Neither the Secretariat of State nor the Vatican press office have responded to those charges.

In December 2020, Pope Francis issued the motu proprio Una migliore organizzazione which was supposed to transfer control and oversight of key financial affairs out of the Secretariat of State after years of financial scandal.

The motu proprio ordered the secretariat to turn over control of its assets and investment portfolio, together worth billions of euros, to APSA, the Holy See's sovereign wealth fund, and "subject to an ad hoc control by the Secretariat for the Economy, which from now on will also perform the function of Papal Secretariat for economic and financial matters."

Pope Francis set a February deadline for the transfer of oversight and control on key financial matters to the financial secretariat.

But senior Vatican officials close to APSA, the Secretariat for the Economy, and the Secretariat of State, all told The Pillar that no progress has been made in granting the economic secretariat the control and oversight mandated by the pope.

The Secretariat of State's budget was also ordered to be submitted to the Secretariat for the Economy, but the office is "frozen out" of oversight and decision-making processes for the Secretariat of State and APSA, curial officials allege.

"There is no cooperation, none," one senior Vatican official close to the Secretariat for the Economy told The Pillar. "It is worse than in the time of Cardinal Pell."

"[The department is] simply not included in any of the necessary discussions or decision-making processes," the official added.

Cardinal George Pell was the first prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, appointed in 2014.

The cardinal was granted a leave of absence in 2017 to return to Australia to fight accusations of sexual abuse — charges on which he was acquitted by the country's High Court last year — and he did not return to his Vatican duties before his term ended in 2019.

Pell was succeeded by Fr. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, SJ, on Jan. 1, 2020.

The senior official close to the Secretariat for the Economy told The Pillar that Alves has been "intensely frustrated" in his attempts to work with the Secretariat of State and to exercise oversight of the state department's financial affairs.

"Every effort is being made," he told The Pillar, "and every effort is met with evasion, obstruction, or just silence." Continue reading

• Image: Springfield diocese

The Vatican's Secretariat of State suspended the audit by international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers last week.

This is four months after the Vatican had announced PwC was to perform the audit.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, said that the audit had been paused because there are "underway detailed studies of some aspects relative to the agreement" reached with the firm.

According to media reports, the problem was not connected to PricewaterhouseCoopers, which had just begun its work.

Rather the issue was whether internal Vatican procedures were followed completely in offering a contract to the firm.

A letter sent to all Holy See departments from the Secretariat of State's Archbishop Giovanni Angelo stated that Cardinal Pell's instruction for Vatican bodies to co-operate with the firm had been overruled by "superior provision".

In a short statement, Cardinal Pell, who is the prefect of the Vatican's Secretariat for the Economy, said he is "a bit surprised" at the move.

Cardinal Pell said he anticipates the audit will "resume shortly" after "discussions and clarification" of some issues.

The cardinal that the work of the "internal auditor which covers all areas has not been interrupted".

It has been reported that the move to suspend the initiative has been seen as a move not only to undermine the work of Cardinal Pell and the department he runs, but moreover the Vatican's Council for the Economy which was responsible for appointing the auditors.

On April 21, Cardinal Pell had a private audience with Pope Francis.

The December appointment of PwC was announced by the Vatican as "continuing the implementation of new financial management policies and practices in line with international standards".

Sources

• National Catholic Register
• Catholic News Service
• The Tablet
• Image: Crux

The statement, released yesterday by the Secretariat of State, says the purpose of the commission is "to undertake an authoritative investigation and throw light on these episodes."

The Cardinals' Commission will "act at all levels on the strength of its pontifical mandate."

Benedict appointed three retired cardinals to the commission. The chairman is Opus Dei Cardinal Julian Herranz, the former president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, and the other commission members are Cardinal Jozef Tomko, the former prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization; and Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, the former Archbishop of Palermo.

The Commission met for the first time on April 24 to establish procedures for their inquiry. No timetable has been given for their work.

The Vatican has been embarrassed by what has been called "Vatileaks," the disclosure of a series of internal documents that have highlighted disagreements within the Roman Curia, with a particular focus on the Secretariat of State.

While some of the leaked material was of a gossip nature, other material included allegations of serious financial misconduct.

Sources

• VIS
• Reuters
• The Guardian
• Image: Times of Malta