Merchants in the Temple Read Online Free PDF

he exhorted them.
    On July 18, 2013—only a couple of weeks after his dramatic meeting with the cardinals in the Sala Bologna—the Pope appointed a new commission of inquiry into the Vatican finances: the Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA). Its job was to collect all of the information on the financial management of the Curia, and the Commission would report directly to Francis. It was a brand-new body that would not diminish the authority of the Special Council of fifteen cardinals, chaired by Secretary of State Bertone, but would still present an open challenge to the powers that be. The day of reckoning was near. Francis’s move was an implicit reprimand to the men who had managed the Holy See during the pontificate of Benedict XVI and, prior to him, of John Paul II.
    The members of the Commission selected by the Pope were vetted and briefed by the Substitute of the Secretary of State, Peter Wells. 1 The chairmanship of the new Commission was assigned to Joseph Zahra of Malta, one of the international auditors who in late June had signed the letter to the Pope alerting him to the impending financial crisis at the Holy See. 2 He was the right man at the right time. In addition to his close relations with the leaders of multinational corporations and international finance, he was trustworthy, a paramount concern for Francis. The selection of Zahra marked the start of a new era and sent a warning signal to the Curia: the Pope prized and was ready to reward those who had the courage to denounce the wrongdoing and opaque interests inimical to the pastoral mission of the Holy Roman Church.
    Francis’s attitude represented a radical shift from the papacy of his predecessor. Under Benedict XVI, Monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò, Secretary of the Governorate, reported to the Pontiff outrageous expenditures such as a Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square that cost 500,000 euros. As his reward, he was discredited at the Vatican and exiled to the United States as the Apostolic Nunzio (a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See) to Washington, a lower-level position. The dramatic expulsion of Viganò was one of the reasons why Benedict XVI’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, contacted me and decided to trust me with the thick file of correspondence between Viganò, Bertone, and the Holy Father. (These letters documented waste, corruption, and injustice at the Vatican and were the basis of my previous book, His Holiness .)
    Zahra was not expecting this assignment but he shifted into high gear immediately. The first item of business was a trip back to his beautiful home in Balzan, a small town of four thousand people in the heart of Malta, where he closed his pending case files. From the office of his financial consultancy on the first floor of the Fino Building, on Notabile Road in Mriehel, Malta, his assistant, Marthese Spiteri-Gonzi, was handling all the details of his move to Casa Santa Marta. To prepare for his new assignment, Zahra set about rereading the minutes of the biannual meetings of the international auditors. After all the warnings that had gone unheeded under Benedict XVI, now it appeared that Francis was willing to hear the truth about financial irregularities and appreciated the individuals who had the courage to report them. In addition to Zahra’s appointment as Chair, another auditor, the German Jochen Messemer, also entered the pontifical commission. 3
    The papal decree establishing the Commission, known formally as a chirograph, was signed on July 18. The functions of the new structure were summarized in the seven points of the chirograph. In point 3 the Pontiff was clear: “the administrative bodies concerned … are required to collaborate readily with the Commission. The official secret and any other restrictions established by judicial norms do not impede or limit the Commission’s access to