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Business Standard
07-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Can American pope bring US-style fundraising to fix Vatican finances?
As a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost was often on the lookout for used cars that he could buy cheap and fix up himself for use in parishes around his diocese. With cars that were really broken down, he'd watch YouTube videos to learn how to fix them. That kind of make-do-with-less, fix-it-yourself mentality could serve Pope Leo XIV well as he addresses one of the greatest challenges facing him as pope: The Holy See's chronic, 50 million to 60 million euro ($57-68 million) structural deficit, 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall and declining donations that together pose something of an existential threat to the central government of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. As a Chicago-born math major, canon lawyer and two-time superior of his global Augustinian religious order, the 69-year-old pope presumably can read a balance sheet and make sense of the Vatican's complicated finances, which have long been mired in scandal. Whether he can change the financial culture of the Holy See, consolidate reforms Pope Francis started and convince donors that their money is going to good use is another matter. Leo already has one thing going for him: his American-ness. US donors have long been the economic life support system of the Holy See, financing everything from papal charity projects abroad to restorations of St Peter's Basilica at home. Leo's election as the first American pope has sent a jolt of excitement through US Catholics, some of whom had soured on donating to the Vatican after years of unrelenting stories of mismanagement, corruption and scandal, according to interviews with top Catholic fundraisers, philanthropists and church management experts. I think the election of an American is going to give greater confidence that any money given is going to be cared for by American principles, especially of stewardship and transparency, said the Rev. Roger Landry, director of the Vatican's main missionary fundraising operation in the US, the Pontifical Mission Societies. So there will be great hope that American generosity is first going to be appreciated and then secondly is going to be well handled, he said. That hasn't always been the circumstance, especially lately. Reforms and unfinished business Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on a mandate to reform the Vatican's opaque finances and made progress during his 12-year pontificate, mostly on the regulatory front. With help from the late Australian Cardinal George Pell, Francis created an economy ministry and council made up of clergy and lay experts to supervise Vatican finances, and he wrestled the Italian-dominated bureaucracy into conforming to international accounting and budgetary standards. He authorized a landmark, if deeply problematic, corruption trial over a botched London property investment that convicted a once-powerful Italian cardinal. And he punished the Vatican's Secretariat of State that had allowed the London deal to go through by stripping it of its ability to manage its own assets. But Francis left unfinished business and his overall record, at least according to some in the donor community, is less than positive. Critics cite Pell's frustrated reform efforts and the firing of the Holy See's first-ever auditor general, who says he was ousted because he had uncovered too much financial wrongdoing. Despite imposing years of belt-tightening and hiring freezes, Francis left the Vatican in somewhat dire financial straits: The main stopgap bucket of money that funds budgetary shortfalls, known as the Peter's Pence, is nearly exhausted, officials say. The 1 billion euro (USD1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall that Pell warned about a decade ago remains unaddressed, though Francis had planned reforms. And the structural deficit continues, with the Holy See logging an 83.5 million euro ($95 million) deficit in 2023, according to its latest financial report. As Francis' health worsened, there were signs that his efforts to reform the Vatican's medieval financial culture hadn't really stuck, either. The very same Secretariat of State that Francis had punished for losing tens of millions of euros in the scandalous London property deal somehow ended up heading up a new papal fundraising commission that was announced while Francis was in the hospital. According to its founding charter and statutes, the commission is led by the Secretariat of State's assessor, is composed entirely of Italian Vatican officials with no professional fundraising expertise and has no required external financial oversight. To some Vatican watchers, the commission smacks of the Italian-led Secretariat of State taking advantage of a sick pope to announce a new flow of unchecked donations into its coffers after its 600 million euro ($684 million) sovereign wealth fund was taken away and given to another office to manage as punishment for the London fiasco. There are no Americans on the commission. I think it would be good if there were representatives of Europe and Asia and Africa and the United States on the commission, said Ward Fitzgerald, president of the US-based Papal Foundation. It is made up of wealthy American Catholics that since 1990 has provided over $250 million (219 million euros) in grants and scholarships to the pope's global charitable initiatives. Fitzgerald, who spent his career in real estate private equity, said American donors especially the younger generation expect transparency and accountability from recipients of their money, and know they can find non-Vatican Catholic charities that meet those expectations. We would expect transparency before we would start to solve the problem, he said. That said, Fitzgerald said he hadn't seen any significant let-up in donor willingness to fund the Papal Foundation's project-specific donations during the Francis pontificate. Indeed, US donations to the Vatican overall have remained more or less consistent even as other countries' offerings declined, with US bishops and individual Catholics contributing more than any other country in the two main channels to donate to papal causes. A head for numbers and background fundraising Francis moved Prevost to take over the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. Residents and fellow priests say he consistently rallied funds, food and other life-saving goods for the neediest experience that suggests he knows well how to raise money when times are tight and how to spend wisely. He bolstered the local Caritas charity in Chiclayo, with parishes creating food banks that worked with local businesses to distribute donated food, said the Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, a diocesan spokesperson. In 2019, Prevost inaugurated a shelter on the outskirts of Chiclayo, Villa San Vicente de Paul, to house desperate Venezuelan migrants who had fled their country's economic crisis. The migrants remember him still, not only for helping give them and their children shelter, but for bringing live chickens obtained from a donor. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Prevost launched a campaign to raise funds to build two oxygen plants to provide hard-hit residents with life-saving oxygen. In 2023, when massive rains flooded the region, he personally brought food to the flood-struck zone. Within hours of his May 8 election, videos went viral on social media of Prevost, wearing rubber boots and standing in a flooded street, pitching a solidarity campaign, Peru Give a Hand, to raise money for flood victims. The Rev. Jorge Milln, who lived with Prevost and eight other priests for nearly a decade in Chiclayo, said he had a mathematical mentality and knew how to get the job done. Prevost would always be on the lookout for used cars to buy for use around the diocese, Milln said, noting that the bishop often had to drive long distances to reach all of his flock or get to Lima, the capital. Prevost liked to fix them up himself, and if he didn't know what to do, he'd look up solutions on YouTube and very often he'd find them, Milln told The Associated Press. Before going to Peru, Prevost served two terms as prior general, or superior, of the global Augustinian order. While the order's local provinces are financially independent, Prevost was responsible for reviewing their balance sheets and oversaw the budgeting and investment strategy of the order's headquarters in Rome, said the Rev. Franz Klein, the order's Rome-based economist who worked with Prevost. The Augustinian campus sits on prime real estate just outside St. Peter's Square and supplements revenue by renting out its picturesque terrace to media organizations (including the AP) for major Vatican events, including the conclave that elected Leo pope. But even Prevost saw the need for better fundraising, especially to help out poorer provinces. Toward the end of his 12-year term and with his support, a committee proposed creation of a foundation, Augustinians in the World. At the end of 2023, it had 994,000 euros ($1.13 million) in assets and was helping fund self-sustaining projects across Africa, including a centre to rehabilitate former child soldiers in Congo. He has a very good interest and also a very good feeling for numbers, Klein said. I have no worry about the finances of the Vatican in these years because he is very, very clever.

07-06-2025
- Business
Can an American pope apply US-style fundraising and standards to fix troubled Vatican finances?
VATICAN CITY -- As a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost was often on the lookout for used cars that he could buy cheap and fix up himself for use in parishes around his diocese. With cars that were really broken down, he'd watch YouTube videos to learn how to fix them. That kind of make-do-with-less, fix-it-yourself mentality could serve Pope Leo XIV well as he addresses one of the greatest challenges facing him as pope: The Holy See's chronic, 50 million to 60 million euro ($57-68 million) structural deficit, 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall and declining donations that together pose something of an existential threat to the central government of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. As a Chicago-born math major, canon lawyer and two-time superior of his global Augustinian religious order, the 69-year-old pope presumably can read a balance sheet and make sense of the Vatican's complicated finances, which have long been mired in scandal. Whether he can change the financial culture of the Holy See, consolidate reforms Pope Francis started and convince donors that their money is going to good use is another matter. Leo already has one thing going for him: his American-ness. U.S. donors have long been the economic life support system of the Holy See, financing everything from papal charity projects abroad to restorations of St. Peter's Basilica at home. Leo's election as the first American pope has sent a jolt of excitement through U.S. Catholics, some of whom had soured on donating to the Vatican after years of unrelenting stories of mismanagement, corruption and scandal, according to interviews with top Catholic fundraisers, philanthropists and church management experts. 'I think the election of an American is going to give greater confidence that any money given is going to be cared for by American principles, especially of stewardship and transparency,' said the Rev. Roger Landry, director of the Vatican's main missionary fundraising operation in the U.S., the Pontifical Mission Societies. 'So there will be great hope that American generosity is first going to be appreciated and then secondly is going to be well handled,' he said. 'That hasn't always been the circumstance, especially lately.' Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on a mandate to reform the Vatican's opaque finances and made progress during his 12-year pontificate, mostly on the regulatory front. With help from the late Australian Cardinal George Pell, Francis created an economy ministry and council made up of clergy and lay experts to supervise Vatican finances, and he wrestled the Italian-dominated bureaucracy into conforming to international accounting and budgetary standards. He authorized a landmark, if deeply problematic, corruption trial over a botched London property investment that convicted a once-powerful Italian cardinal. And he punished the Vatican's Secretariat of State that had allowed the London deal to go through by stripping it of its ability to manage its own assets. But Francis left unfinished business and his overall record, at least according to some in the donor community, is less than positive. Critics cite Pell's frustrated reform efforts and the firing of the Holy See's first-ever auditor general, who says he was ousted because he had uncovered too much financial wrongdoing. Despite imposing years of belt-tightening and hiring freezes, Francis left the Vatican in somewhat dire financial straits: The main stopgap bucket of money that funds budgetary shortfalls, known as the Peter's Pence, is nearly exhausted, officials say. The 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall that Pell warned about a decade ago remains unaddressed, though Francis had planned reforms. And the structural deficit continues, with the Holy See logging an 83.5 million euro ($95 million) deficit in 2023, according to its latest financial report. As Francis' health worsened, there were signs that his efforts to reform the Vatican's medieval financial culture hadn't really stuck, either. The very same Secretariat of State that Francis had punished for losing tens of millions of euros in the scandalous London property deal somehow ended up heading up a new papal fundraising commission that was announced while Francis was in the hospital. According to its founding charter and statutes, the commission is led by the Secretariat of State's assessor, is composed entirely of Italian Vatican officials with no professional fundraising expertise and has no required external financial oversight. To some Vatican watchers, the commission smacks of the Italian-led Secretariat of State taking advantage of a sick pope to announce a new flow of unchecked donations into its coffers after its 600 million euro ($684 million) sovereign wealth fund was taken away and given to another office to manage as punishment for the London fiasco. 'There are no Americans on the commission. I think it would be good if there were representatives of Europe and Asia and Africa and the United States on the commission,' said Ward Fitzgerald, president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation. It is made up of wealthy American Catholics that since 1990 has provided over $250 million (219 million euros) in grants and scholarships to the pope's global charitable initiatives. Fitzgerald, who spent his career in real estate private equity, said American donors — especially the younger generation — expect transparency and accountability from recipients of their money, and know they can find non-Vatican Catholic charities that meet those expectations. 'We would expect transparency before we would start to solve the problem,' he said. That said, Fitzgerald said he hadn't seen any significant let-up in donor willingness to fund the Papal Foundation's project-specific donations during the Francis pontificate. Indeed, U.S. donations to the Vatican overall have remained more or less consistent even as other countries' offerings declined, with U.S. bishops and individual Catholics contributing more than any other country in the two main channels to donate to papal causes. Francis moved Prevost to take over the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. Residents and fellow priests say he consistently rallied funds, food and other life-saving goods for the neediest — experience that suggests he knows well how to raise money when times are tight and how to spend wisely. He bolstered the local Caritas charity in Chiclayo, with parishes creating food banks that worked with local businesses to distribute donated food, said the Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, a diocesan spokesperson. In 2019, Prevost inaugurated a shelter on the outskirts of Chiclayo, Villa San Vicente de Paul, to house desperate Venezuelan migrants who had fled their country's economic crisis. The migrants remember him still, not only for helping give them and their children shelter, but for bringing live chickens obtained from a donor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prevost launched a campaign to raise funds to build two oxygen plants to provide hard-hit residents with life-saving oxygen. In 2023, when massive rains flooded the region, he personally brought food to the flood-struck zone. Within hours of his May 8 election, videos went viral on social media of Prevost, wearing rubber boots and standing in a flooded street, pitching a solidarity campaign, 'Peru Give a Hand,' to raise money for flood victims. The Rev. Jorge Millán, who lived with Prevost and eight other priests for nearly a decade in Chiclayo, said he had a 'mathematical' mentality and knew how to get the job done. Prevost would always be on the lookout for used cars to buy for use around the diocese, Millán said, noting that the bishop often had to drive long distances to reach all of his flock or get to Lima, the capital. Prevost liked to fix them up himself, and if he didn't know what to do, 'he'd look up solutions on YouTube and very often he'd find them,' Millán told The Associated Press. Before going to Peru, Prevost served two terms as prior general, or superior, of the global Augustinian order. While the order's local provinces are financially independent, Prevost was responsible for reviewing their balance sheets and oversaw the budgeting and investment strategy of the order's headquarters in Rome, said the Rev. Franz Klein, the order's Rome-based economist who worked with Prevost. The Augustinian campus sits on prime real estate just outside St. Peter's Square and supplements revenue by renting out its picturesque terrace to media organizations (including the AP) for major Vatican events, including the conclave that elected Leo pope. But even Prevost saw the need for better fundraising, especially to help out poorer provinces. Toward the end of his 12-year term and with his support, a committee proposed creation of a foundation, Augustinians in the World. At the end of 2023, it had 994,000 euros ($1.13 million) in assets and was helping fund self-sustaining projects across Africa, including a center to rehabilitate former child soldiers in Congo. 'He has a very good interest and also a very good feeling for numbers,' Klein said. 'I have no worry about the finances of the Vatican in these years because he is very, very clever.' Franklin Briceño contributed from Lima, Peru.


Boston Globe
07-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Can an American pope apply US-style fundraising and standards to fix troubled Vatican finances?
Leo already has one thing going for him: his American-ness. U.S. donors have long been the economic life support system of the Holy See, financing everything from papal charity projects abroad to restorations of St. Peter's Basilica at home. Leo's election as the first American pope has sent a jolt of excitement through U.S. Catholics, some of whom had soured on donating to the Vatican after years of unrelenting stories of mismanagement, corruption and scandal, according to interviews with top Catholic fundraisers, philanthropists and church management experts. Advertisement 'I think the election of an American is going to give greater confidence that any money given is going to be cared for by American principles, especially of stewardship and transparency,' said the Rev. Roger Landry, director of the Vatican's main missionary fundraising operation in the U.S., the Pontifical Mission Societies. Advertisement 'So there will be great hope that American generosity is first going to be appreciated and then secondly is going to be well handled,' he said. 'That hasn't always been the circumstance, especially lately.' Reforms and unfinished business Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on a mandate to reform the Vatican's opaque finances and made progress during his 12-year pontificate, mostly on the regulatory front. With help from the late Australian Cardinal George Pell, Francis created an economy ministry and council made up of clergy and lay experts to supervise Vatican finances, and he wrestled the Italian-dominated bureaucracy into conforming to international accounting and budgetary standards. He authorized a landmark, if deeply problematic, corruption trial over a botched London property investment that convicted a once-powerful Italian cardinal. And he punished the Vatican's Secretariat of State that had allowed the London deal to go through by stripping it of its ability to manage its own assets. But Francis left unfinished business and his overall record, at least according to some in the donor community, is less than positive. Critics cite Pell's frustrated reform efforts and the firing of the Holy See's first-ever auditor general, who says he was ousted because he had uncovered too much financial wrongdoing. Despite imposing years of belt-tightening and hiring freezes, Francis left the Vatican in somewhat dire financial straits: The main stopgap bucket of money that funds budgetary shortfalls, known as the Peter's Pence, is nearly exhausted, officials say. The 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall that Pell warned about a decade ago remains unaddressed, though Francis had planned reforms. And the structural deficit continues, with the Holy See logging an 83.5 million euro ($95 million) deficit in 2023, according to its latest financial report. Advertisement As Francis' health worsened, there were signs that his efforts to reform the Vatican's medieval financial culture hadn't really stuck, either. The very same Secretariat of State that Francis had punished for losing tens of millions of euros in the scandalous London property deal somehow ended up heading up a new papal fundraising commission that was announced while Francis was in the hospital. According to its founding charter and statutes, the commission is led by the Secretariat of State's assessor, is composed entirely of Italian Vatican officials with no professional fundraising expertise and has no required external financial oversight. To some Vatican watchers, the commission smacks of the Italian-led Secretariat of State taking advantage of a sick pope to announce a new flow of unchecked donations into its coffers after its 600 million euro ($684 million) sovereign wealth fund was taken away and given to another office to manage as punishment for the London fiasco. 'There are no Americans on the commission. I think it would be good if there were representatives of Europe and Asia and Africa and the United States on the commission,' said Ward Fitzgerald, president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation. It is made up of wealthy American Catholics that since 1990 has provided over $250 million (219 million euros) in grants and scholarships to the pope's global charitable initiatives. Advertisement Fitzgerald, who spent his career in real estate private equity, said American donors — especially the younger generation — expect transparency and accountability from recipients of their money, and know they can find non-Vatican Catholic charities that meet those expectations. 'We would expect transparency before we would start to solve the problem,' he said. That said, Fitzgerald said he hadn't seen any significant let-up in donor willingness to fund the Papal Foundation's project-specific donations during the Francis pontificate. Indeed, U.S. donations to the Vatican overall have remained more or less consistent even as other countries' offerings declined, with U.S. bishops and individual Catholics contributing more than any other country in the two main channels to donate to papal causes. A head for numbers and background fundraising Francis moved Prevost to take over the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. Residents and fellow priests say he consistently rallied funds, food and other life-saving goods for the neediest — experience that suggests he knows well how to raise money when times are tight and how to spend wisely. He bolstered the local Caritas charity in Chiclayo, with parishes creating food banks that worked with local businesses to distribute donated food, said the Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, a diocesan spokesperson. In 2019, Prevost inaugurated a shelter on the outskirts of Chiclayo, Villa San Vicente de Paul, to house desperate Venezuelan migrants who had fled their country's economic crisis. The migrants remember him still, not only for helping give them and their children shelter, but for bringing live chickens obtained from a donor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prevost launched a campaign to raise funds to build two oxygen plants to provide hard-hit residents with life-saving oxygen. In 2023, when massive rains flooded the region, he personally brought food to the flood-struck zone. Advertisement Within hours of his May 8 election, videos went viral on social media of Prevost, wearing rubber boots and standing in a flooded street, pitching a solidarity campaign, 'Peru Give a Hand,' to raise money for flood victims. The Rev. Jorge Millán, who lived with Prevost and eight other priests for nearly a decade in Chiclayo, said he had a 'mathematical' mentality and knew how to get the job done. Prevost would always be on the lookout for used cars to buy for use around the diocese, Millán said, noting that the bishop often had to drive long distances to reach all of his flock or get to Lima, the capital. Prevost liked to fix them up himself, and if he didn't know what to do, 'he'd look up solutions on YouTube and very often he'd find them,' Millán told The Associated Press. Before going to Peru, Prevost served two terms as prior general, or superior, of the global Augustinian order. While the order's local provinces are financially independent, Prevost was responsible for reviewing their balance sheets and oversaw the budgeting and investment strategy of the order's headquarters in Rome, said the Rev. Franz Klein, the order's Rome-based economist who worked with Prevost. The Augustinian campus sits on prime real estate just outside St. Peter's Square and supplements revenue by renting out its picturesque terrace to media organizations (including the AP) for major Vatican events, including the conclave that elected Leo pope. But even Prevost saw the need for better fundraising, especially to help out poorer provinces. Toward the end of his 12-year term and with his support, a committee proposed creation of a foundation, Augustinians in the World. At the end of 2023, it had 994,000 euros ($1.13 million) in assets and was helping fund self-sustaining projects across Africa, including a center to rehabilitate former child soldiers in Congo. Advertisement 'He has a very good interest and also a very good feeling for numbers,' Klein said. 'I have no worry about the finances of the Vatican in these years because he is very, very clever.'


Herald Malaysia
22-05-2025
- General
- Herald Malaysia
Pope Leo XIV: 'Christ is our Saviour, and in Him, we are one family'
Pope Leo XIV praises the important global efforts of the Pontifical Mission Societies, marveling that they are "effectively the 'primary means' of awakening missionary responsibility among all the baptized and supporting ecclesial communities in areas where the Church is young. May 22, 2025 Pope Leo receives Pontifical Mission Societies in the Vatican (@Vatican Media) By Deborah Castellano Lubov"Today, as in the days after Pentecost, the Church, led by the Holy Spirit, pursues Her journey through history with trust, joy and courage as She proclaims the name of Jesus and the salvation born of faith in the saving truth of the Gospel. The Pontifical Mission Societies are an important part of this great effort." Pope Leo XIV gave this encouragement to the Societies on Thursday morning in the Vatican on the occasion of their General Assembly. "In their work of coordinating missionary formation and animating a missionary spirit on the local level," he urged, "I would ask the National Directors to give priority to visiting dioceses, parishes and communities, and in this way to help the faithful to recognize the fundamental importance of the missions and supporting our brothers and sisters in those areas of our world where the Church is young and growing." Speaking in English, the Holy Father, who remembered his own time as a missionary, commended those representing more than 120 countries before him for their meaningful work for the Church in the world. 'I can personally attest' "I begin by expressing my gratitude to you and your associates for your dedicated service, which is indispensable to the Church's mission of evangelization, as I can personally attest from my years of pastoral ministry in Peru." "The Pontifical Mission Societies are effectively the 'primary means,'' he stated, of "awakening missionary responsibility among all the baptized and supporting ecclesial communities in areas where the Church is young." In this context, the Pope drew attention to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, "which provides aid for pastoral and catechetical programmes, the building of new churches, healthcare, and educational needs in mission territories" and the Society of the Holy Childhood, which provides support for Christian formation programmes for children, in addition to caring for their basic needs and protection. Likewise, he cited the Society of Saint Peter the Apostle to "help cultivate missionary vocations, priestly and religious," and the Missionary Union "committed to forming priests, religious men and women, and all the people of God for the Church's missionary work." Our world needs to hear Gospel message of God's love The promotion of apostolic zeal among the People of God, Pope Leo underscored, "remains an essential aspect of the Church's renewal as envisioned by the Second Vatican Council, and is all the more urgent in our own day." "Our world, wounded by war, violence, and injustice," he insisted, "needs to hear the Gospel message of God's love and to experience the reconciling power of Christ's grace." 'Our world, wounded by war, violence and injustice needs to hear the Gospel message of God's love and to experience the reconciling power of Christ's grace.' In this sense, the Church herself, the Holy Father reaffirmed, is increasingly called to be 'a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the Word … and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity.' Urgency to bring Christ to all people Given this, Pope Leo XIV said, "We are to bring to all peoples, indeed to all creatures, the Gospel promise of true and lasting peace, which is possible because, in the words of Pope Francis, 'the Lord has overcome the world and its constant conflict 'by making peace through the blood of His Cross.'' Hence, he suggested, "we see the importance of fostering a spirit of missionary discipleship in all the baptized and a sense of the urgency of bringing Christ to all people." The Pope expressed his gratitude to them and their associates for their efforts each year in promoting World Mission Sunday on the second-to-last Sunday of October, "which is of immense help to me in my solicitude for the Churches in areas under the care of the Dicastery for Evangelization." In Christ, we are one family of God Before concluding his remarks, the Pope chose to reflect on two distinctive elements of the Societies' identity, namely communion and universality. "As Societies committed to sharing in the missionary mandate of the Pope and the College of Bishops," he explained, "you are called to cultivate and further promote within your members the vision of the Church as the communion of believers, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, who enables us to enter into the perfect communion and harmony of the blessed Trinity." "Indeed," he marveled, "it is in the Trinity that all things find their unity." With this sentiment, Pope Leo said, "This dimension of our Christian life and mission is close to my heart, and is reflected in the words of Saint Augustine that I chose for my episcopal service and for my papal ministry: In Illo uno unum . Christ is our Saviour and in Him we are one, a family of God, beyond the rich variety of our languages, cultures and experiences." 'This dimension of our Christian life and mission is close to my heart, and is reflected in the words of Saint Augustine that I chose for my episcopal service and for my papal ministry...' The richness that comes from knowing Jesus Christ The appreciation of our communion as members of the Body of Christ, the Holy Father explained, naturally "opens us to the universal dimension of the Church's mission of evangelization," and "inspires us to transcend the confines of our individual parishes, dioceses and nations, in order to share with every nation and people the surpassing richness of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. " Finally, Pope Leo concluded by reminding them that the Holy Year challenges all of us to be 'pilgrims of hope,' and thus, before entrusting them, their benefactors, and "their important work" to the Blessed Mother, encouraged them to be 'missionaries of hope among all peoples.' --Vatican News
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Conclave: Inside the world's most secret ballot
This must be the most secretive election in the world. When 133 Catholic cardinals are shut into the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to choose a successor to Pope Francis, each one will have sworn an oath on the gospels to keep the details under wraps for life. The same goes for every person inside the Vatican during the conclave: from the two doctors on hand for any emergency, to the dining-room staff who feed the cardinals. All vow to observe "absolute and perpetual secrecy". Just to be sure, the chapel and the two guesthouses will be swept for microphones and bugs. "There are electronic jammers to make sure that phone and wi-fi signals are not getting in or out," said John Allen, the editor of Crux news site. "The Vatican takes the idea of isolation extremely seriously." The lockdown isn't only about keeping the voting process secret. It is also intended to stop "nefarious forces" from hacking information or disrupting proceedings, and to ensure those voting are not influenced by the outside world on what will perhaps be one of the biggest decisions of their lives. Catholics will tell you the election is guided by God, not politics. But the hierarchy takes no chances. On entering the conclave, everyone is obliged to surrender all electronic devices including phones, tablets and smart watches. The Vatican has its own police to enforce the rules. "The logic is trust but verify," John Allen said. "There are no televisions, newspapers or radio at the guesthouse for the conclave – nothing," said Monsignor Paolo de Nicolo, who was head of the Papal household for three decades. "You can't even open the windows because many rooms have windows to the exterior world." Everyone working behind the high Vatican walls for the conclave has been heavily vetted. Even so, they are barred from communicating with electors. "The cardinals are completely incommunicado," said Ines San Martin of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the US. "There will just be walkie-talkies for some specific circumstances like, 'we need a medic,' or 'Hey, the Pope has been elected, can someone let the bell-ringers in the Basilica know.'" So what if someone breaks the rules? "There is an oath, and those who do not observe it risk ex-communication," Msgr De Nicolo says, meaning exclusion from the church. "No one dares to do this." It's a different matter in the run-up to the conclave. Officially, the cardinals are banned from commenting even now. But from the moment Pope Francis was buried, parts of the Italian press and many visitors turned cardinal-hunters, trying to suss out his most likely successor. They've been scouring establishments around the Vatican, ready to speculate on any sightings and possible alliances. "Wine and Rigatoni: the Cardinals' Last Suppers", was one headline in La Repubblica which described the "princes of the church" enjoying "good Roman lunches" before lockdown. Reporters have then been grilling waiters on what they might have overheard. "Nothing," one of the servers at Roberto's, a couple of streets back from St Peter's, told me this week. "They always go quiet whenever we get close." The other prime spot to catch a cardinal is beside the basilica itself, next to the curve of columns that embraces the main square. Each morning there's a huddle of cameras and reporters on the lookout for the men in lace and scarlet robes. There are now close to 250 cardinals in the city, called here from all over the world, although those aged 80 or over are not eligible to vote. As they head into the Vatican for their daily congregations to discuss the election, each one is surrounded and bombarded with questions on progress. They've given away little in response beyond the "need for unity" or assurances that the conclave will be short. "The whole idea is for this to be a religious decision, not a political one," Ines San Martin explains. "We say the Holy Spirit guides the conversation and the vote." But the Pope heads a huge, wealthy institution with significant moral authority and global sway on everything from conflict resolution to sexual politics. So the man chosen – and his vision and priorities – matter far beyond the Vatican. Certain Catholic monarchs had a veto on the election up until 1907. Today, voices from all quarters try to influence the debate – most obviously through the media. At one point, Rome's Il Messaggero chided a presumed front-runner, Italian Cardinal Parolin, for "a sort of self-candidacy". Then there was a video clip of Filipino Cardinal Tagle singing John Lennon's Imagine, apparently released to dent his popularity. It went viral instead. Meanwhile, a glossy book highlighting some potential contenders is doing the rounds, lauding conservatives like Cardinal Sarah of Guinea for condemning the "contemporary evils" of abortion and the "same-sex agenda". "There are groups in town who are trying to bang the drum on issues of interest to them," John Allen says. "The cardinals are aware of this kind of thing, they read the papers. But they will do everything they can to block it out." "Are there lobbies going on? Yes, like in every election," Ines San Martin agrees. "But it's not as loud as I thought it would be." She argues that is partly because Pope Francis appointed so many new cardinals, including from new places. "Fifty or sixty percent of them don't even know one another. So even if you were an outside group, trying to have an agenda, it's very hard even to pick your cardinals to begin with." By Wednesday morning, all the electors should be in place inside the Vatican – stripped of their phones and sealed off from the rest of the world. John Allen believes personal preference will dominate over politics, 'liberal' or 'conservative' factions or the "rattle and hum of public debate". "I really think the cardinals' discussions among themselves right now is key," said Ines San Martin. "A lot have been speaking up for the first time. You never know just how inspiring one of them might be." Custom fireworks and standby firefighters: How the Vatican makes its smoke signal Who will be the next pope? Key candidates in an unpredictable process