Silence culture and financial malaise of Vatican survive Franciscus

It was called the « process of the century ». In 2021, the biggest criminal proceedings for financial crimes in the modern history of the Vatican began in a room of the famous Vatican museums. The lawsuit revolved around a disastrous investment in a London building that the church had cost tens of millions of dollars. In 2023, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a top figure from the Vatican State Secretariat, received 5.5 years in prison for embezzlement and fraud. He appealed and maintains that he is innocent.

In 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio – Pope Franciscus – was brought in like a large reformer. Within the Roman Curie – the Pope’s administrative apparatus – put things in order, was fundamentally for the Argentinian, certainly financially. He removed the management of the Vatican money matters from the State Secretariat and handed over the coordination of dozens of financial operations to the new secretariat for the economy. « The purification of the Institute for Religious Works, popularly known as the Bank of the Vatican, was a success, » says Belgian theologian and Vatican Kunner Emmanuel van Lierde on the phone. « The bad accounts and investments are out. »

The financial control of the dicasteries, the departments of the Vatican, was tightened, and three times the pope lowered the wages of the cardinals. Dicasteries were merged to save money, the door to external financing was opened and a committee had to increase the number of donations.

Nevertheless, Franciscus leaves the Curie in red figures. « Despite all the Golden and Marble leaf has relatively little income such as the Catholic Church. The possession of the Vatican is mainly real estate, and that mainly costs money, » says John L. Allen Jr., an American Vatican watcher who wrote twelve books about church and Vatican, in Rome. « And with such an old workforce, the Vatican Pension Fund is a ticking time bomb. Despite Francis’ interventions and savings, the Vatican is no less flat than before. »

‘Homolobby’ and ‘Nichterheid’

In June 2013, shortly after he took office, the pope said that « one speaks of the existence of a » gay lobby, « which actually exists. » At the same time, Francis was the first Catholic church leader who showed so much openness to the LGBTI community-his statements such as « homosexuality is not a crime, » and « Who am I to express a judgment? » At the end of 2023 he approved the blessing of couples of the same sex.

The Vatican is no less flat than before

The fact that he suddenly spoke about an atmosphere of « nurtiness in the Vatican » and thought it was better that homosexual young men do not start the priestly training, many confused about Franciscus’ real views. According to French researcher Frédéric Martel, author of the book Sodoma – The Secret of the VaticanFranciscus was absolutely well -minded.

Martel’s book, about homosexuality in the Vatican, is based on conversations with priests, bishops and cardinals. Martel does not find the word ‘gay lobby’ well chosen because it would mean that clergymen are openly gay, which is often not the case, and would defend the interests of homosexuals. « I rather saw the opposite. Anyone who loves a strong homophobic in the Vatican is gay, while those who accept gay people are straight – like Francis, » says Martel during a video call.

The word « homolobby » evokes various interpretations. According to Van Lierde, it beats a friend’s club of men who give each other’s career a push. He sees that there are many homosexual priests in the Vatican and in the church in a broader sense as the result of thousands of retirements from heterosexual priests in the 1970s. « They left the priest’s office, frustrated because celibacy was not abolished despite a large reform round. » Gayopriesters did stayed in the church, at a time when homosexuality was much less accepted.

Because clergymen should not only marry but should not experience their sexuality, the Vatican and the Church pray in an atmosphere of confidentiality. There is a deep -rooted silence culture. « There is the core of the problem, » says Martel. « All this – also very different things – was held under the same bell jar for years. Sexual relationships between adults, straight or gay, but just as much abuse of minors. For the popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI it was all equally bad and sinful, and so it was covered. »

Maintain the institute

According to Allen, the Italian media use « gay lobby in the Vatican » to describe the silence culture of people who protect each other’s secrets. « And then it might as well go on a heterosexual bishop with somewhere a woman and a child, or a spiritual who flows to Vatican money to finance a luxury villa for his family in Sardinia. » The term already arose during the pontificate of Benedict, says Allen, and then hit gay clergy, but has since been subject to inflation. « If Francis spoke about ‘nurture’, he talked about that culture of each other’s secrets. »

Francis announced a policy of Zero Tolerance against the abuse of minors. But abusers remained the dance, also in his immediate area. « And if a bishop gets his resignation before retirement age, we don’t know why. There is still no transparency, » says Van Lierde.

The urge to protect the Institute holds stubbornly

« The urge to protect the Institute and to survive persistently holds up, » Martel agrees, who at the same time argues for perspective. « At least Francis saw the problem – in stark contrast to John Paul II, who protected child abusers, and Benedict XVI, who was naive about abuse in the church. »

Compared to what happened in civil courts of countries dealing with the abuse cases, the balance of Francis is quite mediocre, says Martel. « But you just don’t get it solved without abolishing celibacy, also devoting married men and women and accepting the homosexuality of priests. »

Francis was a reformer who can harvest wild plants so that future church leaders can harvest, according to the Turin newspaper La Stampa. It is waiting for his successor for even stricter standards against sexual abuse that are also enforced, for a decentralized church, slimming of the Vatican bureaucracy, and who knows the female diaconate, a step for which Francis found the church « not ripe enough ».

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