Pope hopes London building last Vatican financial scandal

Pope Francis at the Vatican on 2 July, 2022.

The Vatican finances were among the many Church and International topics that the 85-year old pontiff discussed with Reuters in an exclusive interview in his Vatican residence July 2.

He also denied that he planned to resign soon and spoke about his hopes of going to Moscow and Kyiv. He also revealed that it was the first time that he would appoint women members to the Vatican committee that assists him in choosing bishops.

The Vatican has charged ten people, including a Vatican cardinal, with embezzlement and fraud as well as two Italian financial brokers, in relation to the building.

When asked by the pope if he believes enough controls are in place to prevent similar scandals from happening again, he replied that he did.

He said: "I believe so."

The building was first purchased by the Secretariat of State of Vatican in 2014 using funds from its sovereign wealth fund. It is managed independently of external controls.

It was resistant to oversight, even from the Secretariat for the Economy. This was established by the pope in 2014 to supervise all Vatican finances. It also puts a stop to decades of scandals that were caused by the fragmentation and control of finances in a fiefdom-like manner.

The embarrassing London deal led to the Pope removing the Secretariat of State of control of its investment funds in 2020.

The pope stated that "Before," the administration of Vatican money was "very messy", and added that the Secretariat for the Economy now has a staff of expert, technical people "who don’t let their hands fall into the hands quote-unquote friends or benefactors, who can make it slip up."

He gave an example of priests with no financial experience being asked by the Vatican to manage the finances for a department.

He said that sometimes friends weren't The Blessed Imelda, referring to an 11-year-old Italian girl from the 14th century who was a symbol for childhood purity.

The pope stated, "And so it happened, happened."

He said that past financial scandals were due to "the irresponsibility in the structure", and that the management of money was "not mature".

Francis spoke out to praise Australian Cardinal George Pell, calling him "the genius" and pointing out that he had insisted that the Vatican required an overall economy ministry to manage money flows and fight corruption.

Pell was the first to head the Secretariat for the Economy. He received a mandate by the pope for the Vatican's finances.

Pell, now aged 81, resigned from his post to face sex abuse allegations dating back decades in Australia. Pell spent 13 months in isolation before being released in 2020.

Pell accuses Cardinal Angelo Becciu of resisting financial reforms while he was number two in the Secretariat of State. He is currently one of the 10 defendants in the corruption trial for the London real property deal.

All the defendants denied wrongdoing.