So, for all the Electors who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to elect Pope Francis in the hope that a Vatican outsider would finally make a serious attempt at financial reform in the Vatican, here’s some news.
Nothing of any substance has come to pass with regard to those long-hoped for reforms.
At this point, the reasonable person would conclude that any such effort would be futile.
The latest news suggests that such a conclusion is the only one possible.
Earlier this week, Pope Francis named Bishop Nunzio Galantino to take over the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which controls both the Vatican’s vast and significantly under-valued real estate holdings and also its investment portfolio.
From the outside, it’s often assumed that the big deal in terms of Papal finances is the Institute for the Works of Religion, better known as the “Vatican Bank.” In reality, that’s a misunderstanding for two reasons.
First, the bulk of the Bank’s roughly $8 billion in assets does not belong to the Pope. Instead, they are funds belonging to Religious Orders, Catholic associations and movements, and other entities in the Church.
Second, the process of reform of the Vatican bank began under Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, and by now is largely complete. Those reforms came in the form of individuals who were not supposed to have accounts in the first place having been weeded out of the system, and under the watchful eye of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, suspicious transactions are now carefully monitored.
The real reform which needed to be undertaken is at APSA, which controls the vast majority of the assets the Pope actually has at his disposal, and which has a reputation for insularity and resisting efforts at transparency and accountability.
In recent months, the new Council for the Economy, intended to set financial policy, has struggled to find its voice; the Secretariat for the Economy, intended to implement policy, is leaderless as Australian Cardinal George Pell is back home fighting off charges of “historical” sexual abuse; and the allegedly independent Auditor General’s position is vacant after its one occupant was dismissed amid curious circumstances.
In a recent interview with Reuters, the Pope stated that Italian Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, the previous head of APSA and a figure who has himself been accused of involvement in an embezzlement scheme in his previous diocese, was on his way out.
The Holy Father said, “We have to move ahead on transparency, and that depends on APSA.”
But looking at the person he has tapped to do the job, one wonders what the Holy Father has in mind in terms of strategy.
Tuesday brought the answer, as Francis tapped the 69-year-old Galantino to take the reins at APSA.
Bishop Galantino is among Pope Francis closest allies in the Italian Bishops’ Conference and the most outspoken carrier of his agenda in Italian affairs.
It is said that Bishop Galantino came to Pope Francis’ attention while serving as the Bishop of the relatively obscure diocese of Cassano all’Jonio.
In 2013, Pope Francis stunned the Italian Clerical establishment when he named Bishop Galantino as the Secretary of the Conference, known by its acronym CEI. At the time Bishop Galantino had only been bishop in Cassano all’Jonio in the southern Italian region of Calabria for two years, No one would ever have confused that appointment with a launching pad to prominence.
Moreover, when in 2013, Pope Francis asked the President of CEI, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, to poll the bishops about candidates for the secretary’s position, Bishop Galantino reportedly had only one vote from almost 500 prelates.
Nevertheless, Francis bypassed the advice he himself had requested and decided Bishop Galantino was the man for the job, taking the unusual step of writing to the people of the Diocese to “ask permission” to borrow their Bishop.
Four months later, Francis named Galantino to a full five-year term.
Why Galantino?
When he was named a Bishop in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI, he asked that whatever money people would have spent buying him gifts for the occasion be used instead to serve the poor.
Bishop Galantino opted to live at the diocesan seminary rather than the Bishop’s palace in Cassano all’Jonio, he didn’t want either a secretary or a chauffeur, and he asked people to call him “Don Nunzio” rather than “His Excellency.”
While the Bishop appears to be a man of charity and faith, one need remember that the trash heaps of Vatican history are littered with the carcasses of well-intentioned reformers who turned out to be unable to get the job done.
Truth be told, Bishop Galantino is a largely untested manager of a small diocese, who then moved into a role at the Bishops’ Conference that required him to articulate the Pope’s viewpoint but not really implement it in any administrative or managerial sense.
So, it does not appear there is anything in Bishop Galantino’s pedigree to indicate that, from the point of view of the task he’s been asked to take on, there’s not much that would determine whether he is up to the job.
But the Holy Spirit has a way of surprising those who think they know better.
After all, who would have expected the Bishop of Cassano all’Jonio to have risen to his present position and stature within this Pontificate?
Who knows, may an unknown from a little diocese no one ever heard of will be the guy who gets the job done.
We shall see.
And the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.
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