René Bruelhart had been president of the Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority since 2014. His exit represented the end of an era. Bruelhart joined the Vatican in 2012 as an ad hoc advisor for anti-money laundering. Later, he was appointed director of the Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF) when the Holy See was transitioning [...]

The appointment of the Jesuit Fr. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy fills one of the most critical ‘gaps’ in the Roman Curia organizational chart.

The Prefect of the Secretariat had been, since its establishment, Cardinal George Pell. When Cardinal Pell went back to Australia to defend [...]

Cardinal Camillo Ruini was the main character of a particular ecclesial season in Italy. This season spanned from the mid-1990s to the beginning of the 2000s. As president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Ruini devised and promoted a strategy for the presence of the Catholic world in the public arena. No longer [...]

By the end of the year, the draft of Praedicate Evangelium should be out. The Praedicate is the pastoral constitution that will reform the Roman Curia. The first draft of the Curia reform was strongly amended. During the last meeting of the Council of Cardinals, the draft was given a second read. Now, [...]

The Special Synod for the Panamazonian region coincided with one of the gravest Vatican institutional crisis of recent times. While the two events are not properly linked, they are connected symbolically.

The institutional crisis is an outcome of the search and seizures at the Vatican Secretariat of State and the Financial Intelligence Authority [...]

Though an ancient proverb says that the devil is in details, these do not help us understand the current state of affairs in the Vatican. The situation has two focuses: the search and seizures in the Vatican Secretariat of State and Financial Intelligence Authority; and the Panamazonian Synod. There is the temptation to [...]

The first week of the Special Synod for the Pan-Amazonian Region met all the expectations. Discussions at the Synod raised the issue of priestly ordination of married men, generated an extensive debate on indigenous peoples, sparked the notion that indigenous peoples are not able to understand celibacy, and the possibility to ordain women. [...]

The raid by the Vatican police of the offices of the Secretariat of State and Financial Intelligence Authority is shocking. The raid raises to another level the Vatican internal discussion about the Holy See and reforms, especially financial reforms.

What is known is that the raid took place after “reporting by the Institute [...]

Pope Francis has often said that his model is Pope Paul VI. He has said he admired Paul VI’s courage in drafting a Humanae Vitae that ran counter to world public opinion, and he recognized his spiritual depth. But Giovambattista Montini was also the skilled deputy of the Secretariat of State in the [...]

Pope Francis’ meeting with Cardinal Reinhard Marx last Sep. 19 will be a sort of watershed for the 
Pontificate. There is no news about the meeting. The Pope and the Cardinal likely talked about the 
upcoming Synod of the Church of Germany that is going to discuss the priestly celibacy, the Catholic 
moral [...]