VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Robert Mickens | Dec. 8, 2014 A Roman Observer
ROME
A choir of voices has begun lauding Cardinal George Pell for cleaning up the Vatican’s money management operations. And the strongest notes in this hymn of praise come from the basso profondo of the Australian cardinal himself.
The 73-year-old Pell, who is officially the prefect of the Vatican’s recently created Secretariat for the Economy, gave a glowing progress report of his financial reform efforts in an 1,800-word article published last week in Britain’s Catholic Herald.
Modern and transparent with checks and balances
He made it clear that Pope Francis was mandated by “an almost unanimous consensus among the cardinals” to carry out financial reform. He said they were “well under way and already past the point where it would be possible to return to the ‘bad old days,’ ” even though much remained to be done. He added that the basic program for reform was drawn up by an “international body of lay experts” that the pope appointed and was based on the following three principles: first, the adoption of “contemporary international financial standards” and “accounting procedures”; second, transparency in producing annual financial balance sheets; and third, “something akin to a separation of powers” with “multiple sources of authority.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.