UNPRECEDENTED OVERHAUL

Financial mischief is not typical of the Wall Street only. Apparently, it is quite a common phenomenon in the Holy See. Dubbed the 'trial of the century' by the world's largest media outlets, the ongoing fraud and corruption litigation has indirectly affected the Pope.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, 73, once one of Vatican's most influential clerics, is accused of astronomical embezzlement of donations as well as abuse of office. As deputy secretary of state of the Holy See, he oversaw the day-to-day affairs of the Vatican and was the only official not required to make advance appointments with the pope.

Becciu has been implicated in a $350m deal to buy property in London's upmarket Chelsea district, as well as trying to free a Colombian nun who had been captured by al-Qaeda-linked militants for $1m. He also donated €225,000 to his brother's charity in Sardinia and €575,000 to a certain businesswoman for "security advice".

In addition, it emerged that during the investigation Becciu had tried several times to persuade the Pope to confirm that the London deal and negotiations with the militants had been conducted with his personal approval. Moreover, after receiving an evasive written response from the Pope, he called him and, while recording the conversation, sought a verbal admission of his involvement. But the Pope only advised him to put his requests in writing again... 

It has also emerged that the Pope had long been aware of his cardinal's dishonest actions, but eventually ignored them and did not fire Becciu. According to Forbes, citing a former Vatican official, Pope Francis received a secret dossier about five years ago, which contained evidence of Cardinal Becciu embezzling more than $2m of church funds. An attempt to inform the Pope of the impending disaster exposing the London scam, he refused an audience altogether.

Given that the Secretary-General of Vatican, as well as his new deputy and other high-ranking officials have not been punished and are not even under investigation although the were well aware of developments, or perhaps were involved in the criminal case, then the situation looks quite sad.

Journalists have jokingly suggested that Hollywood should make a blockbuster movie based on the criminal case, starring Harrison Ford or Jude Law (who has already played the Pope in a TV series). Given that the Vatican has been shaken for several years by corruption scandals involving cardinals, the heads of the Vatican Bank and other high dignitaries, the blockbuster could well be released as a TV series. But besides corruption scandals the Vatican has already been involved in numerous allegations of sexual abuse, including child abuse.

Bowing to local elite

The Vatican's problems are not limited to internal squabbles. However, the way Pope Francis is trying to deal with geopolitical challenges causes bewilderment to many.

As expected, the attention of the world community is focused primarily on the war in Ukraine. It is known that the Holy See has made numerous calls for peace since the beginning of the war. Yet it has refrained from condemning President Vladimir Putin publicly. The pontiff prefers to say that he is not on Putin's side, but is "simply against turning a complex situation into a distinction between good guys and bad guys, without considering the roots and self-interests, which are very complex." The Pope has also stubbornly refused invitations to visit Kiev, the capital of a country hosting 4-5 million Catholics. He said he would have to visit Moscow at the same time, but there has been no invitation from the Kremlin yet.

The second major problem for the Vatican is China, where the Catholic Church is experiencing increasing pressure. Pope Francis is trying to ease the situation by making significant concessions to the country's leadership. In 2018, the Vatican signed an agreement with Beijing providing for the appointment of Catholic bishops by the Communist government, but with the approval of the Pope. In principle, this goes against the canons of the Church. However, the reality was even worse. In April 2023, the Chinese government began appointing bishops without any approval from the Holy See at all.

This has put the Vatican in a tricky situation: it has no obvious leverage to make China respect the prerogatives of the Holy See. But neither can it walk away from negotiations, however fruitless they may be, without risking causing more trouble for the local church. There are more than 12 million Catholics in China.

The Pontifical Office is seriously puzzled and does not know how to react: to consider the appointments legitimate or not. Chinese Catholics are not happy with the Pope's indecision either, saying openly that he has been forced to "bow down to the CCP".

Many have also criticised the Pope's recent trip to Africa. Visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan in February, he condemned "terrible forms of exploitation unworthy of humanity" and called for: "Hands off Africa! Stop strangling Africa: it is not a mine to be looted or a territory to be conquered." But he said nothing about the responsibility of African elites for poverty and backwardness. In fact, it turned out to be the same bowing to local elites for dubious dividends.

Young people turning away from the church

Scandals shaking the Vatican certainly alienate its followers. But these are not the main reason for the increasing decline in the role of religion, including Catholicism, in traditionally Christian countries. First tendencies for secularisation began in Western European countries shortly after the World War II.

In the final years of John Paul II's reign (1978-2005), however, and especially during the pontificate of Benedict XVI (2005-2013), secularisation spread like a wildfire. In traditionally Catholic countries such as Ireland, Spain, Italy and even Poland, young people are turning away from the Church.

While over 50% of Catholics in Poland attended Sunday Mass in 1990, in 2019 this number decreased to about 37%. In Germany, 1,500 people joined the church in 2021 and 360,000 left. In England and Wales, just under half of the people raised as Catholics no longer call themselves as such.

According to the Western media, in countries with a Catholic population, only 28% attend church at least once a week. For every Catholic convert, 10 leave the flock. Every year, the Catholic Church loses 4,000-5,000 priests. And the list goes on.

No privileges

This is not to say that Pope Francis is doing nothing to rectify the situation. After all, the main reason for his election in 2013 was the long-overdue need to reform the cumbersome and often inadequate Vatican bureaucracy that runs a congregation of 1.3 billion believers.

The Vatican claims that Pope Francis set a task to eradicate corruption, abuse and behaviour contrary to the Divine principles since he took the office. In particular, there have been significant reforms to canon law to increase penalties and widen the range of offences.

Last year, a new Apostolic Constitution was adopted to reform the Roman Curia (the main administrative body of the Holy See and the Vatican). The Pope stated that he intended to use the constitution to "overhaul the Vatican".

In addition to reorganising the Vatican's governing body, the constitution introduces greater financial transparency and opens it up to women and laity. Baptised lay Catholics, including women, can now run departments traditionally headed by cardinals. A special place is given to institutional efforts to protect minors - a commission under the Church government to counter the clerical abuse.

The Pope's new decree obliges cardinals and bishops under investigation for corruption to first appear before a court of first instance. This was a major turning point in the relationship between the Pope and his cardinals. Previously, top Catholic dignitaries were investigated exclusively by the Vatican's Supreme Court, but now they must be tried as ordinary citizens. This order effectively strips cardinals and bishops of serious privileges.

The Pope also has ideas on how to deal with the sharpest decline in Vatican revenues in modern history. The austerity package includes, among other things, a 10 percent cut in the salaries of cardinals and, to a lesser extent, other clerics. Along with this, Pope Francis has cancelled non-essential renovations to the Vatican's vast historic building complex and urged Vatican officials to travel less.

The Catholic Church has also been asked to review its 1,000-year-old tradition of celibacy. The Pope said that the union of a priest and a woman was not against religion, calling the 11th-century ban "a temporary phenomenon". Although more recently, back in 2019, he was convinced that celibacy was a "gift" to the church.

After the German Catholic Church agreed to a series of reforms, including the blessing of same-sex marriages, the Pope assured, surprising his entourage, that he was ready to accept this too.

Communist Pope

Apparently, the development of the entire Catholic Church will show whether the new reforms will save the Vatican or bend under the weight of economic decline and structural upheaval.

However, it is clear that in addition to all the objective internal and external problems the Pope has now a new one – he has been heavily criticised by high-ranking Vatican officials who are unhappy with their interests being severely curtailed. Some in the Vatican even ridicule Pope Francis, calling him a "communist".

The Pope risks to be overthrown by Vatican conservatives, according to an anonymous Italian cardinal who told La Stampa that "extreme stress of the situation can make the pontiff resign".

Indeed, the Pope's burden is heavy. But can he bear it?