Pope Francis established with a letter that the Vatican Foundation, which was established in multiple institutions of the Holy See and has a certain degree of administrative autonomy, will be supervised by the Holy See’s economic department in the future. The new regulations also apply to entities based in Vatican City.
(Vatican News Network)“He who is faithful in small things is also faithful in great things.” (Luke 16:10) Pope Francis issued a hand letter, quoting this passage from the Gospel of Luke straight to the point, promulgating a new law for the relevant legal entities of the Holy See regulations. These legal persons include foundations, foundations and entities, based in Vatican City; they are mentioned in Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Statutes of the Pontifical Economic Council.
“While these entities formally possess their own legal personality and have a certain degree of administrative autonomy, their instrumental value must be recognized in order to fulfill the purpose of the Holy See institutions in the pastoral service of the Successor of Peter,” the Pope wrote. So unless their founding statutes state otherwise, they are also public entities of the Holy See.” Their secular properties are therefore also Holy See assets and “must be regulated not only by the Holy See bodies to which they belong, but also by the Holy See’s economic sector.” control and supervision”.
For this reason, the Pope in this encyclical clearly distinguishes these legal entities from “other non-profit foundations, associations and entities”. The latter “was born as a private initiative without the instrumental value of fulfilling the mission of the Holy See institution”. The handbook will come into effect on December 8, 2022, and existing relevant legal entities must make corresponding adjustments according to the law within three months after the handbook comes into effect.
This handbook contains eight clauses. Article 3 deals with economic-financial supervision and control, and stipulates the duties of the Holy See Economic Secretariat to supervise and control these legal entities in accordance with its Statutes, in order to prevent and combat criminal activities. Articles 4 and 5 regulate matters of accounting and exchange of information. In other words, relevant legal entities must submit budget and final accounts reports to the Secretariat in accordance with the specifications of the Holy See Economic Secretariat, and the Secretariat and the General Audit Office can check accounts and access relevant documents and information at any time.
Regarding those legal entities located in the Vatican City, since the regulations implemented must keep pace with the times, the Pontifical Council of the Vatican City State also issued a decree on December 5 to expand the scope of application of the Pope’s encyclical to An entity within Vatican City. Objects to which this decree does not apply are institutions and entities of the Holy See and Vatican City State engaged in financial professional activities related to the Holy See. This rule falls within the reform path outlined by the Pope through the Apostolic Charter “Proclaim the Gospel”.
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