The heads of dicasteries and Vatican City State institutions met Friday to discuss finances and how to reverse a reportedly rapidly growing deficit in the Holy See’s budget.
Matteo Bruni, Holy See press office director, confirmed to CNA that the meeting took place Sept. 20 among heads of dicasteries of the Roman Curia and of institutions connected to the Holy See and Vatican City State.
According to the Wall Street Journal, in May Pope Francis asked Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, coordinator of the Council for the Economy, which oversees Vatican finances, to convoke the meeting to consider solutions and to “inform the respective heads about the gravity of the situation.”
The Holy See sustained a deficit of roughly 70 million euros ($77 million) in 2018, doubled from the previous year, according to Vatican officials, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Sept. 20 meeting was intended to increase awareness of the issue among Vatican officials, many of whom are unaware of the gravity of the situation, according to Joseph Zahra, a Maltese economist who is a member of the Council for the Economy.
Zahra also said the Vatican will be releasing a financial report this fall, the first since 2015.
Full story at Catholic News Agency.
Kudos to the Pope for being realistic on the finances. Anything less is malfeasance and failure to be a proper steward of the assets God has entrusted to him.
Why wait four years to release a follow on financial report to that from 2015? I would suggest every two years at a minimum, preferably annually. [Although I suspect the Vatican has less than state of the art financial reporting systems].
Probably not a smart move to insult all Americans.
Peter may not have a pot to Pence in until an apology is forthcoming.
Free Cardinal Pell.
A $77 million loss in 2018. Just wait for the 2019 results which likely will make 2018 look like a cake walk. Bergoglio continues to hurl insults at American Catholics and Americans in general. Did he expect us to repent and open up our wallets even more? Let Cardinal Marx and his German cronies send Bergoglio a chunk of the hoard the German government sends them year after year by way of their religious payroll tax on all Germans except for those claiming to be Nones.