This is why Pope Francis entrusts the Vatican treasury to Galantino (Apsa)
The Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (Apsa) presided over by the bishop of Bergamo Nunzio Galantino will be the Vatican's only spending and investment center. All the details
«The Pope has been thinking about it for a long time, to rationalize the administrative sphere of the Holy See. Let's put it this way: if he is wrong in administration, he wants to understand who is responsible for the error; for example, Galantino ».
And 'what he said today in Corriere della Sera Bishop Galantino Nuncio, President Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which will be the pivot of the whole of Vatican finances system according to the input of the Pope, "Is not it was the investigation into the palace in London nor the affair involving Cardinal Becciu that made a reform of the economic administration, which has been underway for some time, necessary. It started before the latest events… »explained Galantino speaking with Corriere della Sera .
The latest cases are pushing Pope Francis to complete the work of rationalization but above all of transparency. The hypothesis, under consideration for some time, of centralizing investments in a single body, Apsa, the Vatican's “central bank,” where Galantino reigns precisely by the will of Bergoglio, goes in this direction.
Pope Francis' intent is to steal from the dicasteries, but also from the Secretariat of State, the management of 'treasures' which in some cases amount to several tens of millions of euros. A choice that would have been proposed to the Pope by the Prefect of the Economy, the Jesuit Antonio Guerrero Alves, according to Ansa .
Galantino said: “what the Holy Father had ordered about two years ago, on November 6, 2018, in a letter to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, coordinator of the Holy See's Council for the Economy, is being completed”.
“In a broader project of rationalization of the administration and of full and more effective supervision and transparency, the Pope has asked to avoid that there are more money deposit centers. He asked that, as far as possible, there be a single center also for spending and investments. All this to have under control the real flow of liquidity that belongs to the Holy See and is necessary for the life of the Roman Curia and the mission of the Church ”, added the president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (Apsa).
In July a letter from Cardinal Marx and the prefect for the Economy, Father Guerrero, addressed the department heads to order that all liquidity be transferred to APSA. Objective: to deposit liquidity to APSA. Will this also affect the Secretariat of State? Galantino replied: «I have not yet received detailed instructions on this point. But it would only be a continuation of the process that has already begun and of which I am talking to you. Not only that: the Secretariat of State already has deposits with Apsa ».
But would the Secretariat be left without a portfolio? "But no! – said the president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (Apsa) – Like all Dicasteries, the Secretariat of State has and will have its own budget. There are no "ministries" without a portfolio in the Vatican. As they are all called to carry out a mission, they all need – as well as good will, commitment and credible witness – money. Here it is a question of making the administration more rational and more traceable, in view of a demanding transparency, all operations. At the beginning of the year, each Dicastery presents a budget request. The request is examined by the Secretariat for the Economy, which approves or suggests corrective measures. Then he says to Apsa: make this figure available to the Dicastery. And the Dicastery administers this sum. Obviously, all movements must be accounted for. The money materially remains APSA. When a Dicastery incurs an expense, it communicates it to APSA, which pays the debt ”.
On the front instead of the Vatican judiciary, yesterday the Pope strengthened the team of the Tribunal chaired by Giuseppe Pignatone, with the appointment of an "applied" Promotor of Justice, a new figure in the Vatican judicial system, born to give new life to the investigations there where a particular emergency occurs. Gianluca Perone is the new prosecutor, perhaps not by chance an expert in commercial law .
In this climate of investigations, but also of poisons and suspicions, and of the all-against-all that had already been seen at the time of Vatileaks, the Moneyval inspectors arrive tomorrow at the Vatican. Their reports so far have been quite generous with the Holy See emerging from decades of opacity. But the latest scandals could undermine the goal of the 'white list' that was taken for granted for up to a week.
And surprisingly, again tomorrow, Australian cardinal George Pell, the former "minister" of the Economy, is also returning to the Vatican, after being cleared of pedophilia charges. It is the first time Pell has returned to Rome since 2017, when he left his post as Prefect of Economics to defend himself from the trials in Australia. In these days he had already made his voice heard to thank the Pope for having removed Card. Angelo Becciu with whom he has always had disagreements. The reason for his visit to Rome has not been disclosed but it is evident that it could add an element of tension in a situation that is not serene.
Meanwhile, in the Vatican there is a race against time to arrive, before Sunday, to provide new data on the Pence of St. Peter, whose numbers remain stable at 2016 (78 million dollars). It could also be decided to increase the amount actually allocated to charitable works which today does not even reach a third of the total. Before Sunday because the collection of the year will be held on October 4th in all the churches of the world destined for the Pope's Charity. But October 4th is also the day on which Pope Francis' new encyclical 'Brothers all' will be published. he wants to prevent it from being overshadowed by this decidedly 'winter' climate that reigns in the sacred palaces.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/apsa-ecco-come-papa-francesco-affida-la-cassa-del-vaticano-a-galantino/ on Tue, 29 Sep 2020 14:00:09 +0000.