Pope Francis’s Plan to Fix the Vatican’s Finances Meets Internal Resistance
The Church bureaucracy known as the Curia is clinging to the privileges that come with controlling the purse strings.
The pope met with delegates from Moneyval in October.
Photo: Vatican MediaWhen Pope Francis’s advisers report back on the battle to overhaul the Vatican’s sprawling finances, they regularly bring poor tidings. As they huddle with the pontiff, the aides voice their frustration at the resistance of the Roman Curia, the bureaucracy that runs the Catholic Church and which Francis has called “the last court that remains in Europe,” saying it’s filled with careerists and gossips. The bureaucrats are pushing back against Francis’s drive for transparency and accountability, refusing to give up the privileges that control of money grants them, according to officials who asked not to be named as these discussions are confidential.
The Roman Catholic leader hears them out, then urges them to forge ahead. “I don’t understand any of this stuff. Talk to each other, and don’t lose your sense of humor,” he says. “But we have to keep going. I won’t stop.”