Cardinal Pell Finds Billion Lost Euros at Vatican

By Dennis Shanahan
The Australian
April 11, 2015

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More than a billion euros in previously “hidden” Catholic Church funds is about to be revealed in new Vatican budget audit.

The vast sums of undeclared money have been hidden in various bank accounts by organisations and groups within the Holy See in Rome.

The funds have not been misused and are not part of corruption and scandal that have previously shamed the Vatican but the money has not been properly disclosed or available for the full use of the Vatican because it has been hidden away in an Italian practice of keeping aside undeclared finds.

It is now expected that Australia’s Cardinal George Pell, ­appointed by the Pope a year ago as the Vatican treasurer, will disclose in his audit of Vatican funds as part of next month’s budget that more than a billion euros has been hidden away.

Cardinal Pell, who is introducing tough, modern financial rules for the Vatican, said previously he found hundreds of thousands of hidden euros as he applied his new audit standards to the Holy See.