Cardinal Pell, aged 81, died in January 2023 in Rome after a cardiac arrest following a routine hip replacement operation. His funeral was held four days later at St Peter's Basilica.

The funeral was notable for the absence of a traditional open casket, which reportedly surprised Vatican officials.

Recent reports in The Australian suggest that Pell's body was left in disarray after an autopsy, with his clothes haphazardly placed in the coffin, his body not properly dressed and without shoes.

Final insult

Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt, citing a conversation with Pell's brother, revealed that the cardinal's nose was broken upon the body's return to Australia, describing it as a "final insult".

Bolt speculated that the mistreatment might have stemmed from either incompetence or lingering animosity within the Vatican.

"Pell once told me he did not feel safe in the Vatican as he chased the crooks" Bolt stated. "What was done to his body makes me suspect he was right."

Pell a 'ticking time bomb'

However Pell's brother David told The Australian that the family has no issue with George Pell's medical treatment in Rome.

David Pell said George Pell had several serious heart conditions that dated back to the 1990s. He described the cardinal as a "ticking time bomb".

David Pell explained the condition of George Pell's body, saying that he was vested but in an incorrect sequence.

He suggested the Cardinal's nose could have been broken by the lid of his tight fitting coffin which was lined with zinc or, as one medico suggested, that the Cardinal's nose could have been damaged by hospital tubes while nursing staff were trying to revive him.

David Pell said that there was no room for the Cardinal's size 14 shoes to be put on him, but that they were in the coffin.

He said the family decided the coffin not be open at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney because the embalming "was not up to scratch" and by the time of the Sydney funeral his brother would have been dead for three weeks.

David Pell told the Australian that, while a number of his brother's friends urged him to return to Australia for his hip replacement, the family had no say.

"The big boy made up his mind" he said,

Sources

Daily Mail

The Australian

Herald Sun

The Australian

CathNews New Zealand

The 2022 annual report traces the activities carried out by the ASIF over the past twelve months, and notes the contributions made "internally" and "externally", as well as the participation "without interruption or hesitation" in the programs of international fora such as Egmont and MONEYVAL.

The report opens with a letter from ASIF President Carmelo Barbagallo, who dwells on the "long and difficult" interlude of the pandemic.

"Many hoped that 2022 would be a breakthrough year," he said, "with decisive progress in limiting the spread of the virus and a strong recovery in the global economy."

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The 63-year-old Spanish Jesuit cited health reasons for his decision, and Maximino Caballero Ledo (pictured), the institution's secretary general since August 2020, will take his place.

"You are aware that I have undergone surgery during the course of this year, and as a result of this, I am undergoing medical treatment that has side effects that make it particularly difficult for me to carry out a task as demanding as the one I am entrusted with, and that requires a greater physical efficiency and mental concentration than what I have at this time," Fr Guerrero wrote.

Caballero, a married father of two, moved to the US in 2007.

He worked for the healthcare company Baxter International, before Fr Guerrero invited him to join him at the Vatican.

The two hail from the Spanish city of Mérida, had enjoyed a "long friendship."

Caballero's appointment means that, for the first time, the heads of all three of the Vatican's most prominent financial departments will be laymen.

The current auditor general of the Vatican is Alessandro Cassinis Righini, was appointed in May last year.

Since 2019, the head of the Holy See's Financial Supervisory and Information Authority is Carmelo Barbagallo; Pope Francis received both men in an audience on Saturday morning.

While Guerrero gave poor health as the reason for his departure, some in the Vatican say his decision to step down may also be linked to his resistance to certain points of Praedicate Evangelium, the apostolic constitution that brought reforms to the Roman Curia.

According to one highly placed Vatican source, the Spanish Jesuit had an "excessive desire to control" the Holy See's finance sector.

For instance, the source said Fr Guerrero was opposed to Pope Francis' decision last August to transfer all the Holy See's movable and liquid assets under the control of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), commonly called the "Vatican Bank."

Sources

The Pillar

La Croix International

No investment of money is morally neutral; "either God's kingdom is being advanced by the assets we deploy, or it is being neglected and undermined," said a document titled "Mensuram Bonam".

Mensuram Bonam (For Good Measure) refers to the biblical passage "For the measure you use will be measured back to you".

It acknowledges that dioceses, Vatican congregations and Catholic organisations are responsible for growing their wealth, donations and investments to serve their mission. It insists that faith-consistent investment does not have to mean lower returns.

The document uses the principles of Catholic social teaching and definitive church pronouncements on issues such as abortion, nuclear weapons and the death penalty.

It calls on bishops' conferences and other Catholic investors to develop investment criteria that are consistent with the Catholic tradition and inspired by "a solidarity-based commitment".

While promoting needed financial returns, in terms of investments, the document emphasises the importance of "human dignity, care for creation and inclusive growth through united action bound by love".

Initial work on the document was done under the auspices of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development when it was led by Cardinal Peter Turkson.

A first draft of the document was shared with reporters in January and then revised.

"The document simply is saying anyone who manages finances must also accept the responsibility of what the management of finances entails," Cardinal Turkson said.

Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, the president of the Vatican Bank, said dangerous investments included gambling sites, dirty gas polluters, war profiteers and "adult entertainment, as they say".

When management of assets is outsourced without strict guidelines, money can end up in less than holy places. "It certainly does happen," he said.

The document, he stressed, was a guide, not a church dictate.

"No one is going to come and penalise you, absolutely no one," Mr de Franssu agreed. "Except your conscience."

The Holy See considers certain funds bad investments, no matter how lucrative. Companies that contradict church doctrine in areas like abortion or contraception are such offenders.

The guidelines also suggest that the faithful avoid investments harmful to workers or ones that strip natural resources, potentially producing economic migrants who undergo inhumane conditions to reach Europe.

Cardinal Turkson said the document includes other areas of concern that the bishops should consider adding to their criteria.

These include

• keeping animal experimentation to a minimum,
• discouraging the manufacture and marketing of computer games that glorify violence,
• upholding the rights of Indigenous people and
• not investing in companies connected to capital punishment, for example, by manufacturing the drugs used for lethal injections.

Sources

UCA News

New York Times

"This is unacceptable!" said a visibly irate Milone at a news conference in Rome on Thursday. Milone, who was hired by Pope Francis in 2015 to aid him in making financial reforms at the Vatican, added that "Pope Francis' silence on the matter is deafening."

"What are we, in the 18th century?" Milone asked at one point, questioning the rule of law in the small Catholic city state. He later called the Vatican's financial and judicial system "Orwellian."

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Pell was speaking at "Real Estate and the New Evangelisation," an event held in Rome on April 28. The cardinal addressed several questions raised by recent financial scandals in the Catholic Church.

Francis' reforms of the Vatican's Curia, outlined in his long-awaited apostolic constitution, "Praedicate Evangelium" published in March, need a bit more "polishing."

But "even the most critical observers say disaster has been avoided," Pell said.

Financial scandals have plagued the Catholic institution, at least since the 1980s. Currently, 10 individuals are on trial at the Vatican, facing charges ranging from corruption to embezzlement and money laundering.

"Even if moral culpability cannot be proved among any of the Vatican personnel involved, responsibility for the incompetence must be acknowledged," Pell said.

"It seems that a history of an economic failure in a diocese or a religious order was almost a prerequisite for appointment to the Curia," the cardinal said.

According to Pell, Francis' efforts have significantly improved the economic situation at the Vatican. However, the cardinal said, "we cannot afford to lose another 500 million through incompetence or corruption in the next 40 years."

The Vatican has faced a growing deficit every year, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to its 2022 financial projections, the Catholic institution faces a $37 million deficit. This is due primarily to diminishing donations as the faithful soured over recent financial scandals.

The cardinal offered tips to address the financial situation at the Vatican: "Avoid cooperating with banks and financial agents who have a well-established reputation for shadiness," he said. "It is a prudential option that has been avoided by the Vatican for 40 years at least."

Bishops and priests involved in managing funds must understand basic economic principles as well, he said.

The pope's reforms and those put in place by his predecessors "have stopped the money laundering" he commented.

"I couldn't say that we completely spring-cleaned," Pell said. But "the people running the show are people of integrity," he added.

Sources

Religion News

Pope Francis approved new norms governing contract bids and procurement procedures in his latest effort to reform the Vatican's finances.

The Vatican's financial situation was reportedly 'precarious' before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and worsened during the lockdown period when the Holy See's main income source, the Vatican Museums, were closed.

The Museums reopened Monday for the first time since March. They are looking at a significant shortfall this year as a result of the lockdown and the subsequent collapse of the tourism industry that provides a steady flow of visitors to the Sistine Chapel.

Besides the post-pandemic fallout, the Holy See is facing an embarrassing financial scandal involving a 150 million-euro investment in a London real estate venture. The venture allegedly fleeced the pope of millions of euros.

The Vatican's new procurement reforms don't address how the Holy See invests its assets. They emphasise, however, that the Vatican will be more selective in the contractors and companies with whom it does business.

The reforms call for a centralised list of businesses that can bid for Vatican contracts.

They also include the criteria of those that can be excluded from offering services to the Holy See: any company or individual in bankruptcy proceedings or under investigation or convicted of crimes such as fraud, mafia ties, tax evasion or corruption.

In addition, the reforms impose norms to avoid conflicts of interest among Vatican officials awarding contracts, as well as the companies bidding for them. They call for transparency in the procedures and lay out how contested bids and contracts can be adjudicated in the Vatican criminal tribunal.

The Vatican's out-of-control spending first came to light during the 2012 VatiLeaks scandal. In this, leaked internal documents revealed that the Vatican City State had paid 550,000 euros for its 2009 life-sized Christmas Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square.

Since then, the Vatican has relied on donated or lower-cost Christmas scenes.

Spending and contracting has long been disorganized at the Holy See, with each of the Vatican congregations (ie departments) going its own way to find contractors without any organized competitive bidding procedures that would be expected for a public administration.

Even before the virus and resulting global economic slowdown, the Vatican was looking at a multi-million euro deficit for the foreseeable future, though officials denied it was at risk of default this year.

Source

• AP
• Image: Carbon Brief