Bloomberg News
@Bloomberg-News·2.8M subscribers·40.1K videos
Pope Francis’s Plan to Fix the Vatican’s Finances Meets Internal Resistance
Posted
December 3, 2020
Views
13,173
Likes
36
Comments
23
Engagement
December 3, 2020
13,173
36
23
0.45%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
You’re on December 3, 2020. Earlier episodes are to the left, later ones to the right — the row keeps loading as you go. Click any card to open it.
Dec 3, 20206:41Now PlayingWhen 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.”
Cleaning up Vatican finances has been a priority for the 83-year-old Argentine pontiff from the start, say his advisers. Just months after his inauguration in March 2013, Francis set up atask force to scrutinize the Institute for Religious Works.
The entity, frequently referred to as the Vatican bank, is so opaque it’s been called “the most secret bank in the world.” The following year, Francis created a Secretariat for the Economy, vesting it with authority over all economic activity for the Holy See and Vatican City.
The pope has recruited executives from the worlds of business and finance to fill top jobs in the Curia as part of a drive to bring the Vatican’s accounting and budgeting procedures up to international standards.
Momentum on reforms has accelerated this year, with several papal edicts, including one establishing a new code for public tenders to ward against corruption and conflicts of interest.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world.
To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app.
Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake
Connect with us on…
Breaking News on YouTube
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
