✣ Suspended audit reveals battle at the Vatican
What happened? An independent audit of Vatican finances was suspended. The audit, by the accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, had been announced four months ago. It had been recommended to the Pope on the advice of the Vatican Secretariat of the Economy, led by Cardinal George Pell. The postponement of the audit was seen by some as an attempt to unseat the cardinal, who said he was “a bit surprised” by the suspension and met the Pope privately last week to discuss it. What the British media are saying The Guardian ran with the headline: “Vatican’s suspension of major PwC audit exposes internal rift”. The rift, according to the report, was between the “Church’s old guard, a powerful Italian bureaucracy resistant to greater transparency” and “supporters of financial reform” led by Cardinal Pell. The Financial Times said there were broader fears about “a slowdown in Vatican financial reform” but noted that there was still hope given that “Fr Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, would only say that ‘some aspects of the contract’ were being looked into more ‘deeply’, suggesting a renegotiation may occur to tone down some of the more onerous requirements.” While Cardinal Pell is pushing for transparency, Reuters said, “critics have accused him of doing so in a bullying manner”. What the vaticanisti are saying The revolution is delayed, announced John Allen of cruxnow.com. He said: “For Cardinal Pell’s admirers, suspending the audit amounts to a temporary victory for a Vatican old guard resistant to reform. For critics, it’s the fruit of Cardinal Pell’s unwillingness to collaborate and to live within a legal framework he himself helped to craft.” He concluded that, on balance, the loser was Cardinal Pell, and added: “The embarrassment has to be bundled with a piece in the Italian newspaper Italia Oggi on Wednesday suggesting that Pell will leave the Secretariat for the Economy when he turns 75 in June and that the current president of the Vatican bank, French businessman Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, a Cardinal Pell ally, will be replaced as well.”
