Vatican reform Archives

More and more, Parolin’s the face of authority in Francis’s Vatican
- Analysis
- August 10, 2017
At the beginning, expectations were that “Vatican reform” under Pope Francis would mean a substantially diminished role for the Secretariat of State, traditionally the place’s 800-pound gorilla. Of late, however, things have been trending in the other direction, and in Cardinal Pietro Parolin, we may be looking at the most powerful Cardinal Secretary of State since Eugenio Pacelli in the 1930s.
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Can anything burst Pope’s media bubble? Nah, probably not
- Analysis
- July 23, 2017
Next March will mark the five-year anniversary of Francis’s papacy, and one interesting question is whether the broad media love affair with Francis will still be in place when that moment comes. John Allen says “probably yes,” because by now the positive narrative surrounding Francis has become so entrenched as to be basically impervious to reconsideration.
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Mysterious exit of Vatican auditor begs question: Is reform even possible?
- Analysis
- June 25, 2017
Almost a week later, it remains mysterious why Libero Milone, an Italian businessman and auditing expert hired in 2015 for a five-year term as the Vatican’s first-ever Auditor General, abruptly resigned. Whatever the case, the optics don’t seem encouraging in terms of the current state of Pope Francis’s reform effort.
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April 29, 2017

The President of the Vatican Information Authority (AIF), René Brülhart, was speaking at Oxford University’s Blavatbik School of Government on reforming Vatican finances on Thursday night. Brülhart has sought to create a “tailor-made” system of regulation — a term he used often in his talk — that brings the Vatican into line with contemporary European standards but without sacrificing its uniqueness.

Vatican flags more than 540 ‘suspicious transactions’ in 2015

Church

April 28, 2016

According to AIF, the upward trend in the reporting of suspicious activities, which began in the fourth quarter of 2012, is the result of “the strengthening of whistleblowing, cooperation and information exchange systems,” both within the Vatican and in cooperation with third parties such as other states.