At the eve of the sixth meeting of the Council of Cardinals, it seems that the path of the reform of the Roman Curia has come to a halt – Pope Francis himself said that reforms will not carried out within the next year. As there was a de facto halt for [...]
It is rumored that the Peter’s Pence funds increased this year, and this news will certainly relieve Pope Francis. Peter Pence’s will give a breath of support to the Vatican operating funds,which are facing the always higher expenses of an elephantine curial machinery that needs to be streamlined. Not because of a theological-pastoral [...]
The members of the board of the Financial Information Authority (AIF), the Vatican’s financial watchdog, hailed all from Italy. Taking a decision which shows his wish to give the Holy See an international profile, Pope Francis replaced them all with international experts held in high regard. Among them, there is just one Italian, [...]
The report of the inspection to the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) commissioned by the Vatican Financial Information Authority should be hopefully ready by the end of April. In the meantime, it is already known that the Institute – misleadingly called the “Vatican bank” – will carry forward its mission, continuing to [...]
The evolution of Vatican communication under Pope Francis can eventually “rehabilitate” the Benedict XVI’ pontificate, which had been at least undermined by a certain kind of media narrative. There are two peculiar examples on how the Vatican communication became more pro-active, handling problems in the most proper way and trying [...]
Pope Francis gave himself a «birthday gift». On December 17 the Pope received Cardinal Amato, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The Pope listened to the report that he asked Amato to write about Peter Faber, the first companion of St. Ignatius and “a model of virtue,” according to [...]
The Holy See path to adapt its legal system to international anti-money laundering standards has been quick, coherent and convincing, according to the «progress report» issued by the Council of Europe’s committee MONEYVAL on December 12.
«It is clear from this review – the report states in par. 128 – that much work [...]
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 [...]
The absence of Msgr. Pietro Parolin at the ceremony of his taking possession as Secretary of State was certainly not a good thing. Struck by gallstone (or appendicitis according to other sources), Msgr. Parolin had to undergo an urgent, albeit not grave, surgery operation. During the ceremony, Pope Francis, after thanking the outgoing Secretary [...]
Pope Francis has underscored in Assisi his idea of «a poor Church for poor.» It is part of the «reform of attitudes» that Pope Francis considers more important than the Curia reform, i.e. a reform of the organizational structure. During this week, a certain lack of institutionality has been felt. At first [...]