Doubts Grow over Pell’s Excessive Powers

Vatican Insider
February 17, 2015

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/39198/

Must financial transparency involve the unification of all relevant powers under the dicastery headed by Cardinal George Pell? This is a question many in the Vatican are asking in light of the observations made by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts with regards to the draft statute of the new economic dicastery headed by the Australian cardinal. These observations were presented at a number of meetings held last week and Vatican Insider is in a position to describe them.

The Consistory’s unexpected “lesson”

The long and articulate proposal presented to cardinals by the Australian cardinal and Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy and especially his two right-hand men, Jean-Baptiste de Franssu and Joseph Zahra, at the Consistory last Friday, certainly had an effect. The presentation was entirely in English, all statements were illustrated by slides containing graphics and text. The two lay speakers made frequent reference to the work carried out by COSEA (the Commission for Reference on the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See), which they had been members of before it was dissolved last year: they explained how, in their new roles, they are putting into practice what they themselves had decided when the reference commission was still up and running. Zahra and de Franssu were not initially expected to attend the Consistory. Pell decided that they should be there at the last minute.

Fox Napier’s cutting remarks and Pell’s interviews

The Consistory presentation – which illustrated what has been done to reform the Vatican financial system ­– was followed by three interviews given by Pell. The first was with The Boston Globe, the second with Corriere della Sera and the third with La Croix. In these interviews, Pell, who is also known as the “superminister” or “tsar” of the Vatican economy, expressed pride at the results achieved, the discovery of millions of euros that did not initially appear in the consolidated balance sheets. He also mentioned internal “opposition”. A key member of the Council for the Economy, Wilfrid Fox Napier, had also spoken about opposition, the day before the economic reforms were presented at the Consistory. Having mentioned the Propaganda Fide congregation among those who had showed resistance to reform, the South African cardinal made a significant and deliberate cutting remark directed at the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which he claimed had overstepped the mark and acted “outside of its duties”. Pell has continued to uphold these views over the past few days in the Vatican.

Public statements and the reality

Vatican Insider has learnt from a number of sources that the reality is far more complex than that presented by the cardinal Prefect of the Economy and his men in their statements. It must not be forgotten that last December Pell directly attacked the Secretariat of State regarding the management of funds not included in the balance sheets, funds which all Popes know about from the moment of their election. The way in which the media tends to portray Pell and his closest collaborators Zahra and de Franssu as the only men fighting for transparency in the face of a non transparent and resistant Curia seems simplistic to say the least considering the emerging facts. It is hard to believe that every objection to the assignment of new powers to the economic “superdicastery” is the sign of a wish to backtrack on reform goals and the transparency process. Writing for Italian finance newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Vaticanista Carlo Marroni recently noted that there is an “excessive focus on the new superdicastery (Pell’s, Ed.) in which all powers over finances would be concentrated … the Vatican is also pushing for checks and balances”.

Critical observations regarding the statutes

Pell presented the Secretariat for the Economy’s new statutes during the course of the C9 meeting at the beginning of last week. On that occasion, the Australian cardinal was asked to take into consideration the observations made by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts headed by cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio. Heated arguments ensued. One of the main objections was in regard to the proposal to bring the task of overseeing the management of a large portion of movable assets and immovable property (currently administered by APSA) and the task of managing these assets under one single dicastery. Pell strongly opposed this objection despite the fact it was in tune with the “four eyes” principle (the two eyes that oversee the management of assets, quite different from the two that manage assets), which IOR president De Franssu had insisted upon during the presentation in the Consistory. Other observations made by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts were to do with the need to reinforce the independence of the Revisor figure further by nominating three revisors instead of one. But this proposal was also rejected by Cardinal Pell who is intent on wanting to bring monitoring and management tasks under the umbrella of his dicastery.

Project V.A.M

The project carried forth by Pell and his close collaborators Zahra and de Franssu involves the creation of a unified Vatican Asset Management to decide on investments and get the most out of Vatican assets. The details of the project are still unknown to most of the Curia. What is known, however, is that despite it being intended as a separate body, the new entity would still be under the aegis of the Secretariat for the Economy. No one in the Vatican is in any doubt as to the need to improve some aspects of asset management, seeing the failures and waste witnessed in the past. What is striking is that Pell and Fox Napier describe the technical-juridical objections presented by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts as “opposition” or as acting “outside” of its duties, calling into question the review work carried out, especially when the Pope had entrusted the dicastery with this task. So it is not about backtracking from the path toward transparency as these new key figures suggest, but rather guaranteeing the real application of the “four eyes” principle. Pell therefore decided to reject the work of the legislative texts council and so did the Council for the Economy, which adopted the same position as the Australian cardinal. The Pope has the final say on the statutes and is currently studying them. In the meantime, he is following both issues relating to the new economic bodies and the governance of the IOR closely.