.Carmelo Barbagallo, president of the Vatican s Financial Information and Supervision Authority, gestures during a July 3, 2020, interview in Rome. In Australia, people inside and outside the church are calling on authorities to get to the bottom of mystery funds transferred from the Vatican to Australia. (CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters) .Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, president of the Australian bishops conference, is pictured in an April 10, 2020, photo. In Australia, people inside and outside the church are calling on authorities to get to the bottom of mystery funds transferred from the Vatican to Australia. (CNS photo/Dan Peled, AAP Image via Reuters)
New law brings needed transparency to finances, Vatican official says
Dec 29, 2020 catholic news service
Bishop Nunzio Galantino, president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, said the new set of finance laws approved by Pope Francis removing management of financial assets from the Secretary of State are a much-needed step toward financial transparency. Bishop Galantino is pictured in an Aug. 8, 2015, file photo. (Credit: Nader Daoud/CNS.)
A new law that removes financial assets from the control of the Vatican Secretariat of State is a step forward on the path of financial reform, said Bishop Nunzio Galantino, president of Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See.
New law to manage Vatican finances, real estate
The law requires the Secretariat of State to transfer as soon as possible all liquid assets held in current accounts UCA News reporter Updated: December 29, 2020 09:33 AM GMT
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Pope Francis has authorized a new law empowering a papal office to directly manage the Vatican’s finances and vast real estate holdings, taking them over from the Secretariat of State.
A
motu proprio focusing on areas of competence in economic and financial matters was published on Dec. 28. It was dated Dec. 26, the Vatican press office announced.
The new law authorizes transferring the management of “financial investments and real estate holdings owned by the Secretariat of State (including the administration of Peter’s Pence), to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), effective as of Jan. 1,” the document stated.
A grounded pope spent 2020 trying to clean house on Vatican finances
Dec 23, 2020 senior correspondent
With no international trips this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the prolonged immobility provided Pope Francis some much-needed time to focus on cleaning out his own backyard, perhaps most notably when it comes to money.
ROME – Known as a globe-trotting pope who conducts the bulk of his diplomacy through words and gestures during trips, Pope Francis found himself with extra time on his hands this past year with international travel brought to a halt by the coronavirus pandemic.
The pontiff was slated to visit Malta, East Timor, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea, and probably would have gone to other places too as the year went on. Instead, he found himself constrained to remain in Rome – and that prolonged immobility provided him some much-needed time to focus on cleaning out his own backyard, perhaps most notably when it comes to money.