Merchants in the Temple Read Online Free PDF Page A

1,929,000 euros in a very short time. 12

    We Cannot Turn a Blind Eye
    Josep Cullell from Barcelona delivered the harshest analysis:
    It’s true, the Prefecture can no longer afford to be so gullible, so naïve, but must set priorities and make sure the rules are followed … Our finances are unsustainable and completely chaotic. The Vatican has always been characterized by a kind of ambiguity, like the Kingdom of Taifa, 13 in choosing a specific institution that would hold all the power, govern and establish priorities, and not only in terms of finances …
    Both in Barcelona and on the outskirts of Rome there is widespread poverty, also afflicting children, and this is a troubling sign of recession. We cannot turn a blind eye to this and keep restoring monuments. I can’t believe the data that has been given to me. The real economy could never allow a situation like this. There are even doubts about earnings from our financial investments.
    There are various realities at the Vatican that are unsound: the Governorate, which didn’t even bother to present an annual financial report last year; L’Osservatore Romano ; the Vatican Radio, with losses that were temporarily concealed through “financial wizardry”; the IOR, which could easily be closed and replaced by APSA. The IOR has little to offer and could be replaced by another institution. Closing it would solve many problems for the Pope and for the Church of Rome.
    Zahra, the economist from Malta, realized that Francis had to be warned. So he tried to speed up the clock:
    After a long period of status quo, the time has come to change. We’re at a crossroads: we need to make a decision. The tone we should take is the one suggested by the Pope, namely firmness and courage, and the goal is to achieve greater transparency, integrity and seriousness. We have to take advantage of the fact that the Pope himself is issuing these guidelines. We can’t change attitudes overnight, but we can translate what the Pope is saying into concrete actions in order to gradually achieve the goals we have set.
    At the end of the meeting, Zahra, Messemer, Cullell, Kyle, and Prato came to an agreement: it was essential to warn the Pope immediately. They were the ones who signed the shocking letter to the Holy Father.
    Five days later, on June 23, the Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló entered the scene. A close friend of Francis and one of his few confidants, he was the archpriest of Santa Maria Maggiore, the majestic basilica where Jorge Bergoglio used to pray during his visits to Rome as a cardinal. Abril y Castelló was a reserved, serious, and honest cardinal, far from the scheming characters of the Curia. He had slowly won the Pope’s trust by reporting deficits, irregularities and power games, starting with alleged irregularities in the restoration of the basilica where he is an archpriest. 14 It was Abril y Castelló who forwarded to the Pope the concerns of the auditors. They didn’t want the Holy Father to misunderstand them or put them in a bind, as had happened so many times in the past.
    But not this time. This time, the fuse was lit.

 
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    The Saints’ Factory

    An Unprecedented Change
    Pope Francis was not unaware of the Curia’s attempts to scuttle his reforms, and he knew he would have to fight to prevent his hopes from being crushed by the interests of the few and the inertia of the many at the Vatican. These hopes were also shared by nuns, brothers, priests, and all the humble servants of the Church, who on March 13, 2013, after the appearance of the white smoke, had waited with joy—but also apprehension—to hear the name of the new Pontiff. When Jorge Mario Bergoglio first stepped on to the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square, he wore no frills or ornaments. He uttered a simple sentence that warmed the hearts of the millions of faithful: “Good evening … pray for me,”