Pope Francis is giving the Vatican Secretariat of State three months to transfer all of its financial holdings to another Vatican office following its bungled management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation.
Francis cited the "reputational risks" incurred by the department's investments in a London real estate venture and other speculative operations that have lost the Holy See tens of millions of euros, some of it money from the Peter's Pence donations from the faithful.
Francis moved against his own secretariat of state amid a year-long investigation by Vatican prosecutors into the office's €350-million investment into a luxury residential building in London's Chelsea neighbourhood.In September, he fired Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was number two at the Secretariat when it purchased the building. Becciu has denied any wrongdoing after the pope alleged embezzlement and nepotism.
The pope received a mandate from cardinals who elected him in 2013 to clean up Vatican finances after a string of scandals during the pontificates of his two immediate predecessors, pope Benedict and pope John Paul II.
It’s a shame (and a travesty) that Pell was derailed from the excellent anti-corruption work he’d been doing.
I hope Francis is still taking his meals in the staff canteen. Don’t forget what happened to John Paul the first when he tried to sort the Vatican finances.
What do you expect from a cult
panamapapers 🏝
Disgusting. They should be taxed more than the Private Sector. awful organisations that feed off the elderly and lame.