While in the hospital for exhaustion and bronchitis, Pope Francis continued to focus on reforming the Vatican’s troubled finances. On February 27, during his 13th day at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, he announced the formation of a high-level commission with the goal of raising donations to address the Vatican’s chronic budget deficits. This initiative was intended to counteract demands from the Curia, the Catholic Church’s administrative arm, to stop the push for significant spending reductions. The Pope’s stringent measures included multiple salary cuts for the Church’s cardinals since 2021 and removal of housing subsidies for elite staff in 2023. In September, he mandated that the Vatican establish a timeline to achieve a “zero deficit” budget.
Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88 in his Vatican apartment on Easter Monday, having made significant progress in his financial reform efforts, though not fully reaching his goals.
The Pope’s financial reform journey began soon after he assumed office in 2013. Observing that the Vatican’s financial handling needed extensive improvement, he initiated changes to address issues like the disparity between revenues and expenses, financial mismanagement, and the lingering stain of past scandals. One notable scandal was the Banco Ambrosiano affair of the early 1980s involving Roberto Calvi and Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, which led to the Vatican Bank losing $250 million.
Francis displayed a new approach to managing Vatican finances. He quickly gathered a group of international business leaders in 2013, tasking them with identifying problems and recommending solutions to overhaul the Vatican’s finances. This assembly included prominent executives such as Invesco’s French asset manager and the CEO of German insurer ERGO.
Opting for a modest site over the traditional Apostolic Palace, Francis addressed the group at Casa Santa Marta. He expressed that credible financial practices were crucial for the Vatican’s reputation and charity work, underscoring the need for a leaner, self-sustaining organization.
With input from this board, significant changes were implemented, including hiring firms like KMPG to establish standardized accounting practices and forming a centralized authority under the newly created Secretariat of the Economy. This body, led by an MIT graduate with extensive management experience, aimed to centralize financial oversight.
Despite these efforts, some financial issues persisted, including a scandal involving a highly inflated property purchase in London, resulting in massive losses and legal actions against involved parties. Additionally, the Vatican faces underfunded pension plans and persistent deficits in the Curia, partly due to unallocated funds from “Peter’s Pence.”
In the final days of his life, Pope Francis remained committed to promoting financial reform aligned with his model, St. Francis of Assisi. To fully realize his vision, it is suggested that his successor will need to continue this strategy. This report originally appeared on Fortune.com.
