Amid Scandal, the Pope Sticks With Reforms
Two books highlight more Vatican dysfunction and mismanagement.
Pope Francis blesses the crowd at the end of his weekly general audience at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Dec. 2.
Photographer: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
More than two and a half years after Pope Francis took office determined to clean up corruption, the Vatican is still finding financial skeletons in its many closets.
Two new books chronicle widespread mismanagement in the Holy See, including auditors’ discovery of $1.5 billion stashed in hidden accounts and the use of alms for the poor to plug holes in the church budget. The Holy See had a €25.6 million ($27.2 million) deficit in 2014. One of the books, Merchants in the Temple, by Gianluigi Nuzzi, also includes a description of a 2013 tape recording of Francis telling senior clerics that spending was “out of control.”