VATICAN CORRUPT RESIST CHANGE!
Vatican Audit
Suspended, Secretariat of State Announces
·
VATICAN CITY — Just over four months
since the Vatican announced that the Vatican would be subjected to an external audit by
one of the world’s leading accounting firms, the Secretariat of State has said
that it is pulling the plug on the initiative.
The Vatican announced the decision to
suspend the audit, carried out by accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, in
a letter sent to all Vatican entities this week.
On Dec. 5, the Vatican revealed that
Pope Francis’ had brought in the auditing firm on the advice of the Vatican
Secretariat for the Economy in a bid to reform Holy See finances and make them
more transparent after a number of scandals. The audit began immediately after
the announcement.
News of the audit’s suspension comes as
an article appeared
in today’s Italia Oggi newspaper alleging
that a possible replacement for Jean Baptiste De Franssu, the current president
of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), colloquially known as the
Vatican Bank, had turned down an offer.
According to the article, penned by
Antonino D’Anna, the proposed candidate said he “felt awkward” accepting the
position — not because of financial reasons but because it was a “complex
situation.” The newspaper went on to claim the refusal indicates the “era” of
Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, was
“over, or nearly so.”
It goes on to also speak of the need of
an Italian replacement for De Franssu, who is French. His predecessor Ernst von
Freyberg was German, and both have led reforms of the Vatican Bank in a bid to
bring them into line with international anti-money laundering regulations.
Reliably informed sources say De
Franssu was not due to leave his position in June, and that the contents of the
article, as well as the suspension of the audit, are ultimately aimed at
unseating Cardinal Pell and replacing both him and De Franssu with Italian
officials.
“They’re afraid of the audit uncovering
information they don’t want uncovered and are worried about losing sovereign
control over Vatican finances,” said a source. “What they want is to get rid of
Cardinal Pell, but it’s important to remember that a pope resigned largely
because of these issues.”
Another source with experience of Holy
See finances said the move to suspend the audit is meant to “send a clear
message that the Secretariat of State is again in control of the machine.”
The Vatican’s Financial Management
Until Francis created the Secretariat
for the Economy, Vatican finances were loosely overseen by the Secretariat of
State, which traditionally has served as the central administration for the
Roman Curia and which currently is headed by Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin;
by the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which dealt
with real estate, personnel and assets; and by the Prefecture for the Economic
Affairs of the Holy See, which audited the balance sheets and budgets of curial
offices.
Each dicastery tended to manage its own
budgets independently of one another. IOR was a further entity, separate from
the Roman Curia.
Most of these responsibilities were
subsumed into the Secretariat for the Economy, which now has almost total
authority over Vatican finances. APSA was halved in two and now acts as the
Vatican’s central bank. Although the Holy See’s real estate responsibilities
were initially given to the Secretariat, they were returned to APSA last year.
In 2014, Pope Francis also established
three bodies — including the Council for the Economy, which is comprised of 15
members and is charged with inspecting the budget forecasts and final budgets
of all dicasteries, offices and organizations of the Holy See and Vatican City
State — to monitor the work of the Secretariat and Vatican finances in general.
Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Pell to
head up the new Vatican Secretariat for the Economy in 2014. Although the
Australian prelate turns 75 in June and is obligated to submit his resignation,
he was given a five-year mandate and so expected to continue beyond this year.
Until it hired PwC, the Vatican had
always used an Italian external auditor but the decision to hire PwC marked the
first time the Vatican had sought to raise its financial operations to
international auditing standards.
In 2014, Cardinal Pell said he had discovered millions of euros
“tucked away” in Vatican dicasteries. He did not say any
wrongdoing had occurred, but added that Vatican departments long had “an almost
free hand” with their finances.
The Vatican said in December that PwC
would review the Vatican’s consolidated financial statements which include
assets, income and expenses.
PAT SAYS:
We often talk on this Blog about the local and international sex scandals of the Catholic Church.
One of the other great Catholic scandals surrounds the use of church funds by priests, bishops and higher officials for their own enrichment.
This happens from the parish level - whereby a priest steals from Church collections to improve his already quite good salary.
It happens when bishops in diocese use Church monies for their own luxury needs.
And it happens on an international scale.
I would really believe that clerics steal MILLIONS every year from Vatican funds.
A case in point is the retired cardinal Bertone using church money from a hospital for sick children.
ANYONE who is FOOLISH enough to give money to the Catholic Church at any level needs to realise that the chances of their offerings being misued by clerics is very high.
And still the blind believers give....and give.....and give....
EVERY PARISH...EVERY DIOCESE...AND THE VATICAN SHOULD HAVE TO PUBLISH YEARLY PUBLIC ACCOUNTS AUDITED BY OUTSIDE / SECULAR ACCOUNTANTS.
PAT SAYS:
We often talk on this Blog about the local and international sex scandals of the Catholic Church.
One of the other great Catholic scandals surrounds the use of church funds by priests, bishops and higher officials for their own enrichment.
This happens from the parish level - whereby a priest steals from Church collections to improve his already quite good salary.
It happens when bishops in diocese use Church monies for their own luxury needs.
And it happens on an international scale.
I would really believe that clerics steal MILLIONS every year from Vatican funds.
A case in point is the retired cardinal Bertone using church money from a hospital for sick children.
ANYONE who is FOOLISH enough to give money to the Catholic Church at any level needs to realise that the chances of their offerings being misued by clerics is very high.
And still the blind believers give....and give.....and give....
EVERY PARISH...EVERY DIOCESE...AND THE VATICAN SHOULD HAVE TO PUBLISH YEARLY PUBLIC ACCOUNTS AUDITED BY OUTSIDE / SECULAR ACCOUNTANTS.
What a negative, fault finding, nit picking site this is. It's obvious from this blog that the words of Paul to the Philippians 4:8 'Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things'...... This site has very little if anything good to say about anybody. It would seem that everyone with a big 'chip' on their shoulder finds this place. Indeed 'birds of a feather flock together'.
ReplyDeleteThis is supposed to be a CRITICAL blog.
DeleteCan you point out ANYTHING we have published that is UNTRUE ???
Indeed Pat. 14.58 is one of the millions the Catholic Church just love. They pray up, pay up and shut up. They are the sort of people who follow the herd mentality who believe all the shit the Vatican spin out to them. They are the sort who believe Sean Brady was really a wounded healer, that Seamus Hegarty has dementia, that Paul Marchincus' calculator was faulty and Keith O'Brien was stitched up by a woman journalist. Lol
ReplyDeleteWise up 14.58. As the yanks say " Go get a check up from the neck up!"
Not one of the sheep-Belfast
How right you are Anon @ 14:58! Indeed this site does find many faults and is forever highlighting them.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad it does.
From following the blog for about two years now it is very obvious that there is great dissatisfaction at the state of affairs within D & C Diocese, from the laity, but also from a significant number of its own clerics.
It's also obvious that despite many clerical misbehaviours, some of an ongoing basis causing scandal to the 'non-involved', but worse, injury to those personally affected, there appears to be a widespread belief that the present D&C bishop is either unable or unwilling (or both) to effect any significant remedial changes.
It's hardly surprising then that in the absence of any apparant avenue of addressing these concerns that many disillusioned individuals contribute to this blog, and, I suspect, there are many who speak directly and privately to +Pat feeling he is somebody genuinely concerned with truth, justice and spirituality as opposed to the preservation of the RC institution, now a slowly crumbling ediface well past its 'sell-by' date.
I would just say, "Keep up the good work", both to +Pat and other blog contributors.
MMM