ROME (AP) – Pope Francis has formally stripped the Vatican Secretariat of State of his financial assets and real estate properties after his disastrous management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation.
Francisco signed a new law over the weekend ordering the Secretary of State to complete the transfer of all of his properties to another Vatican office by February 4. The law also requires all donations to the pope – Pence charges from the faithful as well as other donations that had been administered by the Secretariat of State – to be maintained and administered by the Vatican Treasury as separate funds that are accounted for in the Holy See’s consolidated budget. .
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 resulted in losses of tens of millions of euros at a time of financial crisis for Santa See.
Francisco had already ordered the transfers in August and continued in November by appointing a commission to put the changes into effect. The new law makes the changes permanent and sets the date for their execution.
Francisco said he was making the changes to improve the administration, control and surveillance of the Holy See’s assets and ensure “more transparent and efficient management”.
Francis acted against his own secretary of state amid an 18-month investigation by Vatican prosecutors over the € 350 million investment in the office in a luxury residential building in London’s Chelsea neighborhood and other speculative funds.
Prosecutors accused several department officials of abusing their authority for their involvement in the deal, as well as several Italian intermediaries for allegedly stealing the Vatican in tens of millions of euros in fees.
The scandal exposed the Vatican monsignor’s incompetence in managing money, as they signed voting shares in the deal and agreed to pay exorbitant fees to Italians who were known in business circles for their dubious deals.
Francisco’s decision was an embarrassing blow to the position of the Secretariat of State as the most powerful office in the Holy See, reducing it to essentially any other department that must propose a budget and have it approved and monitored by others.
The result is essentially what was sought years ago by Cardinal George Pell, Francisco’s prime minister of economy who came into conflict with the secretary of state over his financial reforms and efforts to take control of the department’s unregistered funds.
Pell had to abandon these reform efforts in 2017 to face a sexual abuse trial in his native Australia, but he was acquitted and recently told the Associated Press that he felt vindicated that the crime he tried to discover was being exposed.
The Holy See is facing a major cash crisis as its main source of revenue, ticket sales to the Vatican Museums, evaporated this year due to the closure of the coronavirus. The Holy See reduced its budget deficit from 75 million euros to 11 million euros last year.