From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
Nyairo bw’Ondieki from Kisii Diocese has written long e-mail following my breaking news on replacement of the Italian prelate who was Pope Benedict’s righthand man in the Vatican during his scandal-dogged papacy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Bw’Ondieki would like to know what the Institute is for Religious Works and its role in Vatican Bank and the role of Secretary of State to the Holy Father. He would also like to know whether Pope Francis will able to clean up the mess at the Vatican even after Bertone’s exit.
The Institute for the Works of Religion, in Italian: Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) is another name for the Vatican Bank, a privately held institute located inside Vatican City and run by an advisory board who reports directly to a committee of cardinals and the Pope. It was founded by Pope Pius XII in June 1942.
Its role is quite complicated since its assets are not considered property of the Holy See, nor it is overseen by the Prefecture for the economic Affairs of the Holy See. Instead it is listed in the Annuario Pontificio not under “Holy See” or “Vatican City State”.
It was only after the pages on religious institutes, and cultural institutes, it was then placed with charitable foundations. Not until 2012 did the bank give a short presentation on its operations, following the final years of Benedict’s papacy which were overshadowed by scandal, most prominently the so-called “Vatileaks” affair that depicted the Vatican’s swollen bureaucracy as a hotbed of conspiracy and cronyism.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone who was appointed by Benedict in 2006 to occupy a role often described as the Vatican’s prime minister, was blamed for much of the papacy’s disfunction and poor decision-making. Benedict came under pressure from some senior clerics to fire Bertone, but refused.
Bertone has been replaced by Archbishop Pietro Parolin, a career diplomat with a reputation for competence and hard work. He is only 58, the youngest man to hold the office for decade, and his promotion makes him a very strong candidate to be the next Italian pope.
He is a well-prepared bishop with a great capacity to work. He is a very intelligent man with extensive experience in the Church’s international affairs.
During his time as apostolic nuncio to Venezuela, Archbishop Parolin was a great promoter of dialogue. He took part in the meetings between the government of Venezuela and the bishops’ conference, which were very positive for the country.
Archbishop Parolin would continue to carry out his duties in Venezuela until mid-October, when he will move to the Vatican to assume his duties from the outgoing secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
On your second question, the Secretary of State of His Holiness the Pope, commonly known as the Cardinal Secretary of State, presides over the Holy See Secretariat of State, also the Pope’s advisor. In political term, he is the deputy pope.
The office traces its origins to that of secretary intimus, created by Pope Leo X in the early 16th century to handle correspondence with the diplomatic missions of the Holy See, which were just beginning to become permanent postings instead of missions sent on particular occasions.
Historically, most of the secretaries have been Italians. Amleto Giovanni Cicognani (24 February 1883 – 17 December 1973) was an Italian Cardinal. He served as Vatican Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969, and Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1972 until his death.
Apart from Jean-Marie Villot (11 October 1905 – 9 March 1979) who was a French Cardinal who served as Archbishop of Lyon from 1965 to 1967, Prefect of the congregation for Council Congregation from 1967 to 1969, Vatican Secretary of State from 1969 to 1979, the rest were Italians.
Agostino Casaroli (24 November 1914 – 9 June 1998) was an Italian Catholic priest and diplomat for the Holy See, who became Cardinals Secretary of State later on. He was the most important figure behind the Vatican’s efforts to deal with the persecution of the Church in the nations of the Soviet bloc after the Second Vatican Council.
Angelo Sodano (born 23 November 1927) was an Italian Cardinal who has been Dean of the College of Cardinals since 2005. He was Cardinal Secretary of State from 1990 to 2006, under both popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
Outgoing Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone, S.D.B. (born 2 December 1934) is an Italian. The incoming Secretary, Pietro Parolin (born 17 January 1955) is an Italian. Previously, he had served from 2002 as Undersecretary for Relations with States, the highest position in the Holy See’s diplomatic service after those of Cardinal Secretary of State and Secretary for Relations with States. On 31 August 2013 he was named Cardinal Secretary of State, effective on 15 October 2013.
On your third question whether Pope Francis will manage to clean up the mess at the Vatican even with the exit of Bertone, in my own opinion I would say yes, he will. The fact that he formed new commission of inquiry into the troubled Vatican bank is already step ahead.
He has also hired Swiss-born anti-money laundering expert Rene Bruelhart to lead the Holy See’s push for greater financial transparency.
Some of the immediate work of the new team is to look how Monsignor Nunzio Scarano withdrew more than a half-million euros in charitable donations from the bank without any flags being raised, walked out of Vatican City with the cash, and then used the money to pay off his personal mortgage. He was the Vatican’s chief accountant.
Scarano, 61, who worked at Deutsche bank before taking ecclesiastical vows, is accused of fraud, corruption, and other charges, as part of a wider investigation into the IOR Vatican Bank. His nickname in Vatican circles was reportedly ‘Don 500 Euros’
The investigation concerns transactions he made while an official at the Administration for the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, in 2009. He reportedly took 560,000 euros ($729,000) in cash out of his personal IOR bank account and carried it out of the Vatican and into Italy to help pay off a mortgage on his Salerno home.
The case of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is just one example. Francis announced the creation of a commission of inquiry to look into the IOR’s activities and legal status “to allow for a better harmonization with the universal mission of the Apostolic See.
The fact that it was the second time in as many weeks that Francis intervened to get information out of the IOR, a secretive institution best known for the scandals it has caused the Vatican, is a reason enough that the Pope is serious.
On June 15, he filled a key vacancy in the bank’s governing structure, tapping a trusted prelate to be his eyes inside the bank. He named five people to the commission, including two Americans: Monsignor Peter Wells, a top official in the Vatican secretariat of state, and Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard law professor, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See and current president of a pontifical academy.
Francis opted to appoint an American because American cardinals were among the most vocal in demanding a wholesale reform of the Vatican bureaucracy and the Vatican bank.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002