Andrea Gagliarducci

Andrea Gagliarducci

Andrea Gagliarducci is an Italian journalist for Catholic News Agency and Vatican analyst for ACI Stampa. He is a contributor to the National Catholic Register.

Articles by Andrea Gagliarducci

AIF 2019 report, is the reform a good idea?

Jul 7, 2020 / 00:00 am

So, the Vatican’s financial watchdog is getting a name change and new statutes. The Vatican’s Financial Intelligence Authority will soon be known as the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority, or “SFIA” (ASIF in Italian). That’s not the real news, though. The real news is that the figures of the  watchdog’s recently released report for  2019 numbers show that the Holy See’s anti-money laundering law has been further strengthened. Not only. The figures also show that  the Holy See’s successful anti-money laundering efforts are part of a broader improvement in the whole financial oversight system. This furthers  the growth trend seen in previous AIF reports. The figures in the report are substantial: AIF received 64 suspicious activity reports (SARs), 55 of which came from supervised entities and four from other Holy See / Vatican City State authorities. The AIF also enacted four preventive measures, including the freezing of a bank account. Moreover, it forwarded 15 reports to the Promoter of Justice, which confirms the rising trend in the ratio between reports to the Promoter of Justice and suspicious activity reports. As far as international cooperation is concerned, the AIF involved 370 subjects in information exchanges with other financial intelligence units  (FIUs) and signed four new Memoranda of Understanding with foreign FIUs, for a total of 60 memoranda of understanding signed since 2012. The positive trends risk being overshadowed by declarations from Carmelo Barbagallo, who  took the helm at the AIF in November 2019. In his remarks, Barbagallo announced that the AIF would change its name and tweak its statutes. Barbagallo said that “first and foremost, pursuant to the new statutes, the name of the Authority would change to the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (SFIA), a name that highlights the Authority’s dual nature as intelligence unit and supervisory (and regulatory) authority.” Those remarks came through official Vatican media channels. Barbagallo  did not hold the traditional press conference to present the annual report. There was, in the end, no dialogue with the press, except for some arranged interviews, mostly in Italian and for Italian outlets.  Barbagallo also explained that the AIF statutes would be tweaked. “With reference to AIF’s governance,” Barbagallo said, “the new statutes confirm the role of the Board of Directors and task the president with setting and monitoring the Authority’s strategic goals.” In fact, the name change had already been discussed as far back as 2013, when the new Vatican anti-money laundering law was issued. Following the new law and the restructuring of the AIF with the two functions of intelligence and oversight, the proposal was better to highlight the outfit’s functions in its name. In the end, then-AIF president, Cardinal Attilio Nicora, suggested keeping the name as it was a known quantity that had acquired some credibility. Keeping the name, he observed, also made sense to show the continuity of the Holy See’s commitment. This change would suggest a revival of the past and a re-emergence of the first phase of the AIF. The enhanced president’s role would somehow limit the powers of a director and might create some problems. The president and the board of directors were tailored as guarantee bodies. With a proposing president and an executive board of directors, there can be potential conflicts of interest if the president and the board members keep their positions in activities outside the Vatican. How will this risk be solved? All of these discussions need further analysis and are focused on the future of the authority. On the other hand, the annual report is a snapshot of the activities of the past year, when the president was René Bruelhart and director Tommaso Di Ruzza. The report follows the structure adopted in the past and provides a comprehensive overview of the work done. In 2019, the Holy See joined the Single Euro Payment Area, which led to a Vatican IBAN issuance. In August 2019, the AIF also conducted a “targeted on-site inspection at the IOR for the purpose of verifying compliance with the current legislative and regulatory framework for payment services, including the fulfillment of all the necessary requirements for the IOR to join the SEPA schemes, as well as the ‘effectiveness’ of the payment systems.” The IOR adhered to the SEPA schemes in October 2019, while the Holy See joined the SEPA area in March 2019. In May 2020, the AIF initiated the first general on-site inspection of the IOR for prudential purposes. The inspection is not linked to any particular event: it simply had to be done, and it could take place only after the issuance of the new IOR statutes, which were approved in June last year. In 2019, the Financial Security Committee produced a second update of the General Risk Assessment. The report says the update “confirms a medium-low level of money-laundering (ML) risk and a low level of financial terrorism (FT) risk, with no significant domestic threats.” The AIF also issued in 2019 several instructions to counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Regarding intelligence activity, the AIF suspended three transactions in 2019 for a total of €240,000 , and froze one account for a total of €178,970.65. Barbagallo emphasized the Memorandum of Understanding he signed with the Vatican interim general auditor, Alessandro Cassinis Righi. A protocol of that kind was approved already in 2019 between the then president Bruelhart and the interim general auditor. Has the memorandum changed, or was it just updated? Barbagallo’s statements suggest that it was mostly an update. Barbagallo also underscored that the AIF signed a memorandum of understanding with the Vatican prosecutor. The signing of that Memorandum led to the AIF’s re-admission to the use of the Egmont Group’s secure communication network. Egmont Group gathers some 165 financial intelligence units from all over the world. Via its secure network, members share intelligence about crimes such as money laundering, tax fraud, and terrorism financing. The AIF joined the Egmont Group in 2013. Egmont suspended the AIF from its secure network following search and seizure operations on the AIF’s offices during the Vatican police investigation into the purchase of luxury real estate in London by the Vatican Secretariat of State. The seizures also involved documents coming from foreign FIUs. The memorandum was designed to heal the breach generated by the seizures of reports from other FIUs. In the end, the protocol had to guarantee the independence of the investigation and the confidentiality of the information exchanged. International observers watched those developments keenly.   The report also presents two example cases, with no mentions of names. The first example case seemingly referred to the investigation on Italian entrepreneur Angelo Proietti, who was sentenced guilty for self-money-laundering connected with some procurements in the Vatican. It is known that the AIF reported the case. It is noteworthy that the Vatican tribunal sentence came in 2018, two years after Proietti reached a plea agreement in Italy. The second example referred to the freezing of the accounts of a customer of Vatican financial institutions investigated by a foreign jurisdiction. The 2019 figures show that the AIF’s work in strengthening the Vatican anti-money laundering system has been widely positive. Neither the AIF president, nor its  director were confirmed at the end of their five-year mandates, the successes notwithstanding. In the meantime, the AIF’s staff was doubled, from 6 to 12 employees. The new powers of the president and the composition of the board suggest a comeback of the past. The president will return to be a sort of deus ex macchina. The board is already less “international” and more Italian. After the resignations of Juan Zarate and Marc Odendall as board members, and the expiration without renewal of René Bruelhart’s mandate, the Italian Barbagallo (who comes from the Bank of Italy) was appointed president. Also, the Italian Antonella Sciallone Alibrandi filled one of the vacant seats on the board.  The international observers have, in the end, only one question: will these decisions  strengthen the Vatican anti-money laundering system, or will they make past issues  resurface?

Pope Francis, a Jesuit at the helm of the Congregation for the Clergy?

Jun 30, 2020 / 00:00 am

Bishop Daniele Libanori, Jesuit and auxiliary for the diocese of Rome, might be appointed next Friday as the successor of Cardinal Beniamino Stella as Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy. Rumor of the appointment has been in the Vatican corridors, strengthened by the fact that Pope Francis received Libanori in private audience on June 26. The news of the appointment must be treated with all the due conditionals since Pope Francis might always decide otherwise. If the guess should prove correct, however, Libanori would be the first Jesuit at the helm of the dicastery that has responsibility for all the non-religious priests in the world.  With Libanori, Pope Francis would again tap a trusted man at the helm of the Congregation for the Clergy. Libanori would replace Cardinal Beniamino Stella, one of the most trusted of Pope Francis' hidden advisors. Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Stella to Clergy on September 21, 2013. It was one of Pope Francis' very first appointments in the top Curia offices.  The Pope created Stella a cardinal during the February 22, 2014 consistory, and kept Stella at his post until now. Stella will turn 79 in August, while the retirement age is set at 75. Stella was also confirmed after his five-year term mandate, which expired in 2018. Daniele Libanori was chosen by Pope Francis as auxiliary bishop for the diocese of Rome on November 23, 2017, and was ordained a bishop on January 13, 2018. Since 2017, he is also the delegate of the diocese for the Clergy and the seminaries. Born in 1953, Libanori hails from the archdiocese Ferrara-Comacchio, in Northern Italy. He was ordained a priest in 1977, and he later joined the Society of Jesus in 1991. He is licensed in Theology of the Evangelization and has a Ph.D. in Theology of Christian Life. From 1982 to 1991, he was the rector of the seminary of the archdiocese Ferrara-Comacchio. After he pronounced the first vows as Jesuit in 1991, he was the university chaplain at L'Aquila, in central Italy, from 1993 to 1997. He then spent a year in the Jesuit community of Naples. From 1998 to 2003, he was the university chaplain at La Sapienza University in Rome. In 2003, he took final vows as Jesuit. From 2003 to 2016, Libanori served as rector of the Chiesa del Gesù in Rome. He has been rector of the church of San Giuseppe Falegname al Foro Romano since 2017. He is also a well-known exorcist in Rome. During the emergency caused by the COVID 19 pandemic, Bishop Libanori was vocal and visible. In particular, Bishop Libanori took the stage on the debate about the prohibition of celebrating Masses with the people. As known, some of the priests complained about the government's decision to forbid any gathering, be it religious or civil. Cardinal Angelo de Donatis, The Pope's Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, even decreed the shuttering of churches, following Pope Francis' suggestions. The day after the decision, by the way, Pope Francis decried the possibility of "A Church without people," thus compelling his Vicar to backtrack. The Pope always asked the faithful to respect government indications. On June 20, the Pope met the doctors of Lombardy, the most COVID-stricken Italian region. On that occasion, the Pope also pointed the finger at "the teenager priests" that advocated for  Masses with the people. Bishop Libanori’s position has been the Pope's position, and it is possible Pope Francis noted and appreciated that. In particular, Libanori expressed his point of view in a letter he addressed on March 19 to the priests of the sector of the diocese of Rome he administers. The letter was then published in the issue 4076 of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Jesuit-run Italian magazine vetted by the Vatican Secretariat of State. La Civiltà Cattolica titled the letter “Faith at the time of Covid 19”. In the letter, Libanori noted that "many complain that the closing of the churches is part of the restrictions," but he warned that "it is the State, not the Church, that must legislate in terms of public health." Bishop Libanori then asked to find "new ways" to nurture the faith in a time of emergency. He conceded that "an open church might also be a sign of comfort." However, he added, "if it is just a sign, it is enough that only the Cathedral remains open." He added that "the True Church, made of men, thank God can live without churches, as it happened during the first centuries and as it is still happening in many places of the world." Bishop Libanori then asked whether "the protest, also vivid, against the shutdown of churches is animated by faith or rather by a religious sentiment that needs to be purified." The bishop also invited "not to be taken by the false zeal," since "behind the too insistent request for Eucharist often lies a sincere, but not mature, faith." Bishop Libanori showed a total consonance with Pope Francis, and perhaps his position on the matter might be decisive for him to take the post. The appointment of a new Prefect Clergy will begin the significant reshuffle of the top ranks in the Roman Curia.  While the Curia reform is still awaited, five prefects out of nine already turned 75. Beyond that, there are other top slots in the Curia that are going to be vacant. The Congregation for Clergy will experience a significant overhaul when the reform does come. Also, the secretary of the Congregation, Archbishop Joel Mercier, turned 75 in January. In March, Bishop Fernando Vergez Alzaga, general secretary of the Vatican City State administration, turned 75. Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, turned 75 in April. Quite surprisingly, Pope Francis confirmed him donec aliter provideatur (until it is differently decided).  The other prefects who surpassed the retirement age are Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who turned 75 last June; Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, also 75 since June 2019; Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, who is 76; and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for  Eastern Churches, also 76. If Libanori does get the job, it will be the second time the Jesuit Pope selects a confrere for a top-ranking Vatican position, after the appointment – last year – of Fr. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy. 

A layperson as secretary of the Vatican “central bank”?

Jun 12, 2020 / 00:00 am

Fabio Gasperini, a well-known manager who is working for Ernst & Young, might soon be appointed the secretary of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA). Gasperini would be the first layperson in the position. Gasperini leads the Ernst & Young EMEIA Financial Services Office Advisory Banking & Capital Markets and Ernst & Young S.p.A. Italian FSO advisory services. He has 25 years of experience advising financial services institutions across a broad range of areas: from retail banking to asset management, investment banking, insurance, and capital markets. Gasperini also worked within the Vatican City administration when he was coming up, after graduating from Rome’s prestigious La Sapienza university with a degree in  Business, Economics, and Commerce at La Sapienza University in Rome. If the rumors on the appointment will prove right, Gasperini will be a connection between the Holy See and the corporate world and will have the task to carry forward the reform of the APSA, which is going to be framed as a real central bank. Gasperini would replace monsignor Mauro Rivella, whose five-year term as APSA secretary ended in April. Rivella became secretary of the APSA on Apr. 14, 2015. Coming from the archdiocese of Turin and ordained a priest in 1998, Rivella was previously under-secretary of the Italian bishops conference. Rivella joined the APSA in 2013 as the delegate of the ordinary section of the dicastery. The ordinary section administers the goods of the Holy See, including the real estate. The appointment of a new secretary at the APSA is part of a general renewal of the Administration's top ranks. The Pope has also begun reshuffling the membership of the APSA Cardinals commission. Pope Francis has already appointed as a member of the commission Cardinal Daniel Sturla, archbishop of Montevideo. He replaced Cardinal Agostino Vallini, who turned 80 and is no longer eligible to hold positions in the Curia. The Pope should also appoint another member of the Cardinals Commission to replace Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop emeritus of Washington, who will turn 80 in November. The Cardinals commission works alongside the president and is composed of eight members, appointed by the Pope. Other members of the commission are Cardinals Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop emeritus of Bogota; Ricardo Blazquez Perez, archbishop of Valladolid; Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Vatican City State administration; James Michael Harvey, archpriest of the St. Paul Outside the Wall Basilica; and Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the dicastery Laity, Family and Life, and Camerlengo. The current APSA organizational chart was outlined in 2017. Beyond the president and the secretary, the APSA has an undersecretary, an official for the management control, 13 offices, and services. APSA has 95 employees and about ten collaborators. The APSA manages the real estate holdings of the Holy See and Vatican City, signs  contracts with Vatican employees, and signs the contracts for procurements and maintenance of Vatican buildings. The APSA is also the holder of Vatican accounts opened in national banks. The donations and legacies to the Holy See or the Holy Father become part of the APSA patrimony, under APSA management. The APSA is the institutional/governmental investor for the Vatican City State and exclusively works for the Holy See bodies or Vatican City State. Until 2015, the APSA also headed the board of the Vatican pension fund. That ended with a reform enacted May 29, 2015 – one of several recent changes. In October 2016, the APSA underwent another small reform, in which the consultors of the Administration became part of a “supervisory board”. Until 2016, the APSA had 23 people, held by 15 members of the clergy and eight laypeople. All the accounts have now been shut down, and the APSA has no longer bank-like accounts. In 2020, the Data Processing Center of the ordinary section of the APSA was transferred to the Secretariat for the Economy, thus giving the secretariat a more critical role in overseeing the financial activities. Gasperini’s expertise also touches on business intelligence, business risk assessment, mergers and acquisition, strategic business plans, and profitably analysis. One of his main tasks will be the reorganization of the galaxy of companies and societies used by the Holy See to invest money. A first clue of the harmonization was the Vatican decision, earlier this year, to shut down nine Swiss holdings and to merge all of their patrimony - much of it going back to the 1929 Lateran Treaty  compensation for loss of territory - into one holding, the Profima SA. Gasperini's appointment would also break a traditional axis between the Italian Bishops Conference and the APSA: Rivella came from the Italian Bishops Conference, bishop Nunzio Galantino, president of the APSA, was formerly general secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference, and mons. Giuseppe Russo, the undersecretary, was previously Italian Bishops Conference responsible for the building of places of worship.  

The policeman who might be a saint

Jun 9, 2020 / 13:05 pm

With police brutality in focus around the world, one priest says it is important to remember a policeman who might one day be declared a saint: Vice-Sergeant Salvo D'Acquisto, an Italian policeman who gave his life for those he had sworn to protect.

Two cases show that religious freedom is dwindling in Europe

Jun 1, 2020 / 00:00 am

Conscientious objection and freedom of expression are under threat in Europe, as shown by two legal cases that made news last March.  On March 12, the European Court for Human Rights declared “inadmissible” the application by two Swedish midwives who had refused to commit abortions. At the end of March, news broke that a member of the Finnish Parliament and former minister for the Internal Affairs, Päivi Räsänen, is facing four police investigations because she sent a tweet questioning the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland’s sponsorship of the LGBT event "Pride 2019".  Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers represented both Grimmark and Steen. Conscientious objection at risk Ellinor Grimmark and Linda Steen are two Swedish midwives. Since they refused to perform abortions, they were denied employment in Sweden.  In particular, Ellinor Grimmark asked for summer employment at the hospitals of Högland e di Ryhov in 2013. Even though both of the facilities were lacking midwives, Grimmark was denied employment since she had previously declared that she was not going to perform abortions because of her conscience and religious convictions.  After she was denied unemployment, she appealed to the Swedish authority on discriminations, Diskrimineringsombudsmannen. Her appeal was rejected based on the fact that in Sweden, the performing of abortions is part of the midwives' tasks, so there would be no discrimination in denying a job if a midwife refuses to perform them.  Linda Steen's case was similar: in 2015, she informed her employer of the women's clinic in Nyköping that she would be unable to assist in committing abortions and failed to be employed anymore.  Both of them applied to the European Court for Human Rights.  A 3-judge commission declared  the applications "inadmissible" on the basis of Article 9 of the European Convention for the Safeguarding of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.  “The Court notes that the applicant's refusal to assist in abortions due to her religious faith and conscience constitutes such a manifestation of her religion,” the decisions read, “which is protected under Article 9 of the Convention. There was thus interference with her freedom of religion under Article 9 § 1 of the Convention.”  The sentence continued that the interference was “prescribed by law since, under the Swedish law, an employee is under a duty to perform all work duties given to him or her.”  The decision went on to say, “Sweden provides nationwide abortion services and therefore has a positive obligation to organize its health system in a way as to ensure that the effective exercise of freedom of conscience of health professionals in the professional context does not prevent the provision of such services.” In the end, the court decision might lead to the notion that performing an abortion is part of the job description of a midwife. This ruling jeopardizes the right to work of all the European midwives who refuse to perform abortions because of their conscience.  There is a possibility that the decision might be overturned in the future by decisions made by the Court in a higher chamber, composed of 7 or 17 justices.  Robert Clarke, deputy director of ADF International, said right after the decision to be “very disappointed” because “a positive judgment from the Court would have been an important step in the protection of the right to freedom of conscience. Medical professionals should be able to work without being forced to choose between their deeply held convictions and careers.”  “International law clearly protects the right to freedom of conscience. Nobody should be forced to decide between their profession and their conscience. Rather than forcing midwives and other medical professionals out of their profession, Sweden should look to safeguard their moral convictions,” said Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International. Freedom of expression Päivi Räsänen, a member of the Finnish Parliament, faces four police investigations because of her position on homosexual relations.  The first investigation started because of a tweet she posted in June 2019. In the tweet, Räsänen questioned the official sponsorship from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland to the LGBT event, Pride 2019. Räsänen attached to the tweet the image of the Bible passage Romans 1:24-27.  The passage reads: “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.” After the tweet, Räsänen was subjected to a police interview in November 2019.  The second investigation is about a pamphlet on human sexuality for a Christian foundation. The pamphlet was published over 16 years ago. The police had already decided to drop the investigation into Räsänen's pamphlet and concluded that there were no grounds to proceed with a prosecution. However, the Prosecutor General reopened the criminal investigation after the publication of the tweet, and on March 2, 2020, Räsänen attended a police interview.  During the interview, she said that she “never thought I would face a criminal investigation for sharing my deeply held beliefs. It came as a total surprise. As a Christian and a democratically elected Member of Parliament, I have often heard things with which I disagree – sometimes very strongly. At times, I have felt insulted. I believe the best response to this is more debate, not censorship.” Räsänen has served as a Finnish Member of Parliament since 1995, was chair of the Christian Democrats from 2004-2015. She was Minister of the Interior from 2011 – 2015, a position that includes the responsibility for Church affairs in Finland. Two additional investigations on Räsänen were later opened about interviews she granted to a tv program and a radio station. The tv program was broadcast in 2018. Räsänen discussed with the presenter also her personal beliefs.  The radio interview took place in 2019. The show was about "What would Jesus think about homosexuals?" and Räsänen intervened, sharing her opinions.  ADF International, a faith-based legal advocacy organization for the defense of fundamental freedoms, is supporting Räsänen in the case. According to Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International, “These sorts of cases create a culture of fear and censorship and are becoming all too common throughout Europe.” “In a free society,” Coleman said, “everyone should be allowed to share their beliefs without fear of censorship. This is the foundation of every free and democratic society. Criminalizing speech through so-called ‘hate-speech’ laws shuts down important public debates and poses a grave threat to our democracies.”  The silent threat to religious freedom in Europe began a long time ago The silent threat against religious freedom in Europe is not news. Already in 2014, a report of Aid to the Church in Need noted that the state of religious liberty was “worrying” and “worsening” in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.  Published every two years, the report is a snapshot of the state of religious freedom in 196 countries. The 2014 report collected data on the state of religious freedom in the world from Oct. 2012 to June 2014. The 2019 Report of the Observatory for the Intolerance against Christians listed a series of 325 incidents and hate crimes against Christians in Europe throughout 2018.  Beyond the increasing acts of vandalism against churches, especially in France, the report listed 240 hate incidents from 14 European countries. The incidents were included in the OSCE's 2018 Hate Crimes Report, released on November 15, 2019.  Ellen Fantini, the Observatory’s executive director, noted that “hate crimes constitute just a fraction of the undocumented pressures Christians face.” She added: “We have seen Christian-run businesses financially ruined, street preachers arrested, Christians forced to choose between their moral values and their professions, Christian student groups and speakers silenced on campuses, asylum claims of Christian refugees arbitrarily denied, and parental rights trampled on by overreaching governmental interference. Fundamental rights are rendered meaningless if they cannot be freely exercised by all Europeans.”

Vatican Finances, what is going on? The Vatican City State Administration

May 21, 2020 / 00:00 am

Plans for a “Vatican Asset Management” outfit were laid out almost as soon as Pope Francis created the new Secretariat for the Economy.  The VAM was supposed to be a centralized office that managed all Vatican investments. The proposed management outfit would have responded to two needs: that of generating revenues to support the expenses of the Holy See / Vatican City State; and, that of keeping investments under better control (because each dicastery had some funds that it managed independently). The proposal met with a decidedly mixed reaction in the Vatican, as well as – it is fair to say – a good bit of pushback. The President of the Council of Superintendence of the Institute for Religious Works, Jean Baptiste de Franssu, claimed in 2015 that the project would not touch the IOR, for example, but only the Vatican dicasteries. In any case, the proposal was put aside. De Franssu’s cool early reaction also makes it even more interesting to note that the Institute for Religious Works has recently expressed support for the idea that there is need to centralize investments. Centralization of investments was at the center of the institutional crisis that arose with the IOR’s complaint regarding the Secretariat of State’s purchase of a luxury property in London. The IOR did not want to give the Secretariat of State a loan to support the acquisition, and complained about the operations. However, observers have also noted in the Institute’s resistance the desire directly to manage the money involved. Current cirscumstances The ongoing debate tells a lot about the Vatican balances and current positions. The idea is still being explored. It was also discussed in the last meeting of Pope Francis with the heads of Vatican ministers on May 4, 2020. During that meeting, Vatican officials saw three economic outlooks for the Vatican. More than a “best, middle, worst” trio, the three outlooks were better characterized as “devastating, catastrophic, apocalyptic”. The Holy See’s balance sheet is in the red, and the financial situation worsened with the coronavirus crisis. According to the first scenario, income would drop by 30 to 50 percent, while the debt would go up by 28 percent. The second scenario foresees a reduction in revenues between 50 and 60 percent. This should lead to a corrective intervention on wages, with an 83% increase in the deficit. The third scenario foresees a reduction in revenues between 50 and 80 percent and an increase in the deficit by 175 percent. The Secretariat for the Economy tends to believe that the first scenario will occur. In this case, the Institute for Religious Works and the Governorate would decrease the contribution to the Holy See. The scenario 1 limits the deficit to 30-40 percent. In 2019, the Holy See had introits of roughly €270 million, and spent €320 million. Forty-four percent of expenses concerned  approximately 3 thousand employees. Other items of expenditure were the maintenance of nunciatures, the management of real estate assets, and property taxes. The Holy See delivers €24 million a year in charitable works. The figure does not include the charity works financed by Peter's Pence and by other charitable foundations under Vatican control. Deficit, by the way, is nothing new for the Holy See. In 1979, the first year of John Paul II's pontificate, it closed with a shortage of 19 billion lire – the then Italian currency. In 1980, the deficit was 31 billion lire, some 27,5 billion euros today. Between 2001 and 2015, the consolidated financial statements of the Holy See closed ten times in the red and only six times in the black. Short version: structural changes need to happen, and yesterday is already too late. The APSA proposal The study also suggests strengthening the financial position of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See. Salaries are paid through the APSA. How to strengthen the APSA financial position? The study by the Secretariat for the Economy suggests moving the investments currently controlled by curial departments into the APSA, transferring whatever dicastery-held liquidity is in foreign financial institutions to the APSA, and also moving dicastery-held liquid assets now deposited with the IOR into the APSA. According to the study, it would be positive to arrive at the creation of a “single specialized service center on which the financial resources of the Bodies converge” to “improve the proceeds from the financial management to be made available to the Holy See.” This is, in short, the revival of Vatican Asset Management. Cardinal Pell’s proposal never took root entirely precisely because it was going to take away managerial autonomy from the various dicasteries. Now, however, the circumstances are dire enough to warrant a second look. Transparency and Opacity The issue of purchasing the London apartment also brought to light situations that Cardinal Pietro Parolin called “opaque”. The Financial Intelligence Authority had subsequently cleaned up the operation. Still, the presence of Vatican officials on the boards of the companies involved in the purchase transactions, highlighted by the Catholic News Agency, shows that there were at least questionable operations and reformed. That was precisely the meaning of the reforms launched by the Financial Intelligence Authority. Seen from this perspective, Pope Francis’s decision to cut loose both the President of the Authority, René Bruelhart, and the director, Tommaso Di Ruzza, who were the architects of the financial reform that earned the Holy See great international credit, is inexplicable. Cardinal Pell thought he was going to break this system of small interests (someone would say corruption) with a Vatican Asset Management outfit set up and controlled from outside the old power structure, brought out of the Vatican, and by the influence of some circles. The auditing contract signed with Pricewaterhouse Cooper in 2016 also came from that rationale. The agreement was then renegotiated so that the sovereignty of the Holy See would be preserved. The role of the APSA APSA is regarded as a central bank and is the institutional-governmental investor of the Vatican City State. It operates exclusively on behalf and in the interest of the organs of the Holy See or of the State itself. Economic reform has taken many steps back and forth. The reform began in 2014 with the motu proprio Fidelis Dispensator et Prudens, which led to the formation of the Secretariat for the Economy, the Council for the Economy, and the Vatican Auditor General. The new Vatican pension fund statutes of May 29, 2015, stipulated that the president of the Fund’s administration would no longer be the president of APSA, but would instead be appointed. In October 2016, even the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See underwent a small reform that had changed the functions of its consultors, which had become part of a “supervisory board”. This reform brought to a tilt in the Vatican system. The reform seemed to treat APSA like a bank, although it was not. Until 2016, the APSA had accounts of only 23 people (15 members of the clergy and eight laypeople). For this reason, it also came under the jurisdiction of the Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority for a period. The closure of the accounts ended in 2016. Therefore the APSA no longer came under the jurisdiction of the AIF, as highlighted in the third progress report of the Committee of the Europe Council MONEYVAL. Now, it will be a question of whether the centralized investment fund being discussed will be a sovereign wealth fund linked to the "central bank" or whether it will be treated as an external fund, as was the initial proposal. Until now, the work done by Archbishop Pena Parra, deputy of the Vatican Secretariat of State, has been to break the old circles of power while maintaining the sovereignty of the Holy See. A clear example was Monsignor Rolandas Makrickas at the helm of the administration of the Secretariat of State. Monsignor Makrickas is the first non-Italian to take up that position and is totally outside of any circuit until now had managed the operations. What future? It is all about understanding what the underlying philosophy of the reforms will be. The reform of the Curia was also born with the idea of ​​reducing staff, and it is no coincidence that a freeze on hiring has been in place since 2014. The Secretariat for the Economy also spoke of flexibility in the remuneration system and of providing more significant opportunities for employees. However, it would be a matter of changing an entire mentality, which is the most complex work. The success of the financial reform of Pope Francis will be played on these issues. Set aside the problematic reform of the administrative ranks, the new investment funds remain the only option. So will there be only one investment fund? By whom or what will it be managed? With what criteria? These are some of the burning questions,. 3- end This is the third of a series of three pieces on Vatican finances. The first piece can be found here. The second piece can be found here.

Vatican Finances, what is going on? Sloane Avenue and more

May 20, 2020 / 00:00 am

The Holy See is reportedly seeking to renegotiate the £120 million loan it used to complete the purchase of property at 60 Sloane Avenue in London. The news appeared in the Corriere della Sera on May 3, 2020, in the economic reports, and sheds new light on the story of the real estate purchased by the Vatican Secretariat of State. That purchase is, in fact, at the center of an intricate Vatican judicial affair, which led to searches in the Secretariat of State and the Vatican Financial Information Authority and the suspension of five Vatican officials, plus another suspended during the investigation. The news is food for thought, and raises some new questions. If the Holy See is trying to renegotiate the mortgage, then the investment was a good investment. If it was a good investment, then the efforts made to preserve it, leaving all the opaque areas (copyright Cardinal Pietro Parolin), were made to protect the Holy See, rather than to put it in a complicated situation. If this reconstruction is accurate, then why the suspensions, which then led to a total change in the leadership of Vatican finance, among other things on the eve of one of the evaluations of the Council of Europe’s MONEYVAL committee? There is still no real clarity on the real estate deal carried out in London by the Secretariat of State now under scrutiny. Why, then, was the director of the Financial Intelligence Authority, Tommaso Di Ruzza, suspended if there was no clarity on charges? And why were both the former AIF chief René Bruelhart and Di Ruzza not confirmed at the end of their mandates, a decision that also led to the resignation of two members of the FIA’s board of directors? The outbreak of the crisis The financial scandal has laid bare an institutional crisis inside the Vatican, which also affects the Secretariat of State. The Secretariat of State has funds abroad and its emergency financial reserve. These are funds belonging to the dicastery, which Cardinal George Pell, then prefect of the Secretariat for Economy, quantified in 2015 at about €1 billion 400 million. Between 2011 and 2012, the First Section of the Secretariat of State of which Monsignor Alberto Perlasca was administrative head starting in 2009, decided to invest in a luxury real estate development in London (the aforementioned property at 60 Sloane Avenue). The 60 SA company managed the property. The Vatican Secretariat of State signed its purchase for $160 million with the Luxembourg-based Athena fund, owned and managed by Italian financier Raffaele Mincione, who acted as an intermediary. When the Athena fund was liquidated, the investment was not returned to the Holy See. The Holy See risked losing all the money if it did not buy the building. Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, deputy of the Secretariat of State since August 2019, saw little clarity in the operation and reported it to the AIF, which  consulted five foreign FIUs and blocked the purchase, communicating the decision to both the English FIU and the Secretariat of State. The problem was this: the purchase of the property is included in a series of corporate schemes and screens that did not make the Vatican appear among the buyers, while the role of the mediator was enhanced.  It was a way, in short, for Mincione to raise the price tag on the deal. The Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority blocked the deal based on the regulation it issued, providing full transparency to those who move money. However, the contract obliged the Secretariat of State to purchase. The AIF restructured the investment, excluding intermediaries and thus making the Holy See save some money. The Secretariat of State, at that point, asked the IOR for resources sufficient to close the old mortgage and allow  the opening of a new one, to conclude the purchase. The IOR said “No,” involved the office of the auditor general led by Alessandro Cassinis Righini on an interim basis, and reported the operation to the Vatican Promoter of Justice, citing the lack of clarity regarding the way the Secretariat of State’s money was being used. The complaint was forwarded on July 2, 2019, by the IOR’s general director, Gianfranco Mammì. Mammì had also directly warned the Pope, with whom he has a personal relationship. On August 8, 2019, the office of the auditor general sent a document to the Vatican prosecutors. The document also noticed that almost 80 percent of the reserves of the Secretariat of State are deposited with Credit Suisse, rather than at the IOR. According to the general auditor, the failure to use the IOR created a conflict of interest. The reason is that the investments employ donations received by the Pope for the sustenance of the Curia. These donations would be used in funds that, in turn, invest in securities that the client is not made aware of, as well as in funds allocated in off-shore countries such as Guernsey and Jersey, where they are exposed to high speculative risk and dubious ethics. The promoter of Justice receivesd the green light directly from the Pope, not passing through the Vatican court. With the collaboration of the Gendarmerie, it launched an operation that led to the ”raids” in the Secretariat of State and Financial Intelligence Authority, and to the suspension of five officials, including Monsignor Mauro Carlino, the former personal secretary of Cardinal Angelo Becciu (substitute of the Secretariat of State from 2011 to 2018) and at the time of arrest at the head of the Information and Documentation Office of the Secretariat of State. The suspension left the suspicion that the investigation did not evaluate all the previous steps and deliberately put aside the AIF’s work in the issue. It also left questions open regarding who might have stood to gain from the real estate sale. The latest developments The news of the search for a new mortgage went hand-in-hand with news that the  London and Kensington municipal councils had granted a new building permit for the estate on Sloan Avenue, which will no longer be destined for luxury apartments, but offices. The building will have two further floors. This allows the Holy See to restructure and renegotiate the conditions for the £120 million mortgage with Cheney Capital. The mortgage had expired on April 30, 2020. It had 5 percent interest plus Libor, an interbank rate. According to the Corriere della Sera, the Holy See aimed to extend the debt to 5-10 years, with interest rates around 2 - 2.5 percent. Alternatively, the Vatican could replace the mortgage with a one from another bank. All so as not to lose the investment, which between 2013 and 2018 took a sum of about €300 million from the Secretariat of State. The people under investigation Five people are under investigation: two managers of the Secretariat of State, Vincenzo Mauriello and Fabrizio Tirabassi; an administration officer, Caterina Sansone; and two senior Vatican leaders: Monsignor Maurizio Carlino, head of the Information and Documentation Office, and the director of the AIF (the Financial Intelligence Authority) Tommaso Di Ruzza. To these was added Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, who for ten years had been head of the Administrative Office of the Secretariat of State and who had then been transferred to the Apostolic Signatura. On April 30, 2020, the Holy See Press Office said that “individual measures” were taken “for some employees of the Holy See, at the expiry of those adopted at the beginning of the investigation into financial investments and in the real estate sector of the Secretariat of State.” Practically speaking, they were sacked. Msgr. Carlino returned to the diocese of Lecce, Sansone has been moved to another office with fewer responsibilities, Mauriello and Tirabassi were suspended again until July Di Ruzza was not renewed in his mandate as director of the AIF, which expired in January, after earning praise for the Vatican’s financial structures from international monitoring agencies. None of the people investigated have yet been charged.  The investigation is still in the preliminary phase. Rumors say  Tirabassi has yet to be questioned. The institutional crisis and the players at stake All these details show that we are not talking about a mere financial scandal, but rather a particularly severe institutional crisis. It seems to be an attack on the institution from within the institution. On the one hand, there is the IOR. The Institute for Religious Works recently reformed its statute and has focused heavily on ethical finance. The financial investments of the IOR have always met certain specific criteria, and since the mid-1990s, the Institute has subjected the financial statements to an external review. The IOR balance sheet is not terribly healthy. They range from the profit of €86.6 million declared for 2012 – which quadrupled the earnings of the previous year – to €66.9 million in the 2013 report, to €69.3 million in the 2014 report, to €16.1 million in the 2015 report , to €33 million in the 2016 report and €31.9 million in the 2017 report, to reach €17.5 million this year. This is the fault of market trends, and also of the expensive external consultants who have been brought in to help craft  Institute’s policies. For some time, draws were made on reserves, which gradually dwindled. The IOR could undoubtedly benefit from the obligation to allocate institutional investments to the Institute, which is what is being contested by the Secretariat of State. It should be noted, however, that the latest IOR report certifies that the liquidity deposited by asset management has decreased by €47.3 million. This drop in liquidity, which corresponds to a decline in customers, “is attributable to the withdrawals by some customers for their institutional activities,” explained the general director Gianfranco Mammì. Does this mean that the IOR is no longer considered attractive for institutional activities even by religious congregations? On the other hand, in recent years, the IOR has carried out a series of complaints and trials against former managers, establishing a subcommittee for past offenses closed in 2017 and working to build a narrative based on the idea that the IOR is cleaned up and rejuvenated. There are ongoing or appeal proceedings, which in some cases raise doubts about the very possibility of the people under investigation to carry out operations without the consent of the Institute's top management. One of these proceedings concerns a real estate sale in Hungary through a company based in Malta: the lawyers of the same company have raised the suspicion that the IOR is pursuing the procedure precisely to discredit the work done in the past. Again, justice will take its course. The Financial Intelligence Authority On the other hand, it was thanks to the AIF that Angelo Proietti was sentenced guilty for money laundering and that light was shed on banker Giampietro Nattino, who made himself the screen of the IOR and the APSA. These are cases of which the Institute'’s publicity never speaks. The Financial Intelligence Authority has played a crucial role in developing the international credibility of the Holy See. From joining the Egmont Group, which brings together over 140 intelligence authorities from around the world, to building and strengthening the Vatican’s anti-money laundering system, the Financial Intelligence Authority has been recognized as a reliable partner in both its intelligence and supervisory functions. The latest annual report of the Authority listed 56 memoranda of understanding signed with its counterparts in the field of information and eight memoranda of understanding in its supervisory function. Among these, the Italian Financial Information Unit and the Bank of Italy testify to a well-crafted and well-performing bilateral relationship. Information exchange with Financial Intelligence Units worldwide has also made AIF a privileged interlocutor. The latest report shows that the AIF has exchanged information with foreign FIUs 473 times, while 158 spontaneous communications have been transmitted to foreign Financial Information Units, and 15 have been received. The financial information and money laundering prevention system set up by the AIF, with the series of regulations issued, had given the Holy See the technical requirements for entering the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). This workload is based on relationships of trust characterized by the necessary confidentiality of intelligence, as well as on a well-built and properly functional legal system. The Vatican Tribunal In its latest 2017 progress report, the Council of Europe’s MONEYVAL committee praised both the anti-money laundering system and the establishment of financial crime section in the court, but also said the court needs to conduct more prosecutions. The next Moneyval report will look at how well paper reforms are really being implemented, especially insofar as the tribunal is concernedThe Vatican court has always contested this accusation of ineffectiveness, as well as the idea that the court is the weak link in the system. The day after the news of the searches, the appointment of Giuseppe Pignatone as president of the Vatican Tribunal was announced. Known for his anti-mafia investigations, Pignatone thus goes from being a prosecutor to being a judge. He is retired from the Italian judiciary system, which means he will be able to work full time for the Vatican Tribunal. However, he came into the Vatican with the knowledge of the Italian code, not of the Vatican code. The Vatican took over the Italian 19th-century Zanardelli code, a liberal code adapted to modern times with a reform of Pope Francis in July 2013. It is different from the Rocco code in force in Italy, which was drawn up under fascism and rejected by the Holy See. Before Giuseppe Dalla Torre presided the Vatican tribunal, Dalla Torre is a profound connoisseur of the Vatican particularities in criminal and canon law. Now, the appointment of Pignatone also suggests a loss of the Vatican “exception”, and a State that conforms to Italy goes against the international accreditation work that has been done so far, first with Benedict XVI and then with Pope Francis. What scenarios in the Secretariat of State? Are we going back to the times when the Vatican modeled itself on the Italian State? Maybe it’s too early to draw conclusions. It should be noted that everything began to come to light when Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra began working and reshuffling the ranks of the Vatican Secretariat of State. An Italian had always led the administration of the Secretariat of State. Monsignor Alberto Perlasca led the office for ten years. In 2019, he was appointed Deputy Promoter of Justice at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. The new head of the administration is Monsignor Rolandas Makrickas, a Lithuanian, who recently arrived at the Secretariat of State after serving at the nunciature in  Washington. It is the first time that a non-Italian had led the administration of the Secretariat of State, which already had frictions with the Secretariat for Economy when it seemed the new economy outfit wanted to take control of all the Vatican finances. The risk of returning to old balances seems strong in this moment, the very one in which the Secretariat of State has regained a central role; the Secretariat for the Economy has seen a well-defined separation between supervision and administration with the motu proprio "Temporal goods" of 2016, and the Auditor’s office has been better inserted among the bodies of Curia. The desire for a reversal has been there ever since Benedict XVI initiated the reform process with the Monetary Convention with the European Union of 2009. The IOR’s complaint has exposed an institutional wound that will be difficult to explain internationally. All the credibility and financial strength that the Holy See has acquired in these ten years could be at risk. 2 – continue This is the second of a series of three pieces dedicated to the Vatican finances. The first piece of the series can be found here.

Vatican finances, what is going on? The Malta case

May 19, 2020 / 00:00 am

Attorneys for a Maltese business venture involved in a legal dispute say the so-called Vatican bank’s new management care more about sullying the good names of the old management, than they do about doing good business. That is a serious accusation. The lawyers representing Futura, an investment company with which the Institute for Religious Works had started a deal shortly before the sensational renunciation of Benedict XVI, say the IOR has no interest in maintaining its reputation or defending its investments. Instead, they say the current IOR management are out to cast the previous management in a bad light. The accusation comes directly from Futura’s lawyers. After Pope Francis’ election, everything has changed in the IOR. The Malta trial is only one episode, albeit a revealing one – and this is also the thesis of Futura's lawyers – especially when it comes to the disputes being played out within the Vatican financial institutions. The latest meeting of the heads of dicasteries saw the Vatican big wigs take up – again - the idea of a central fund: a topic already widely discussed in the past. How this fund will be structured – if it will be structured at all – remains to be seen. . Times are bad for Vatican finances, indeed, and as the general worldwide economic outlook continues to be grim, the Vatican’s straits will only become more dire. The Malta case On April 4, Maltese media reported that the Maltese Civil Court had ordered the seizure of €29.5 million from the Institute for Religious Works. It was the latest development in a saga that began in 2013, when the IOR took on an investment obligation with which it then failed to comply, and sued the companies in Malta with which the IOR had entered into the deal. The seizure of the IOR money was the result of a counter-complaint made by the companies involved, which accused the IOR of blocking a sale of shares. Practically speaking, they accused the IOR of interfering in the repayment of a debt. . The way the story has unfolded shows how the Institute for Religious Works has managed investments from 2013 to the present. The investment over which the dispute in Malta arose, was one of the last ordered during Benedict XVI’s pontificate. Subsequently, the top management of the Vatican financial institution changed. The new management adopted a new investment policy. Many of the previous financial transactions have been canceled, sometimes at the expense of substantial penalties, other times incurring unpleasant situations such as that of Malta. The IOR transferred funds and said it did to resort to ethical investments. The general impression is, instead, the IOR wanted to cut the past. Was the IOR’s past so dark, by the way? The complaint against the IOR came from two companies based in Malta: Futura Investment Management Ltd., which manages the Futura collective investment scheme. They are both affiliated with the Optimum fund. Cougar, another of the actors, is a Luxembourg company that has a majority in the Hungarian company "Tozsdepalota Ingatlanforgalmazo es Fejleszto Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag" – TIFKFT. In April 2012, the IOR asked Optimum to "host" the IOR’s Ad Maiora fund. Ad Maiora was a fund of funds, which the IOR used to manage and coordinate a series of investments made with the authorization of the Board of Superintendence. The IOR allegedly failed to invest in the deal, and the €29.5 million seized by Maltese authorities appears to be the amount of the loss. According to the Institute, the committee that led to the investment was deceived by Alberto Matta and Girolamo Stabile, directors of Futura Investment Management, and by Optimum. In 2013, the IOR had decided to invest €41The operation foresaw that the Futura K fund would buy a non-performing loan from the owner of the building of the former Hungarian stock exchange. For those unfamiliar with financial jargon, a non-performing loan is a loan to a debtor with a high insolvency solution. For this reason, the collection of credit is uncertain. That loan was then converted back to 86 percent of shares in the Hungarian company that was renovating the estate. The IOR initially participated with €17 million and an undertaking to contribute to the renovation of the building (valued by a qualified appraisal at the end of 2012 for 40 million) and therefore participated in the profits. In May 2013, the IOR Board of Superintendence decided to close Ad Maiora and manage directly the funds it comprised. In October 2013, the new IOR general director Rolando Marranci decided that the IOR would pay off the K fund with 24 million (17 initials + 24 remaining for a total of 41) would then have managed the operation himself. But the K Fund never received the promised money and asked the IOR to fulfill its undertakings. At that point, the IOR sued the K fund, asking to get back the €17 million. According to the IOR, Futura had made a profit of €11.6 million by first tricking the Vatican into the price and then planning to sell 90 percent of the future shares it held in the company that was renovating the the stock exchange to the Cougar Real Estate in Luxembourg. This was, in turn, owned by a Dubai company. The Vatican’s accusation is that Cougar was used to acquire the €20.4 million loan, bringing the remaining €11.6 million into the coffers of Holdabco and Alpininvestissements, two other minority shareholders. “It is clear,” the IOR’s attorney said, “that the IOR has been abusively caught in a threatening network of suspicious intrigues and transactions.” On November 23, 2019, the IOR learned that Indotek Group Hungary was about to acquire Cougar. The IOR complained that neither Cougar nor Futura provided the IOR with any notification of the transaction, which would have led to the sale of the investment. For its part, Futura sued the IOR, accusing the Vatican outfit of having committed to investing €41 million, but only putting in  €17 million. The IOR would, therefore, be bound to invest the remaining €24 million, as documented in Futura’s commitment letter signed by Director Marranci. The position of the lawyers of Futura and Optimum was detailed in a reply the sent to the Times of Malta on December 14, 2019, following an article about the case. The lawyers say, “Despite IOR’s allegations about a lack of transparency, the details of the transaction were indicated by our clients to IOR before the execution of the investment.”  Futura claims that the IOR and its investment committee had been offered the opportunity to invest €20.4 million directly in a non-performing loan or to wait for the sell out of the building to run its course to recover the full amount of the loan eventually. “This was a risky and reputationally problematic instrument,” the IOR, the lawyers continued, so they decided not to invest in the non-performing loan. “since it deemed that  Instead, the IOR preferred to acquire the asset once it was cleared of risk, that is, when bankruptcy had been deactivated, and then to invest in a cleaned-up asset. This choice, the lawyers argue, required third parties, and, naturally, the price of the asset without debt is much higher than the non-performing loan. According to the Maltese lawyers, “[T]he truth is that IOR defaulted on its undisputable contractual obligations and has been trying in every possible way to find legal ground in order to avoid the inevitable and severe consequences of this.” The lawyers also pointed the finger at the new IOR’s management. They underscored that, after the unexpected renunciation of Benedict XVI, the Institute had experienced a series of changes, with the change of two presidents of the Board of Superintendence from 2013 to today, two general directors and most senior officials, as well as many members of the Cardinals' commission. “New management launched a scathing critique of the previous management of the Institute and, particularly, the former DG Paolo Cipriani and his deputy Massimo Tulli, against whom the IOR has brought legal proceedings before the Vatican Tribunal and in Italy,” the Futura and Optimum lawyers wrote. It is worth mentioning that a Vatican court has sentenced Cipriani and Tulli for mismanagement, and the appeal process is ongoing. The first instance sentence is, however, food for thought. The financial operations of the Institute of Religious Works had also been praised in the first report of MONEYVAL, released in 2012. The same report said that the review of customers had already been started. Cipriani and Tulli resigned in July 2013, to allow the Institute to better defend itself in a process involving an APSA Vatican official. After their resignation, the IOR hired the Promontory Financial Group’s highly expensive external consultants, who completed a review already underway and well advanced. There is more. The last balance sheet signed by the old IOR management, referring to 2012, bore assets of 86.6 million euros, a figure that has not been reached anymore. Many investments have been abandoned. Still, the IOR’s investment procedures required each transaction to be examined by the Investment Committee, where the chairman of the Board of Superintendence sometimes sat. So if the operations were all in surplus, how can the two IOR executives be accused of bad management? And if the higher authorities scrutinized every activity, how could responsibility for any mismanagement fall solely on the two former executives? The statements of Futura’s lawyers thus risk shedding light on the fact that the IOR was unable to maintain the investments of the previous management and that divesting them caused significant damage to several different interests, including the IOR’s own. Everything will have to be demonstrated with the process, but this is indeed the impression one gets from it. Futura’s lawyers went even heavier. “The Institute’s real goal,” they wrote, “is not to protect its investment. On the contrary, our client contends that, through its actions, not least its refusal to honour a €24 million residual capital commitment pivotal in the development of this major real estate project, IOR is consciously putting the Hungarian investment at risk, to strengthen its allegations of mismanagement against Cipriani and Tulli.” They concluded: “It is, to say the least, unfortunate, that our clients have ended up in the crossfire between various factions within IOR, with the Institute blithely unconcerned about the reputation of our clients, the success of its investment and the rights of other third-party investors in the same project, which have nothing to do with the ongoing dispute! [sic]”  These disputes play into and out of  two other cases, which we will also scrutinize in this series of three pieces on Vatican finances. One of the other cases  is the purchase by the Vatican Secretariat of State of a prestigious property on Sloane Avenue in London. This purchase is at the center of a dispute that led to the suspension of five Vatican officials: four of them formerly in Secretariat of State, and one of them at the Financial Intelligence Authority. All of them were removed from their positions  without any formal charges ever being brought against any of them, and indeed before the investigations were even finished. This is a dispute that goes beyond the Institute for Works of Religion and is not only a financial scandal but also an institutional problem. The third case is the discussions around the Vatican investments, which are closely connected with the Malta and Sloane Avenue issues. The Malta, Sloane Avenue, and general administrative matters all point to a single, central issue, which has become even more pressing today in times of economic crisis due to the coronavirus: how does the Vatican support itself? 1 – continue (first of a series of 3 pieces on the Vatican financial situation)

Belgian Brothers of Charity fight for their name after CDF decision

May 8, 2020 / 13:00 pm

After the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the hospitals of the Brothers of Charity in Belgium can no longer be considered as Catholic, the religious order is seeking to prevent the hospital network from using its name.

Is Pope Francis setting up the next Conclave?

May 6, 2020 / 00:00 am

At the end of the last week, Pope Francis elevated cardinals Luis Antonio Tagle and Beniamino Stella to the Order of Cardinal Bishops – the highest rank of dignity within the College of Cardinals – putting them on par with the Cardinals eligible for the office of Dean of the College. He also appointed the archbishop Ilson Montanari as vice Camerlengo. These decisions could have an impact on the next conclave. Pope Francis, however, is not likely to set up the election of his successor according to traditional criteria. Cardinal Tagle is widely considered to be among the  papabili. Many observers saw Pope Francis’ decision to tap him for the top spot at the the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples as a sort of investiture. Pope Francis now decided to “co-opt” Cardinal Tagle – a technical term - into the order of Cardinal-bishops. With some exceptions, Cardinals are all archbishops, and  are divided into three Orders, lowest to highest: Cardinal Deacons, CardinalPriests, and Cardinal Bishops. These three orders mirror the duties that Cardinal had in the ancient Church. Cardinal Bishops were the leaders of Rome’s suburbicarian dioceses (the jurisdictions immediately surrounding Rome): Ostia – which has gone to the Dean of the College of Cardinals for nearly a thousand years; Palestrina; Albano; Velletri-Segni; Porto-Santa Rufina; Tusculum (Frascati); Sabina-Poggio Mirteto). The Dean of the College of Cardinals is elected from among the Cardinal Bishops. The suburbicarian dioceses are seven and Cardinals-bishops are six, since the Dean joins his title to that of Ostia. The Dean of the College of Cardinals is essential. When the See of Rome is vacant, the Dean of the College leads the pre-conclave meetings and then the Conclave itself. If the Dean is older than 80 and therefore excluded from participation, the vice Dean will lead the Conclave. If the vice Dean is older than 80, the senior Cardinal Bishop will lead the Conclave. This happened in 2013 conclave: both the Dean – Cardinal Angelo Sodano – and the vice Dean – Cardinal Roger Etchegaray – were beyond 80 and unable to participate. The expansion of the order of Cardinal Bishops was already under discussion. Since Cardinals are living longer, a Conclave without any Cardinal Bishop is not beyond the realm of possibility. There was talk of creating the office of the Cardinal Bishop-emeritus in order to resolve the issue. Since Cardinal Bishops had been, until Paul VI’s reform, the bishops of the suburbicarian diocese, they could be considered emeritus when they turned 75, as the regular bishops. Following this rationale, the Pope could even double the number of Cardinal Bishops in the College of Cardinals without untethering them from their traditional link with the diocese of Rome. Pope Francis opted for a different way. He elevated some Cardinals in rank and put their titular sees on par with those of the Cardinal Bishops. The Pope did so also with Cardinal Tagle. This looked to many observers like further confirmation of Francis’s preference for Cardinal Tagle as his successor. It need not necessarily be taken that way, though. Among the new Cardinals co-opted into the ranks of the Cardinal Bishops in June 2018, there was also Cardinal Fernando Filoni, then prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Pope Francis likely thought that the Congregation must be led by a Cardinal Bishop, considering that Propaganda Fide is going to be the first among Curia dicasteries in the new disposition. For this reason, the Pope wanted to add Cardinal Tagle among the Cardinal Bishops – and it is almost entirely a functional rationale, which also gives a glimpse of the lines along which the Curia reform has been thought out. Cardinal Beniamino Stella got the rank of Cardinal-bishop differently: he was assigned the See of Porto-Santa Rufina, which belonged to Cardinal Roger Etchegaray until the Frenchman passed away in September 2019. Cardinal Stella thus traditionally joins the order of Cardinal Bishops. His elevation in rank is also a particular sign of appreciation by Pope Francis. Cardinal Stella is considered one of the most influential of Pope Francis’s advisers. Pope Francis’s pick for the vice Camerlengo is surprising. The Pope appointed Archbishop Ilson Montanari for the post. Archbishop Montanari is the Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops, be he is also the Secretary of the Conclave. So, in case of a conclave, some issues might arise. The Camerlengo chairs the Apostolic Camera – Chamber – and manages the Church’s temporal goods during sede vacante. The Camerlengo is a Cardinal, and so he takes part in the Conclave. During that period, he cannot lead the Apostolic Camera. During the Conclave, the vice Camerlengo takes over the responsibility of the management of the temporal goods. In this particular case, the vice Camerlengo will be in the Conclave, too. So, who will lead the Apostolic Camera during the Conclave? It is not a minor detail, and the fact that it appears to have been overlooked is possibly revealing: Pope Francis, in the end, appoints the people he trusts. Practical-institutional issues can be addressed afterward. Pope Francis, in other words, does not think of the institution per se. He mostly thinks of an institution as tied to its leader and an extension of the leader’s personality. Pope Francis therefore often seems to understand his role as that of the guarantor of the institution thus conceived. He articulated this vision somewhat painstakingly, when he outlined his reform vision in his Christmas addresses to the Roman Curia. He did so when he opened the Vatican judicial year, despite investigations into the Financial Intelligence Authority and Secretariat of State. He also did so again, when he decided to fire all the people involved in the FIA/State investigation, though there were still no judgments or even formal charges against the people he dismissed. Pope Francis has no filters, and he likes to make decisions himself. It is unlikely that the Pope wants to design a successor. He knows that the Church has no dynasties and that he cannot be sure that everything will go according to his plans. The Pope’s most trusted circles are not among cardinals. Those who are, must rely on a more prominent structure and an institution that goes beyond centuries. Pope Francis’s strategy cannot be, in the end, that of designating a successor or burning an enemy. Rather, Francis instead aims at expanding the electoral base. The more cardinals of his line there are, the more likely it is that his legacy will be carried forward. Pope Francis’s legacy, by the way, is political and geopolitical: mostly based on practical issues. Francis’s guiding rationale is that the Pope can be an influential guarantor able to give voice to the poor and the marginalized. The Pope dialogues with governments and seeks to create new political and economic models. This is not a papacy that inspires ideas, nor is it an institution capable of providing frameworks beyond the practical issues. A little hint of this rationale came at the end of Pope Francis’ Urbi et orbi Easter message. The Pope concluded the message saying, off script: “These are some thoughts of mine that I wanted to share.” This sentence somehow de-institutionalized that moment. With Pope Francis, the institution is dismantled to change its profile. Pope Francis often spoke about the need for a conversion of the souls. This is how he pushes for the conversion: to dismantle to rebuild, or at least to leave the reconstruction to people he trusts. From this perspective, the choice to co-opt Cardinal Tagle in the Order of Cardinal Bishops does not mean that the Pope is setting up Tagle as a candidate for his succession, nor that the Pope is burning his eventual candidacy. It merely means that the Pope is shaping the institution his way. There is no history or tradition to be preserved. There is instead a new Church to be created in the Pope’s image. This is how the next Conclave is being set up: It will be a different kind of Conclave, in which none of the traditional keys to understanding papal electoral dynamics will be valid. The issue must be furtherly explored.

Coronavirus, how much money did the Vatican lose?

May 5, 2020 / 00:00 am

As governments around the world work to assess and contain the effect of the coronavirus emergency on the economy and state finances, the Vatican is further tightening its belt. The Vatican City State administration addressed a circular letter on April 8 to all the Vatican entities and departments. Protocolled AS / 06062 / 2020, the letter presented stringent expense-containment measures. However, this letter was not actually delivered. The Vatican City State administration then delivered another letter on Apr. 17, which confirmed the stringent expenses-containment measures. This second letter was Protocolled AS / 06215 / 2020. The Vatican City State Administration asked for “a drastic cut in the expenses for consultancies” and for the “suspension, whenever possible, of fixed-term contracts.” Internally, the administration already has a “freeze on hiring and promotions” in place, and requires that “no overtime work” be justified, “except for unavoidable institutional reasons, which must then be absorbed with the flexibility of work time and shifts.” The Vatican City State also asks its departments to let employees enjoy their remaining vacation days and take days off to recuperate the extra time (in lieu of overtime pay). Finally, the circular asks to cancel all the events already scheduled in 2020, included work-related trips and travel, and to freeze all planned purchases of new office furniture. “The current COVID 19 health emergency is having serious repercussions on a global level, the circular reads, “and in the upcoming times it will have even more repercussions on the Holy See / Vatican City State economic/financial situation.” “The superiors of the Holy See and the Vatican City State administration,” the letter continues, “are well aware that the full restoration of the activities will not take place in a short time, nor for the entities of the Roman Curia and neither for the directions/offices of the administration.” The letter also underscores that the Vatican would continue to pay salaries and is not going to fire anyone. The drastic economic measures are also intended to contain the impact of the decision to cut rents to the shops currently in Vatican buildings. The Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) took the decision. The APSA is in charge of the management of the Holy See real estate. In particular, the APSA administers 2,400 flats and about 600 offices and commercial premises. The overall value of the Holy See real estate is estimated to be between 2 and 3 billion euro. The coronavirus crisis is strongly impacting the financial resources of the church: the general suspension of public Masses has caused massive economic loss for parishes everywhere. The crisis is also taking an economic toll on the Holy See and the Vatican City State, with the Peter’s Pence collection postponed to October 4 and the extraordinary collection for the Holy Land postponed to September 13. Vatican City is the smallest State in the world. Vatican City has no GDP. All its economic activities are intended to support the life of the State and the activities of the Holy See. Vatican employees are about 5,000, split between the Vatican City State administration and the Holy See. They all get a salary, generally modest. The Vatican City system provides rent-controlled housing, as well as a tax-free supermarket, shopping mall, and gas stations. The economic activity includes investments in real estate and some financial operations, to generate revenues and help the Holy See to carry forward its initiatives. The coronavirus crisis will likely push the Vatican to review its investment policies to face the money loss. It is tough to estimate from the outside how much the coronavirus emergency has cost the Vatican. Basing on some open data, it is likely that the Holy See / Vatican City State lost some 25 million euros (about 27 million dollars).  Most of this money is the missed revenues from the Vatican Museums. The Vatican also cut the rents of commercial activities in Vatican buildings. It is already time for a robust spending review in the Vatican. The Vatican Museums have been closed since March 9. The Vatican is thinking about reopening the Museums, though with restricted access and enhanced health security measures. The reopening of Vatican Museums was one of the topics of the extraordinary meeting the Cardinal Secretary of  State, Pietro Parolin, held with the heads of Vatican dicasteries on April 22.  It is complicated to assess the precise impact of the Vatican Museums on the Vatican  City State balance sheet. The latest balance sheet was published in 2017 and referred to 2015. The balance sheet was not formally approved by the Pope, who only “inspected” the document. As usual, the balance sheet was split into that of the Holy See and that of the Vatican City administration. The balance sheet of the Holy See refers to the activities and expenses of the Roman Curia. Vatican City’s balance sheet relates to the activities of the small Vatican territory, including the Vatican mall and supermarket, the Post Office, and the Vatican Museums. As of 2015, the balance sheet of the Holy See had a €12.4 million deficit, while the balance sheet of Vatican City had €59.9 million in profits. According to a Vatican press release, the Museums generated the majority of the gains. The release did not specify how much was the impact of the Vatican Museums in the Vatican City administration. An approximate calculation based on the number of tickets sold suggests that the Vatican Museums bring some €101 million into the Vatican’s coffers each year ($109.5 million). Two months of missed revenues amount to approximately €16,940,000. However, this number does not take into account the profits generated by the Vatican Museums shops and by individual tours. The loss is pretty high, considering that the employees keep getting their salaries. For this reason, the Vatican City State administration initiated a drastic spending review. Following the restrictions of the Italian government to counter the coronavirus pandemic, the commercial activities have been shut down, and so they have had virtually no income during the last two months. The APSA decided that, during March and April, the tenants in the commercial premises will have to pay just one-fourth of their rent. The second fourth of the rent is due within a year. The other half have been waived: one-fourth was waived by the Pope and another by the APSA. It seems that the APSA will likely prolong the provision since the shutdown of many shops will last at least for another few weeks. It is yet to be assessed how much the crisis will impact donations to Peter’s Pence and the Papal Almoner. Peter’s Pence is collected every year, usually on the Feast of St. Peter and Paul (June 29). There are no recent official figures for the amount of the collection. According to the Wall Street Journal, as of 2018, the Peter’s Pence amounted to €50 million. The Holy See can also count on the profits of the Institute for the Works of Religion – IOR – the so-called Vatican bank. IOR profits in 2018 were €17.5 million, about half of the earnings of the previous year. The negative trend of the IOR profits has been lasting for seven years now: in 2012, benefits were €86.6 million; in 2013, €66.9; in 2014, €69.3 million; in 2015, €16.1 million; in 2016, €33 million;  and in 2017, €31.9  million. If the negative trend continues, it is unlikely the Holy See will be able to look to financial investments to fill the holes this crisis is opening. 

Pandemic shows that our health comes before the economy, says archbishop

Apr 30, 2020 / 09:30 am

The coronavirus pandemic is telling us that “our health counts more than the economy’s health and that true human fraternity is more valuable and noble than diplomatic success,” a Taiwanese archbishop has said.

The image of the Divine Mercy was exposed for the first time 85 years ago. In Vilnius

Apr 25, 2020 / 00:00 am

Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, is situated at the geographic center of Europe. The Gate of Dawn is one of the entrance doors of the city, where there is a chapel  dedicated to our  Lady of Mercy. It was in that chapel that the image of Divine Mercy was exposed for the first time, 85 years ago. Not many people know that it was in Vilnius St. Faustina Kowalska - the Polish nun to whom Jesus gave the work of spreading devotion to His Deivine Mercy – fulfilled the wish of Our Lord to paint the image that has become known the world over. Jesus had asked her to do that in Plock, according to Sr. Faustina diaries.  The image was exposed for the first time at the Gate of Dawn from Apr. 26-28, 1935. The image of Vilnius is slightly different from the picture we all got to know. The famous image of the Divine Mercy is a replica by the Polish painter Adolf Hyla, an ex-voto he made to thank Jesus he was still alive after the Second World War. Hyla's image has some characters slightly different from the original one. But spread because the original image was believed lost. The story of the image of the Divine Mercy is fascinating and full of turns of events. Archbishop Grusas of Vilnius says: “For a long time, the Lithuanian people themselves did not know much about this picture. Because of the difficult geopolitical circumstances, the world has not known for a long time either of the first picture of the Divine Mercy.” Since 2005, the painting has been in a chapel expressly dedicated to the Divine Mercy, with perpetual Eucharistic adoration. “Since the image was transferred there,” Archbishop Grusas adds, “more and more people are discovering and deeply understanding the Mercy of God, especially in Lithuania.” Why was the image of the Divine Mercy painted in Vilnius? Sr. Faustina joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw in 1926. In April 1929, her superiors sent her to a convent in Vilnius, which was then part of Poland. One year after her return from Vilnius, she was transferred to the convent in Plock, where she stayed from 1930 to 1933. In 1933, after she took perpetual vows, she was again transferred to Vilnius. There she met Fr. Michael Sopocko, her confessor. She reported to him the visions and the conversations she had with Jesus. She told him that Jesus had asked her to craft an image of His Divine Mercy. Fr. Sopocko took her to the studio of the painter Eugeniusz Kazimierowski. Although an Atheist, Kazimierowski accepted the commission.  It was 1934. Kazimierowski's studio was not far from Sr. Faustina’s convent. She went  every day to his studio; she checked and oversaw every small detail of the painting. She wanted to make sure that the picture fully matched the indications Jesus gave her. Kazimierowski finished the painting in 1935. The first exposition took place at the  Gate of Dawn, whose chapel had been dedicated to Mary, Mother of Mercy, 400 years earlier. For three days, on Apr. 26, 27, and 28, the painting was hung on display in the chapel, and people venerated it. It was a crucial moment: the beginning of the Divine Mercy devotion as we know it today. More importantly, it took place on the first Sunday after Easter, the very same liturgical moment of the year that St. John Paul II officially set as Divine Mercy Sunday. In his memoirs, Fr. Sopocko shared a recollection: “During the Holy Week of 1935 Sr. Faustina said to me that the Lord Jesus demanded that I place the picture in the Gate of Dawn for three days where the triduum at the end of the jubilee of Redemption was to be held.” “The triduum,” Fr. Sopocko continued, “was planned on the same days as the coveted feast of Mercy. Soon I learnt that the said triduum was going to be held indeed and the parish priest of the Gate of Dawn asked me to say the sermon. I agreed, on condition that the picture would be placed as a decoration in the window of the cloister where the picture looked impressive and attracted more attention than the picture of Our Lady.” In her  Diary, Sr. Faustina wrote: “On Friday, when I was at the Gate of Dawn to attend the ceremony during which the image was displayed, I heard a sermon given by my confessor Father Sopocko. This sermon about divine Mercy was the first of the things that Jesus had asked for so very long ago. When he began to speak about the great mercy of the Lord, the image came alive, and the rays pierced the hearts of the people gathered there. Great joy filled my soul to see the grace of God.” Things quickly became more difficult. In 1936, Sr. Faustina had to return to Poland. At first, she went to Walendow, south-east of Warsaw. After she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, she was sent to the sanatorium in Pradnik. Krakow. She died in 1938. The image of the Divine Mercy stayed in Lithuania, hidden in the church of St. Michael, where Fr. Sopocko was pastor. The outbreak of the Second World War battered Lithuania. In 1939, Soviet troops invaded the Baltic state and began the process of imposing official Atheism: shutdown of seminaries, the prohibition of teaching religion, seizing of ecclesiastical goods, and the abolition of the State – Church agreement all came in fairly short order. Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania in 1941, and in 1944 the Soviet Union occupied the country again. After the war, Lithuania remained a Soviet satellite. In 1948, the communist authorities decided to turn the church of St. Michael into an architectural museum. The church was closed then, and all the decorations and furnishings of the church sold, except the image of the Divine Mercy. The painting remained hanging for three years on a wall of the former church of St. Michael, until two women in 1951 decided the picture was not safe, and carried it away. They bribed the custodian with a little money and a bottle of vodka, and carried the painting off, leaving the frame. They  took only the canvas, wrapped with care, and they hid it in an old cellar at a friend’s house. The women were eventually deported to Siberia, while the canvas, after some years – it’s not clear exactly how many - was brought to the church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius. When the women were given amnesty and allowed to return from their Siberian exile, they went back to Vilnius to recover the image. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk has been among those who worked to bring back the painting to Vilnius. Speaking with Catholic News Agency, he recounts:, “In 1956, after five years of imprisonment, Fr. Jozef Grasewicz began searching for the image. He was a great worshiper of the Divine Mercy and a friend of Fr. Sopocko. One day, he visited his friend Fr. Jan Ellert in the church of the Holy Spirit. There, he saw the image, and he asked Fr. Ellert to give it to his parish of St. George  in Nowa Ruda, Belarus. Fr. Ellert agreed. The image was then transferred to Nowa Ruda, hanged very high.” Fr. Grasewicz had to leave Nowa Ruda in 1957, and Fr. Feliks Soroko administered the parish for a while, until he was transferred to Odelsk. Nowa Ruda was then without a priest, though the people kept on going to church to pray. Archbishop Kondrusiewicz also explained what happened when the Soviets turned the church into a storage facility: “In 1970, the Soviet authorities closed the church of Nowa Ruda and turned it into a warehouse. All the furnishings of the church were moved to another church, but the image of the Merciful Jesus. It seems there was not a ladder long enough to get to it.” The painting stayed then, abandoned in the church. Fr. Spocoko died in 1975, without knowing what had become of the picture. Archbishop Kondrusiewicz served as vicar of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius between 1981 and 1986. “Fr. Grasewicz was in the meantime appointed parish priest of St. Anthony and the Epiphany in Kamlonka, Belarus,” he recalled. “In 1982, [Fr Grasewicz] proposed to move the image of the merciful Jesus to the Gate of Dawn.” The current archbishop of Minsk tells the he "gave the opinion that it was impossible to display the image in the chapel because the walls of the chapel are filled with votive offerings." Archbishop Kondrusiewicz then suggested moving the image into the church of the Holy Spirit. Fr. Grasewicz agreed, and so did Fr. Alexander Kaszkiewicz, who was then pastor of Holy Spirit. The image was moved back to Vilnius during the night – a night in November of 1986. A replica was set to replace the image in the parish in Nowa  Ruda. The image stayed in the church of the Holy Spirit until 2005, when it was moved to the church of the Holy Trinity, which is now the shrine of the Divine . This year, therefore, also marks the 15th anniversary of the Divine Mercy’s translation to its home in Vilnius. 2020 can be considered a Year of Divine Mercy, then, since there are many important anniversaries to be celebrated. The 20th anniversary of Sr. Faustina’s canonization will be celebrated on Apr. 30. Sr. Faustina Kowalska entered the Congregation of the Blessed Mary of Mercy 95 years ago, on Aug. 1. On Aug. 25, it will be the 115th anniversary of the birth of St. Faustina, and, on Aug. 27, the 115th anniversary of her baptism. The 85th anniversary of the revelation of the words of the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy will be celebrated Sept. 13-14. The original image of the Divine Mercy has a particularity: its face matches the face of the man of the Shroud, but also with the Sudarium of Oviedo and the Holy Face in Manoppello. All of these images are different, made differently, and still they match: a miracle within a miracle. Through all these vicissitudes, one message comes through clearly: Europe will be saved only if Christ and his mercy will be at its center.  

Pope Francis: the Latin American model as a way out of the coronavirus crisis

Apr 21, 2020 / 00:00 am

Pope Francis’s Letter to Popular Movements on Easter Sunday epitomizes his social thought, which is deeply rooted in the Latin American mentality and culture. Pope Francis’s responses to social problems are born out of the experiences of the Latin American peoples. The question that lies beneath is whether those experiences might be applied globally. The Latin American angle is often underestimated when it comes to interpreting Pope Francis’s moves. It is a crucial key, however, to understanding the Pontificate. Pope Francis is Jesuit, Argentinian and Latin American. We cannot separate these three identities. The outcomes of the Special Synod on the Amazon made Pope Francis’s identity evident. As a Jesuit, Pope Francis did not promote doctrinal changes. He believes in the Church as a holy hierarchical mother. As an Argentinian, he is not anti-Roman, as one might think. At the same time, he is proud of his origins and his people. For this reason, Pope Francis instinctively distrusts every form of colonialism. Finally, as a Latin American, Pope Francis believes in the people and their just claims. The Latin American peoples feel oppressed and colonized, and still hold to Simon Bolivar's dream of becoming a united continent. The popular movements are the expression of the pueblo (people) that keeps working, though oppressed and at the margin of the history. To Pope Francis, the people is the real soul of society. For this reason, every Pope Francis’s action leans toward the people. The notion of the pueblo contrasts with the idea of a cold government, detached from the people and careless of poverty and social imbalances. Pope Francis calls this way of governing “technocracy” – that is , a government that does not put the human being at the center, but technical know-how apt to achieve goals determined by a calculus that discounts the people both individually and corporately. Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in veritate also spoke about the risks of technocracy. Pope Francis focuses almost exclusively on one single part of technocracy: the socio-economic aspect. The Social Teaching of the Church has a broader view of technocracy. According to the Social Teaching of the Church, technocracy begins with a de-humanization that leads to the manipulation of the human being. The socio-economic paradigm is part of this vision. All of these details are keys to understanding why Pope Francis thought to write to the popular movement at Easter. In the end, Pope Francis wanted to indicate a pattern for a social renaissance for the world after the COVID 19 pandemic. On Apr. 3, Pope Francis dedicated his daily Mass to those who are “already working for after.” Pope Francis said: “There are people who are now thinking about [what comes] after the pandemic, about all the troubles to follow. There will be issues of poverty, unemployment, of hunger. Let us pray for all those who are helping now but are thinking about tomorrow, to help all of us.”  Those words have probably been the first clue to Pope Francis’s reflection. To Pope Francis, the current crisis is also an occasion to reshape the economic system. Since the beginning of the Pontificate, he made several references to the “economic system that kills.” The attacks on the financial system were later developed in his encyclical Laudato si’, and in the three speeches that he delivered during his meetings with the Popular Movements: two in Rome and one in Santa Cruz (Bolivia).  One can also speculate there is a fundamental rationale. Pope Francis read his election as the vindication of Latin America, even as he reads the current crisis as making room for the social vindication Latin America has been  so long expecting. Pope Francis wants to extend this social vindication to the whole world, since he considers the world imbalances and inequalities a global issue.  This is the background behind Pope Francis’s decision to address a letter to popular movements. The message was published, translated in several languages, on the websites of the popular movements. It bears all Pope Francis’s sympathy for a world of thought and action that has always been there, beneath the surface, and that has always been on the side of the poor.  The Latin American Church is, in the end, a political Church. It lives in a social context different from the European or generally Western one. In Latin America, institutions are considered oppressors, and the people are the oppressed. The claim of the right of the three Ts: (Tierra, Techo, Trabajo: land, shelter, work) is a response to oppression. Equal dignity for everyone is based on something very concrete; it cannot be ideal or based on abstract principles.   According to this perspective, the State must take care of the people, and the people must claim their rights. The market marginalizes the people, and the people cannot compete. In the latter, Pope Francis even justifies “the rage and powerlessness at the sight of persistent inequalities,” and shows appreciation for the movements that are keeping up their work.  The technocratic paradigm is mostly a socio-political problem for Pope Francis, one he sees from a very pragmatic perspective. It is not a general push to consider the human being as an object in a world where the technology rules. To Pope Francis, technocracy is just any ideology that puts the State or the market at the center. Pope Francis writes, then, “Tthe technocratic paradigms (whether state-centered or market-driven) are not enough to address this crisis or the other great problems affecting humankind. Now more than ever, persons, communities, and peoples must be put at the center, united in healing, to care, and to share.” From this perspective, it also becomes clear the Pope Francis' request “to consider a universal basic wage which would acknowledge and dignify the noble, essential tasks you carry out. It would ensure and concretely achieve the ideal, at once so human and so Christian, of no worker without rights.” In the end, Pope Francis’s project for integral human development is driven by one desire or goal: the redemption of the people. The perspective must be reversed: the institution must be placed at the service of the people, and not the people at the service of the institutions. Whatever that is, it is not a socialist perspective: Pope Francis tries to give pragmatic responses to practical issues; that’s the Latin American way. Here lies a crucial key to understanding Francis’s pontificate. Pope Francis does not concern himself with doctrinal issues simply because those issues are far from the people. To Pope Francis, it is essential above all to approach people. The pragmatic solution comes first. Pope Francis does not care about history because, to him, the urgent matters come first. History is not important. The reaction to issues is important. This is what the Pope means when he mocks the rhetoric of “we have always done it this way”. Pope Francis is not a Pope that looks at the institutions because institutions have betrayed the people. In Latin America, the people and the great leaders shape the institutions and not vice-versa. For this reason, the institutional side will never be fully developed during this Pontificate, not even in Curial reform. This Pope will always be the one who shapes this institution, not vice versa. Francis is not a Pope who looks at the problems of the world with the perspective of a long term ideal. He looks at the issues of the world with the view of the people. As a man of the people, he looks for concrete and fairly ready solutions. The marginalized ones must be re-included in society, and this must be the institution’s task at any cost. For all of these reasons, we cannot expect revolutions on doctrinal issues. Pope Francis applies a different point of view. Between the marginalized people and the institutions, he instinctively is on the side of the marginalized. Now that history is at the crossroads, Pope Francis thought it was time to grab the momentum for the redemption of the marginalized. Or at least, to try for it. Pope Francis’s message to popular movements is, in the end,  a message. However, the message was sent on Easter Sunday. That must carry some weight of meaning. Reading between the lines, Pope Francis is celebrating the resurrection of the people. That people that, according to Pope Francis, can never fail. This is the reason why Pope Francis cannot look to any other way out of the coronavirus crisis but the Latin American way. Pope Francis universalizes, in fact, the sentiment of the Latin American continent. Following Simon Bolivar and Methol Ferré's ideas, Pope Francis aims at a Latin American continent united and strong, a new guiding light in the world. The letter to the popular movements provides another clue to the contents of this vision.

Lithuania, the "map of light" against coronavirus from the shrine of Siluva

Apr 19, 2020 / 00:00 am

We’ve become way too familiar with the maps, whose spots mark the places where the COVID-19 pandemic has struck. The shrine of Siluva, in Lithuania, launched a counter initiative: the “Map of Light”, where every spot marks a place where people prayed to God to end the pandemic. The apparition of the Virgin in Siluva is one of the first Marian apparitions in Europe, if not the first one. The Virgin of Siluva is venerated with the title of Health of the Sick. The Map of Light initiative started as an invitation to multiply prayers, and is now become  a charity initiative. Bishop Algirdas Jurevicius, the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Kaunas (where the shrine is located), stressed that “this project aims to help the people of the world to participate as much as possible in the prayer of intercession for those who are affected by the coronavirus pandemic and to provide the opportunity to support them with a donation.” The goal of the initiative is “to spread the message of hope that together we can counterbalance the statistics of infections and deaths with the statistics of prayer, support, unity, and light,” said Bishop Jurevicius.  “Starting Apr. 8,” he added, “the project is expanded by inviting people from all over the world to join in the prayer and contribute with a donation to help those who are suffering the consequences of the pandemic.”  The shrine invites people to join in praying the rosary and symbolically light a candle on the map, which can be found here.  The bishop added that “those who wish are also invited to contribute their donations to Caritas or another organization in their country that cares for people who are most affected by the pandemic.”  At press time, there were 3,393 lights of prayer lit. Among them, four prayers from Israel, one from Turkey and even one from Kenya. The donations currently amount to about €13,300 , roughly $14,500.  The apparition of the Virgin Mary to Siluva has been one of the first apparitions of Mary recognized in Europe. The apparition took place in 1608, at the end of a century of religious turmoil. During that period, Lithuania had become a Protestant country.  Siluva is a shrine where people go to pray for healings, for the fixing of family issues or the conversion of sons and spouses, as happens in the more famous Marian shrines at Lourdes and Fatima. The only difference is that Siluva is much older than either Lourdes or Fatima. Devotion to Mary helped Lithuania to overcome the Protestant period, but it was also a sort of “lifeline to faith” during the Nazi and Soviet occupations.  The Popes recognized the importance of Siluva. St. John Paul II included a visit to Siluva during his trip to the Baltic States in 1993. Benedict XVI blessed new golden crowns for a miraculous painting of the Madonna and Child in Siluva.  Marian veneration in Siluva dates back to the beginning of Christianity in Lithuania. In 1387, Grand Duke Jogaila converted to Catholicism, was baptized, and spread the Catholic faith in the country. Among his successors, Vytautas the Great particularly distinguished in the spread of Catholic faith. The church in Siluva was built during Vytautas the Great rule in 1457. The church was dedicated to Mary, and soon became a reference point for the people nearby. In 1517, the Protestant Reformation spread in Lithuania quickly and powerfully. Churches were confiscated. The owner of the church of Siluva converted to Lutheranism in 1532. A parish priest hid the documents about the foundation of the church and sacred items in an iron box and buried it, to avoid profanations. In 1555, Calvinists took over and replaced the Lutherans. The Calvinists shut down the Siluva’s church and send the clergy in exile. The church was left unused until the end of the 16th century, and later torn down. A period of religious confusion followed. The Calvinists leaned toward a form of Arianism that denies the divinity of Jesus Christ. Many nobles found that drift unacceptable. As a consequence, Protestantism lost traction. On the other hand, a bunch of Jesuit missionaries who just got to those lands gave strength to Catholics to fight and win back their churches. This was the period right after the Council of Trent, which took place between 1545 and 1563 as a response to the Protestant reformation. This is the context of the apparition of the Virgin in Siluva in 1608. The first account of the apparition dates back to 1651. The report says that some shepherds who were grazing their flock in the territory where the church used to stand. There they saw, on the top of a large stone, a young woman with a beautiful head of hair, who was crying while holding a baby in her arms. The shepherds alerted the Calvinist catechist of Siluva, who went to the place of the apparition along with the rector of the local seminary. Both the catechist and the rector saw the young woman and asked her why she was weeping. “I weep,” the woman said, “because the people used to worship my Son in this place, but now they just plow and sow.” She then disappeared. The news of the apparition quickly spread. The bishop sent an envoy to investigate the issue. The envoy also looked for the exact place where the ancient church was built, and for the documents of its foundation. There was only one man who still knew where the iron box with the documents was buried. By the way, that man was old and blind. He was brought to the place of the apparition, and there he miraculously regained his sight and was able to indicate the exact location where the documents were. Thanks to these documents, the Catholic church could initiate and eventually win a lawsuit to regain its lands in Siluva. A chapel was built on the place of the apparition, while the church was rebuilt in the same place as the old one. The new church promptly attracted many pilgrims, which was unusual, since it was still a Protestant territory. The pilgrims were so many that in 1677 there were 12 priests taking care of them in Siluva. The church was rebuilt in late-Baroque style between 1760 and 1773. It has been a minor basilica since 1974, when  St. Paul VI  decided to elevate it to that status. On the stone of the apparition, there is the chapel of Our Lady Health of the Sick. The chapel is shaped as a 144,3 -foot tall tower. The construction of the tower began at the beginning of the 20th century, intended to be the commemoration of the 3rd centenary of the apparition. However, the chapel was completed only after the First World War, in 1924. The painting of Our Lady with the Child Jesus is quite recent. For years, it was thought that the picture was one of the remnants of the 15th-century church. It turned out it was painted in the 17th  century by a local artist. The painting is a copy of the icon Maria Salus Populi Romani (Mary, the Salvation of the Roman People), worshipped in the St. Mary the Major Basilica in Rome. For most of the year, the painting is covered by a golden and silver cover, except for the faces and the hands of Mary and Jesus. In the 18th century, the Holy See granted permission to crown Siluva’s painting solemnly. Before the coronation, bishop Steponas Giedraitis established a commission to investigate the apparition and the miracles that took place thanks to the intercession of the Virgin of Siluva. The bishop concluded that “since 1622, the Eternal and Omnipotent God, through graces granted, really wanted to operate miracles through that painting of the noblest Virgin Mary of Siluva.” The celebration of the coronation took place on Sep. 8, 1786, in the day of the liturgical feast of the shrine, and about 30,000 people took part in the celebration. The first century of the coronation was celebrated in 1886 and attracted some 40,000 people. The number is noteworthy since Lithuania had been annexed to the Czarist Russia in 1796, and Russian authority made every effort to prevent people from going to the shrine. When Lithuania gained independence between the two world wars, Siluva became the destination for some 150,00 pilgrims, who gathered there mostly during the octave of the feast of the Nativity of Mary. The pilgrimages also continued during the Soviet domination, although the Communist authorities closed the streets that led to the city and even sent people in exile or to prison when caught taking part in religious processions. Despite being the first Marian apparition recognized in Europe, the Virgin of Siluva’s characteristic is that her message was directed to non-Catholic Christians. Through her, the followers of the Protestant Reformation were called to return to the Church founded by Jesus Christ. This is the history that stands in the background of the prayer initiative launched from the Shrine of Siluva. So, we can shine a light for the most ancient Marian apparition in Europe and pray for the end of the pandemic. We are trusting that Mary Health of the Sick will hear our prayer.

Vatican's revamped financial watchdog: where it's come from and what's in store

Apr 16, 2020 / 00:00 am

The appointment of  a new director of the Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF) moves the Vatican path toward financial transparency toward a fourth season. Giuseppe Schlitzer, the new director of the Vatican financial monitoring outfit. Schlitzer replaces Tommaso Di  Ruzza, who served as director from 2015 to 2020 and worled in the AIF ranks since 2011, coming from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Di Ruzza's mandate expired on Jan. 20 and was not renewed. Di Ruzza was suspended from service  in November of last year, following an investigation into the purchase of  luxury real estate in London by the Secretariat of State. Along with Giuseppe Schlitzer, the AIF got a deputy director, Federico Antellini Russo. If the appointment of Schlitzer from outside the Vatican ranks might give the impression the Vatican authorities have felt the need for change and fresh blood, the appointment of Antellini Russo says that the Holy See wants to preserve the work done until now. Antellini Russo has been working with the AIF since 2015. He is an insider, he knows how the job has been done, and he will be able to support the new director in keeping with  Di Ruzza. On his side, Tommaso Di Ruzza said hethanks the Holy Father, “who allowed me to serve the Holy See. During these years, the AIF worked at its best to build a sound and internationally credible anti-money laundering system. It  was my commitment and service on both technical and moral level.” The new director, Schlitzer, studied Economics at the Federico II University in Naples and had advanced training in the United States at the University of Chicago and George Washington University. He worked for the Bank of Italy, the International Monetary Fund, and the Italian Industrial Union. He is the vice president of the International Jacques Maritain Institute. Federico Antellini Russo graduated with a degree in Political Economics from the prestigious LUISS university in Rome. From 2008 to 2013, he worked in research and  development area at the Consip, a joint-stock company held by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. From 2013 to 2015, he worked in the research and studies service of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti – an Italian investment fund – 83 percent of which  is owned by the Italian Ministry for Economy and Finances. With Schlitzer and Antellini Russo's appointments, then, the top ranks of the Financial Intelligence Authority are complete. Pope Francis had already appointed Carmelo Barbagallo as the AIF president after he decided not to renew the mandate of René Bruelhart, who served as president from 2014 to 2019. There are still two vacant positions, though. Marc Odendal and Juan Zarate, two members of the board of directors, resigned after Bruelhart’s exit. At the same time, the Holy See was suspended from the Egmont Group’s secure network because of the investigation. The AIF then was re-admitted to Egmont’s  secure network after the Vatican Tribunal and the AIF clarified their positions in a memorandum of understanding. The new AIF director inherits the remarkable work done by Di Ruzza. The Vatican Secretariat and many international counterparts credited Di Ruzza for a great job, that can be fully documented. Pope Francis himself, in his Christmas address to the Roman Curia in 2018, praised the efforts of the Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority. Di Ruzza joined the Financial Intelligence Authority in 2011, coming from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Under his direction, the Holy See position in international relations was strengthened. Among the biggest successes of Di Ruzza’s term are the  admittance of the AIF into the Egmont Group, which gathers 150 financial intelligence units from all over the world; the Holy See’s admittance in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), which allowed the Holy See to have a Vatican  IBAN for the first time; and, the strengthening of international cooperation in terms of countering money laundering, with more than 60 memoranda of understanding signed with counterparts from all over the world. Di Ruzza was among the drafters of the new Vatican anti-money-laundering law issued in January 2012. Thanks to that law, the Holy See got a generally positive evaluation of its anti-money-laundering system by the Council of Europe's committee, Moneyval. The adoption of the new law marked the beginning of the “second phase” in the building of the Vatican system for financial transparency. During the first stage, the anti-money-laundering law was drafted in a hurry, following the Italian model and under the pressure of the seizure of funds from the Institute for Religious Works (commonly but inaccurately styled the “Vatican Bank”). The money was later unfrozen, once the law was improved. The second phase was rather characterized by the adoption of a sustainable, long term approach. After the first reform of the Vatican’s anti-money-laundering framework, there was a second reform in July 2013. The law had been substantially re-written, further improving the Holy See's anti-money-laundering system. The third phase began after the new anti-money-laundering law was in place. In November 2013, the AIF got  new statutes, which Di Ruzza contributed to sketch down. The Council of Europe’s Moneyval has recognized the Holy See progress. The Holy See adhered to the Moneyval program in 2011. Since then, the committee has issued four reports on the Holy See. The first report, published in 2012, was about the overall anti-money laundering system. Then, there were three progress reports in 2013, 2015 and 2017. All of them highlighted the Holy See’s steps forward in setting up a sound anti-money-laundering system that met international standards. The next progress report will be about the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering system. Moneyval will look into the Vatican judicial activity of the last five years, to assess if the Vatican prosecutor has followed Moneyval recommendations and how. The Holy See was supposed to undergo a Moneyval evaluation again in 2020. The COVID-19 outbreak postponed the evaluation, and the Holy See will now have more time to prepare the papers. All this to say that we are, in effect, entered upon a  fourth phase of reform. Time will tell if the new AIF director will carry forward the work done according to an international mentality, or if he will go back to a bilateral mindset based on a privileged relationship with Italy.  

Pope Francis and the discussion on women deacons: looking for a lateral way of thinking

Apr 9, 2020 / 00:00 am

Pope Francis promised it at the end of the Special Synod on the Amazon: he would create a commission on the diaconate for women – again – and he’s kept his promise. The new commission was established on Apr. 8, with a completely new lineup. The president is Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, archbishop of L’Aquila, and the secretary is Msgr. Denis Dupont-Fauville, an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Along with them, the commission is composed of ten members (five men and five women).  The commission replaces the earlier one, which Pope Francis established in 2016 and placed in the hands of his erstwhile confrere, Cardinal Luis Ladaria SJ, now Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith CDF. At the time Francis’s first commission was created, however, Ladaria was archbishop and secretary of the CDF. That commission was composed of theologians who held a range of opinions on the question: some strongly in favor of the ordination of women deacons, and others equally strong in opposition.  The commission drafted a document given to Pope Francis in 2018, which contained no hard conclusions, nor even any real agreements. The Pope asked the members to keep on studying the issue. Pope Francis never proved to be a fan of the proposal. Speaking to the members of the Union of the Sisters Superior General in 2019, the Pope said: “We need to look back at the beginning of the revelation. If there was something (concerning the women deacons, editor note), we should let it grow. If there was not anything, it means that the Lord did not want the ministry. The sacramental ministry is not fit for women.”  Despite his perplexity on the matter, Pope Francis established another commission. This is the third time the issue goes under study: the International Theological Commission dedicated a paper to the challenges of the diaconate, published in 2003. What does Pope Francis want to get with this new commission? There is the impression that Pope Francis is looking fora a “creative” way to solve the issue, not to consent the ordination of women deacons, and at the same time to meet expectations. The composition of the new commission itself suggests this scenario. The first commission was born in a split: the progressives wanted to overturn the 2003 ITC document, while the conservatives wanted to keep the ITC’s conclusions and – if possible – close the door. The stalemate and stall-out of Francis’s first commission was almost an inevitable consequence of its composition, but this second commission is a game-changer. Pope Francis chose as chairman Cardinal Petrocchi, who is not even a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The secretary is the Congregation's representative: he is Denis Dupont-Fauville, a Frenchman who has been a diocesan delegate in Paris for the permanent diaconate.  Looking at the members, none of them took strong stances to back the ordination of women deacons.  The theologian Anne Marie Pellettier is the most prominent member. She is the recipient of the 2014 Ratzinger Prize for Theology and the author of the meditation for the 2017 Way of the Cross at the Colosseum.  Her last book is titled The Church, some women with some men (L’Eglise, des femmes aves des hommes). Although a feminist advocate, she does not advocate for women’s ordination. She has said that the magisterium already said what it had to say on the issue.  Pellettier aims instead of forming a Church “less male” in mentality. The women in the Church – she says – already work in the Church, in many areas of service. So, there is no need for ordination, since this would “clericalize” the problem. Pellettier asks for a way somehow to institutionalize women’s service in the Church. Another member of the commission is Msgr. Angelo Laneri, vice-dean of Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University. Before, he was director of the Italian Bishops Conference’s Liturgical office. He wrote just one paper on the issues of the diaconate, in 2008. He is a professor of “Ordained Ministries in the Church.” He is very much appreciated for his understatement. He does not seem to be progressive in his theology.  Pope Francis also tapped two US permanent deacons int he commission. Deacon James Keating recently published a book, The Heart of the Diaconate: Communion with the Servant Mysteries of Christ”. He proposed to include, in the path towards priesthood, a step as a permanent deacon.  Dominic Cerrato is also a permanent deacon, married 36 years, father of seven and grandfather of many. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Theology from Franciscan University, a Master’s in Theology from Duquesne University where he also completed his PhD course work with a concentration in healthcare ethics. None of that leads one to think Keating is going to take ultra-progressive positions in the coming discussions. He also published a book recently, titled, In the Person of Christ the Servant, A Theology of the Diaconate Based on the Personalist Thought of Pope John Paul II. Fr. Manfred Hauke is another member with a profile that cannot be labeled as progressive. He has published monographs about the Priesthood of Women (doctorate), the doctrine of original sin in the Greek Fathers (habilitation),  Confirmation, and Feminist Theology.  In 1988, he published “Observations on the Ordination of Women to the Diaconate” – a paper contained in The Church and Women, edited by Msgr. Helmut Moll. Barbara Hallensblen, Caroline Farey, Rosalba Manes, and Catherine Brown Tacz are also part of the commission. The last is an expert on Eastern Churches' issues, while Barbara Hallensblen teaches at the University of Freiburg and has also had experience in the field as a pastoral assistant. Caroline Farey works for the Shrewsbury diocese as a mission catechist. In 2012, she contributed to a working group chaired by Cardinal George Pell at the Synod on New Evangelisation. The youngest member of the commission, Rosalba Manes, teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University and is a Sacred Scripture scholar. Fr. Santiago del Cura Elena hails from Spain. A renewed theologian, member of the International Theological Commission from 1997 to 2009. He is one of the drafters of the 2003 document on the diaconate. He will likely stand to defend the conclusions of the paper on which he worked.   The commission has many characteristics worth highlighting. First of all, not all the members have any background studying in Rome. Secondly, the Pope appointed no historian to the commission, which makes one think that the Pope wants the commission to approach the issue from the pastoral, rather than the historical-theological point-of-view. Third, none of the members is an advocate for any real revolution in the Church. At the same time, however, the commission as a whole is not invested in past discussions. Perhaps they will be able to set up a proposal that might fit the mind of the pope, who has said no to women’s ordination to the priesthood, and has shown himself to be skeptical about women deacons. None of that is to say Pope Francis is not slowly working to carve out a more visible and more important role for women in the Vatican. Pope Francis tapped a woman – Francesca Di Giovanni – as undersecretary for the multilateral issues at the Secretariat of State, making of her the first woman “vice-minister” for foreign affairs. It is no secret that the Pope was thinking about appointing a woman as head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy. There are other, similar steps, to which one could point. These appointments tend to suggest that Pope Francis does not care about ordination. He has also made statements in harmony with Pellettier’s opinion that ordination would be a clerical solution.  Hence, the new commission: To respond to the requests of the Synod, and to look for a creative way out of the discussion. 

Coronavirus: the response of Caritas Internationalis

Apr 7, 2020 / 00:00 am

In countering the Coronavirus, Pope Francis can count on the effort of the Caritas agencies spread all over the continent, all placed under the umbrella and the coordination of Caritas Internationalis. On April 4th, Aloysius John, general secretary of Caritas Internationalis, met Pope Francis in a private audience. John provided Pope Francis an update of the initiatives coordinated by Caritas Internationalis all over the world to counter the coronavirus threat. Both of the meetings are part of the “strategy of charity” that the Holy See is setting up to assist the people during the coronavirus emergency. Caritas Internationalis is the “umbrella” organization that coordinates and gathers 165 local charities all over the world. The Caritas umbrella is held by the Vatican’s dicastery for Integral Human Development, which must act in coordination with the Secretariat of State. It was no surprise, therefore, that Caritas Internationalis made an appeal to the international community. Aloysius John listed what Caritas Internationalis asks the international community: to keep focusing on the Global South; to lift the sanctions on Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran so that humanitarian aid can reach people most in need without having to overcome international bureaucratic hurdles; to cancel the debt of developing nations; to support the plea for a global ceasefire launched by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The Caritas Federation is working in the field through countless initiatives to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the initiatives, Caritas has launched a virtual platform to exchange specific scientific data on the pandemic. The platform is for internal use only, but the information shared on it is intended for broad sharing and consultation. In short: they mean for their information to be shared with anyone who has a legitimate need or use for it. The Caritas Internationalis general secretary stressed that “our main concern today is to prepare the poorer countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, to confront such massive emergency due to a sudden outbreak of the pandemic. We are taking this challenge very seriously and working closely with our Member organizations by providing technical and financial support.” Aloysius John added that “the people on the move, the migrants, the asylum seekers and the displaced are also in highly unsafe conditions and are already affected by the loss of means of livelihood, precarious living conditions and also lack of basic needs. Caritas has a special concern for those living in the refugee and IDP camps, who are displaced.” Among the many activities on the ground, Aloysius John mentioned the Kindness Stations in the Philipinnes, established during the COVID-19 threat to share information on the virus and leave no one behind; care for the elderly, on which Caritas Armenia is focusing; distribution of supplies and food in difficult areas like the West Bank and Gaza in Israel, where Caritas Jerusalem is operating; aid delivered in poorest countries like Venezuela, where the local Caritas is organizing a series of ‘kitchen soups’ to feed the poorest ones. Caritas Internationalis is also committed to raising awareness, especially in countries unable to implement security measures needed to avoid the spread of the pandemic. In Rwanda, already before the first case of COVID 19 infection was found in the country, the local Caritas spread messages of awareness through the diocesan radio. Aloysius John stressed that Africa “is the main concern because they are getting ready only now. The local bishops' conferences delivered much information. We are trying to integrate what we learned in contrasting the Ebola outbreak.” At the moment, Caritas is hiring physicians in Kenya. Caritas South Sudan is one of the most important actors in that country, and works along with six other local Caritas organizations to face the COVID-19 outbreak. Every country has different tasks. In India, for example, “the people are not afraid because of the coronavirus, but because of the lack of employment that will follow the lockdown.” Even Caritas Italy is on the front line in addressing the emergency, and  Pope Francis personally donated 100,000 euros for the expenses. Along with the commitment of Caritas, it is also expected that the Dicastery for the Integral Human Development will set up a sort of control room to find out which are the most effective measures and supports to give to the local Churches. Pope Francis met with Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect, and the top-ranking of the Dicastery on Apr. 6 and likely discussed the initiatives to set up.

Will religious freedom be safeguarded in Europe?

Mar 24, 2020 / 00:00 am

Despite major successes, the EU let the office of the Special Envoy for the promotion of Religious Freedom and Belief outside of Europe expire, and haven't renewed yet its highly successful envoy - who secured the liberation of Asia Bibi and safe passage to Canada for the Pakistani Christian woman wrongly convicted and sentenced to death. All this is unfolding within a broader international context in which religious freedom is increasingly under attack, and religious persons and institutions are under increasing pressure to bring their beliefs in line with a prevailing Western secular orthodoxy. A signal was the report on religious freedom presented on March 2 at the Human Rights Council in Geneva was a signal. In particular, the report underscored that all religions had to be open to these new rights. These new rights have not an international consensus, and they cannot be in any way considered on a par with the human rights listed in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Report was based on fighting "worldwide religious precepts (that) underlie laws and state-sanctioned practices that constitute violations of the right to non-discrimination of women, girls and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+)" One of the goals of the Report is "emphasizing the responsibility of States in creating enabling environments to advance the non-discrimination and freedom of religion or belief rights of women, girls and LGBT+ persons." The report also attacked religious beliefs when they were opposed to the so-called “new rights,” especially “LGBT rights”. The Holy See and several NGOs sharply criticized the report, which they argued was based on a twisted interpretation of religious freedom, one that ultimately came to a sort of freedom from religion. The Holy See lamented that "the Report seems to focus less on the protection of men and women, of any faith or personal belief, that are persecuted or discriminated against (a still too vivid reality for millions of persons worldwide), and more on pushing a vision of human society that is not shared by all and does not reflect the social, cultural and religious reality of many peoples." The UN report can be interpreted as a signal that religious freedom will not be at the top of the international agenda. The situation becomes more worrisome when you focus you eyes on Europe. On May 6, 2016, the European Commission established the position of an EU Special Envoy for the promotion of Freedom of Religion and Belief outside of Europe. The Juncker Commission announced the establishment of the envoy on the very day Pope Francis was awarded the Charlemagne Prize. The new position set religious freedom issues among the priorities of the EU foreign policy. Jan Figel was tapped for the position of special envoy. In three years, Figel traveled a lot, established bridges of dialogue, and achieved some remarkable successes, notably the liberation of Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death. The woman won her final appeal, but she was in danger in her country. It was also thanks to Jan Figel that Bibi and her family were able to leave Pakistan and find a haven in Canada. The commission headed by Figel did not address threats to religious liberty inside of Europe, but Asia Bibi’s acquittal and liberation showed that the European Union could act as a soft power in defending religious freedom.   This is one reason why there were expectations that EU leadership would confirm Figel in the envoy’s position, once the Juncker commission ended its mandate and following the  EU elections,. This was especially the case in view of the new EU policy priorities that focus on Africa, a continent where religion plays a great role. An EU official championing religious freedom in diplomatic talks would have been a natural choice.  However, more than 100 days into the mandate, the EU commission chaired by Ursula van der Leyan has not decided yet. The question is: who is going to take care of the religious freedom issues in EU foreign policy? There are three possibilities. First: the Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outisde the EU is re-established. This seems to be the more natural option.   Second: EU institutions can rely on the European External Action Service (EEAS). Within the EEAS, there is also the position of consultant of the EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore. Merete Bilde was tapped at the post, with a particular focus on Religious Freedom and Freedom of Faith. In this case, the option might be a downgrade of the portfolio of Freedom of Religion or Belief. In fact, there would not be a dedicated envoy, but just a consultant to a wider human rights portfolio. Also, this option would be much weaker than what was initially called for by the European Parliament in the resolution recognising the atrocities perpetrated by ISIS as genocide in 2016, where it called for the establishment of an EU Special Representative on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Third: the EU Commission might establish a special consultant on religious freedom issues. The fact that there are no decisions yet might suggest that religious freedom is lower on the list of EU priorities. Adina Portaru, legal counsel for ADF International in Brussels, voiced with CNA the preoccupation of the advocates of religious freedom. “Nobody, said Portaru, should be persecuted because of their faith. At a time when religious persecution is on the rise, the EU should strengthen its international response, not weaken it”. For this reason, she added, “the EU should take the steps necessary to become a champion for religious freedom worldwide. Failing to continue the mandate of the Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU is clearly a step in the wrong direction.  We urge the EU to make good on its promise to defend victims of violence based on religion or belief worldwide.” The UN Report presented in Geneva might be an alert. Without a firm policy on religious freedom, there is the risk that there will always be more papers like that one. Papers that – in the Holy See’s words – “seemingly defend religious freedom, while in fact, they attack it.”

Coronavirus in the Holy Land: How Catholics in the Jerusalem patriarchate are coping

Mar 20, 2020 / 10:30 am

As Easter is approaching, the Holy Land is enduring tough times: the sacred sites are shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, and pilgrimages have come to an end.