not yet heard any decisions or deliberations,” said Max Hohenberg, a spokesman for the bank.
But
Alberto Melloni, a historian of the Vatican, said the latest changes
signaled a further diminution of the bank, which once operated with
independence and limited oversight, factors that contributed to the
recent scandals. He said the bank would now serve essentially as “a
wallet,” while economic decision-making would be made in the new
Secretariat of the Economy. He also said the appointment of Cardinal
Pell underscored the growing influence of the “Group of Eight” cardinals
over functions once dominated by the Curia.
Francis
has pledged to bring greater transparency and collegiality to the
workings of the Vatican, and the announcement on Monday said the
secretariat was created to help “simplify and consolidate existing
management structures and improve coordination and oversight.”
The
new auditor general, to be directly appointed by the pope, will be
“empowered to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and the
Vatican City State, at any time,” the Vatican said.
COPY http://www.nytimes.com/
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