The profit was close to 6 million euros less than what the investments earned in 2021, the bishop said in the annual report of the administration, which is known by its Italian acronym, APSA, and controls most of the Vatican's portfolio, including real estate.

"Transparency of numbers, achievements and defined procedures is one of the tools we have at our disposal to ward off — at least in those who are free of preconceptions — unfounded suspicions regarding the extent of the church's assets, its administration or the fulfilment of the duties of justice, such as payment of due taxes and other tributes," the bishop wrote in his introduction to the 104-page report, which was published in early August.

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The move by the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, an office of the Vatican's central bureaucracy, may represent the first such outside audit of the Vatican's coffers.

The office oversees the Vatican's property, providing cash flow to its bureaucracy, and manages the city-state's overall financial portfolio.

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Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, who is under investigation, said the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, known as APSA, allowed the office to be used by outsiders even though it was against its regulations.

Under questioning by Rome magistrates in July, Scarano said some officials at APSA, whose purpose is to pay Vatican salaries, fund its departments and manage its real estate, allowed the department to be used improperly by outsiders.

"As APSA, we were not allowed to have outside clients, but, despite this, in reality, we acted as a bank," Scarano told the magistrates, according to the transcript of the questioning obtained by Reuters.

"We took in money, used it, and paid out interest to depositors," he said.

The Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said he had no comment on Scarano's questioning.

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Reuters

Catholic World News

Image: AP/Gulf News