The head of the Vatican’s sovereign asset management body has insisted that the Holy See is not headed for financial “collapse.”
Bishop Nunzio Galantino made the comments in response to a book published on Monday by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, which claims that the Holy See is facing a serious cash shortage, and may soon be unable to meet its ordinary operating expenses.
“There is no threat of collapse or default here. There is only the need for a spending review. And that is what we’re doing. I can prove it to you with numbers,” Galantino said on Oct. 22.
Galantino is head of the Administration for the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which oversees the Vatican’s real estate holdings and other sovereign assets.
“The current situation of the administration of the Holy See is no different from what happens in any family or even in the nations of the different continents. At a certain point one looks at what one spends, considers the revenue that comes in, and tries to adjust expenses accordingly.”
Nuzzi’s book, “Universal Judgment,” claims to be based on some 3,000 pages of confidential documents leaked to him. He reports that annual donations to the Holy See have fallen sharply, by as much as 40% over the last three years – from 100 million euros to 60 million. At the same time, he also says that the Holy See’s property portfolio failed to register a profit last year, the first time ever. The cumulative effect, Nuzzi claims, is an urgent liquidity crisis in the Vatican’s operating finances.
Full story at Catholic News Agency.
So the folks in the Vatican are looking at revenue and expenses. Possibly considering adjustments. In the commercial world, that usually means more cash is going out than coming in, and this is expected to continue.
The [financial] truth shall set you free.
It is no surprise to many of us, the Vatican is getting fewer donations, when many of us have heard how our hard earned money was spent in the past.
I would rather give to the K of C charities, the good seminaries or religious orders, Catholic Answers, EWTN, and our faithful churches that teach the faith, and nothing else. So many doing good solid Catholic work. The church is not dying, their are sparks all around. Support those. I do not want money I work hard for, to go to these foolish synods, that do nothing to teach Catholicism in the Amazon. But have just given the Evangelicals more cause to claim we worship idols and take Catholics from the true faith.
If don’t need our money, then there is no need for us to send them any money.