Decisions are yet to be announced, and they will be this week. But the amount of gossips, rumors, even the leaks anticipating the data of the balance sheet of the Institute for Religious Works (the so called “Vatican bank”) show that there had been a war behind these decisions. The roots of this war [...]
The new statute of the Vatican Financial Information Authority (AIF) better aligns the Authority with new Vatican legislation, and with international standards. It also develops a new kind of Authority. Conceived by the drafter of the first Vatican money laundering law as a sort of «monocratic» authority (a Vatican dicastery presided by a [...]
Pietro Parolin was discharged from the hospital and should arrive in Rome after a short convalescing period at home. This is the first piece of news released about the new Secretary of State’s health. Parolin could not take part in the ceremony by which he formally assumed his new position because he needed [...]
Pope Francis’ last move is the appointment of a pontifical commission to look at the organization of the economic-administrative structure of the Holy See. In essence, it is an external team of auditors who will advise how to streamline the expenses and activities of the 37 semi-autonomous offices which make up Vatican City [...]
How much money is there in the so-called «Vatican bank», the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) and how is it invested and used? Soon, this information will be in the public domain. The IOR will have an internet website, where its annual balance sheet will be posted. Although the IOR is a [...]
Benedict XVI will be like a Moses for the Church. Moses went to a mountain and interceded for the People of Israel while the latter were combating against Amalek. So will the Pope do after his retirement – the President of Pontifical Council for Culture, Card. Gianfranco Ravasi, said in a Lent meditation [...]
The Church is 200 hundred years out of date. Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini’s words in his last interview have travelled the world. Interpretations multiplied. In what, exactly, is the Church out of date? Is it because of the issue of communion and divorcees – even when the Pope wrote comprehensively about it [...]
Should Vatican communication be overhauled? Perhaps this notion lead to the decision to appoint Greg Burke, formerly a reporter of Fox News in Italy, as advisor for communication of the Vatican Secretariat of State. In explaining his new job, Greg Burke said that it is «similar to the communication advisor of the [...]
In order to understand the path the Holy See began and is staying on to achieve full -international financial transparency, one should look beyond the seven negative ratings (out of 16 core and key recommendations to combat money laundering) and beyond the 23 negative ratings on the general recommendations (out of 45, [...]
Perhaps, the first step that will revolutionize the world of Vatican communications is the appointment of Greg Burke, the 52 years old journalist coming from Fox News TV, as media advisor of the Secretariat of State. Greg Burke’s post is unprecedented in the Vatican. The Curia does not even have a media coordinator [...]