Pope Francis praises George Pell’s ‘courage’ amid Vatican corruption battle
The pontiff has urged Holy See officials in charge of financial reform and compliance to show ‘courage’ and ‘absolute transparency’ in the face of wrongdoing and corruption.
Pope Francis has urged Vatican officials in charge of financial reform and compliance to show “courage” and “absolute transparency” in the face of wrongdoing and corruption, citing the late Cardinal George Pell and his consecration motto, “be not afraid”, as their inspiration.
However, the pontiff also immediately raised eyebrows among observers for the strategic timing of his advice and the request that the audit, and financial officials in the Holy See, balance the need for “absolute transparency” with “merciful discretion” when faced with potential misconduct.
Speaking just days before the Vatican Tribunal is due to hand down its verdict in the landmark trial of Cardinal Angelo Becciu and nine others accused of financial crimes ranging from abuse of office to fraud and embezzlement, Pope Francis said while those in charge of protecting the Holy See’s patrimony and assets must maintain a constant vigilance against the “dangerous lure of corruption”, financial scandals also often did more to “fill the pages of newspapers” than to help “correct deeply entrenched corrupt behaviours”.
“I ask you to aid those responsible for the administration of Holy See assets to build protective safeguards to ensure that insidious corruption ‘upstream’ is prevented before it materialises or becomes entrenched.”
The timing of Francis’s words and the odd call for “discretion” in the face of wrongdoing also sits uncomfortably with the continuing dispute between the Vatican and the first independent Auditor-General, Libero Milone, awaiting a verdict on his own court case for unlawful dismissal.
Mr Milone, the London-educated former chairman and CEO of global accountancy firm Deloitte, worked closely with Pell in his campaign for reform and had uncovered mounting evidence of financial irregularities in the Vatican’s investment strategies before being suddenly removed from office amid accusations of spying.
Mr Milone and his late deputy, Ferruccio Panicco, sued for unfair dismissal last year seeking more than €9m ($14.7m) in damages for loss of earnings, reputational damage and Panicco’s terminal illness. Panicco’s lawyers argued that lifesaving treatment for cancer was delayed and severely disrupted when Vatican security officials seized his computer and documents containing his medical files. He died this year.
The sacking of the two unfolded in mysterious circumstances and the timing coincided closely with Pell’s return to Australia to defend himself against historic charges of sex abuse, for which he was eventually acquitted.
Francis said nearly 10 years had passed since he launched his campaign to clean up the Vatican’s sclerotic investment and financial management systems with “our much-mourned brother”, Pell, at the helm of steering change as the first Prefect for the Secretariat for Economy.
“On the occasions of his episcopal consecration, he chose the personal motto ‘Non abbiate paura’: be not afraid. This motto was a concrete example of his Christian life and his role as financial Prefect and was an expression of the zeal, conviction, determination and vision of a man who, more than many others, understood the road that should be followed,” the pontiff told Secretariat officials.
“Much has been done since … but we must not think that the journey is ended: to the contrary, it has just begun … you must find ways of making yourselves heard, to help … and you must always also find ways to say ‘no’ when what is offered aids an individual instead of the common good.”
Mr Milone discovered irregularities around the acquisition of a controversial commercial property in London’s Sloane Avenue, which, after his removal from office, also led to the discovery of a plethora of global investments and loans that had been hidden from financial oversight and contravened Vatican regulations.
Cardinal Becciu has insisted throughout his defence that the Secretariat of State was exempt from financial oversight and therefore Mr Milone and his office had exceeded his remit. He has also insisted he sacked Mr Milone with the Pope’s blessing.
However, in a landmark concession earlier this year, lawyers for the Secretariat of State admitted Mr Milone had been acting within his mandate. The former auditor’s legal team has lodged some 500 pages of documents in which it is argued that he and Pell’s work had uncovered entrenched corruption at the most elite level of the curia and that investigations only ended when they were themselves threatened with criminal prosecution.
Vatican judges are expected to deliver their verdict on Saturday, ruling on prosecutors’ recommendations the 10 defendants serve sentences totalling more than 73 years and pay nearly half a billion euros in damages, with the disgraced Cardinal Becciu facing a seven-year jail term and up to €14m in fines for embezzlement.
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