Pope Receives Dossier on Contracts and Favours – Vatican-owned Houses to be Monitored More Closely

Vatican secretary of state Bertone steps in. Leadership change looms at Propaganda Fide

VATICAN CITY – The storm that has engulfed Propaganda Fide and its property portfolio can’t be said to have taken the Vatican hierarchy by surprise. Serenity is the order of the day with invitations for “civil justice to run its course”. Obviously, “you read a lot of things that are not true” said several sources on the day when the newspapers carried Guido Bertolaso’s statement to magistrates in Perugia. That the head of the civil protection agency was a guest in the Via Giulia apartment while no one paid rent to the congregation for the evangelisation of peoples “should be ruled out”, say Vatican sources. “Someone must have been paying”. Yet it was clear that something was going wrong well before phone taps and investigations uncovered the unsavoury business of property sales and allocations to favoured insiders. The harsh term being bandied about the Vatican is: “Removal”. Four years ago in 2006, the then prefect of Propaganda Fide, Crescenzio Sepe, was removed by Benedict XVI at the end of his five-year term. This was “unusual”, say sources, since his predecessor had remained in office for 16 years and other 20th-century prefects had served well beyond their first term, except for one who died prematurely. It is equally odd for the head of a congregation, no less than the influential “red pope” in charge of Propaganda Fide, to move to a diocese, even a prestigious one like Naples. Generally, the reverse is the case.

“LESS THAN IMPECCABLE MANAGEMENT” – No, something was not quite right. “Management was less than impeccable” is the ecclesiastical euphemism used. A low-key reform of the Curia initiated by Benedict XVI in 2005 – gradual, unflustered – had already started to remedy the situation and in recent months, papal interest has quite understandably grown. It has already been decided to strike the name of “consultor” and “Gentleman of the Holy See” Angelo Balducci from the 2011 Pontifical Yearbook. The Vatican secretary of state’s office has acquired all relevant documentation on the affair and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has conferred with Benedict XVI “as [he would] on any issue”. New developments are now expected. Vatican sources deny that a special commissioner will be appointed for the congregation, despite rumours to the contrary.

IMMENSE PORTFOLIO – Things look set to change. Propaganda Fide’s assets, a huge portfolio estimated to be worth nine billion euros, comprise property and donations acquired over the centuries by the congregation in complete autonomy. Their purpose is to support missionary work abroad, especially Africa and Asia, which is why the prefect is known as the red pope, and the portfolio is run independently of APSA, the body chaired by Cardinal Attilio Nicora that administers the Holy See’s assets. The problem is that this division is too strict, in the sense that the two managements operate without liaising in any way. Sources at the secretary of state’s office say that is why it is to be hoped that “better co-ordination and greater vigilance” over the congregation’s operations can be achieved. It is not a question of transferring competences or property but of “ensuring more internal transparency”, if only to stop the Holy See, apart from members of the congregation, from being left in the dark about deeds and sales of property, as happened under the former regime.

TRANSPARENCY – The present prefect of Propaganda Fide, Cardinal Ivan Dias, was appointed in 2006 specifically to “set up more transparent management”. A very spiritual Indian and former archbishop of Bombay, he was to, and does, guarantee a serene arm’s length distance from groups of friends in Rome. According to Vatican sources, Cardinal Dias has applied to Benedict XVI to be relieved of the post. It has been know for some time that the cardinal has health problems, although the intention is believed to be to keep him in the post until the end of his term in spring 2011. Whatever the decision, it is a problem that must be faced in the next few months. Cardinal Dias’ successor will be a very high-level prelate trusted by Benedict XVI and Cardinal Bertone. One name going the rounds is that of Archbishop Fernando Filoni, a skilled diplomat and substitute for general affairs. In this case, the problem will be finding someone else to step into his shoes in the upper echelons of the secretary of state’s office, where he is the number two, in tandem with Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

English translation by Giles Watson

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