Pope Léón XIV softened the Vatican rules on financial investments on Monday, repealing a reform presented by his predecessor François.
In a “owner of Motu”, or legal change, the Pope repealed a François directive dating from 2022, according to which the Institute of Works of Religion (IOR), known as “Banquero Du Vaticano”, the main financial institution of the Holy See, had to have the exclusive competence on the management of financial minutes and the liquidity of the Santa Vedia.
François had ordered these changes after a series of financial scandals, including a disastrous real estate operation in London. The new document stipulates that financial investments must comply with the Vatican policy in this area. The administration of the heritage of the Apostolic Seat (APSA), de facto, the sovereign background of the Vatican, must generally use the Vatican Bank.
“This is not the crisis that they have made us believe”
But now there is an exception, when competent agencies “believe it is more effective or more practical to use financial intermediaries established in other countries,” the document said. The Vatican did not provide any reason to justify this change, but Pope Leo had previously declared that the finance of the city-state were not as alarming as many believed it.
“People make many statements about the financial situation of the Vatican. This is not the crisis they have made us believe,” he said in a recent interview. The situation “has certainly improved in relation to what was ten years ago”, thanks to François’s reforms, he emphasized.
The “Pope Léon seems to say with this owner of Motu, that first, there is no shortage of acute liquidity in the Santo Seat,” said Vatican specialist Ed Condon, Editor -in the scene of the Catholic Information Site The Pilar. And secondly, Léon “seems to have some confidence in the various departments of the Vatican about (his capacity) to manage his own investment portfolios again, according to the way in which things happened before,” he told AFP.
Source: BFM TV
