Weekly Collection for the weekend of March 1, 2015

 

 

First Capital Campaign notification in a month. Twelve additional pledges however total pledges decrease by $815.

St. James’ Loan Obligation to the Diocese

Above is from the Bulletin of March 8, 2015.

Pope Francis cements financial reform in new laws, creates Vatican auditor general | National Catholic Reporter

 

Ending weeks of speculation that curial officials would stop his reform of the Vatican's scandal-plagued finances, Pope Francis has approved a set of new legislative norms that formalize his moves to bring financial accountability and transparency to the Catholic church's central bureaucracy.

The new laws concretize the pope's creation last year of a new central Vatican office with wide control over financial matters, giving that office authority to mandate financial standards for Vatican departments and power to monitor and review the implementation of such standards.

The pope has also created a new position within the Vatican bureaucracy for an auditor general, giving that as-yet unnamed person near-complete authority to investigate irregularities in accounting -- extending even to unannounced on-site investigations of Vatican offices.

Francis made the financial moves in a new series of norms, known together as a motu proprio, that were posted to the Vatican website Tuesday. The norms, which were signed Feb. 22 and went into effect Sunday -- concern three Vatican entities: the Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy, and the new office of the auditor general.

The pope created the council and the secretariat in February 2014, appointing German Cardinal Reinhard Marx to lead the former and Australian Cardinal George Pell to lead the latter.

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The council is an oversight body of 15 members that meets occasionally at the Vatican, while the secretariat was launched as an entirely new Vatican office to consolidate and control the many diverse curial offices that control church finances.

Before the issuing of Tuesday's norms, there had been speculation that Pell's power as the head of the secretariat might be curtailed to meet criticisms from some Vatican officials that he was being given too much authority.

Adding to the intrigue was the publication by the Italian magazine l'Espresso last week of accusations that Pell himself was misspending Vatican money, which the secretariat staunchly refuted in a press release.

Outlining the powers of the council, secretariat, and auditor general separately, the norms are particularly sweeping in describing the authority given to Pell and to the new auditor.

The norms specify that the Secretariat for the Economy is to have two sections: one designated to control and watch over Vatican finances and another to administration of the secretariat itself.

Under the authority of the first section, the norms specify Pell is to have the power to issue executive decrees to all Vatican departments concerning their guidelines and procedures "aimed at effective planning, budget forecasting and management of human, financial and material resources entrusted to the departments of the Roman Curia."

Marking substantial changes to a culture of opacity -- where Vatican offices have operated for years without a central budget or accounting system -- the first section of the secretariat is also to have power to analyze all Vatican operations to ensure all activities are "carried out efficiently" and are "in compliance with the approved budgets."

Likewise, the norms specify that the secretariat is to create one centralized budget for the entire Vatican and a consolidated balance sheet to show earnings and expenditures of each curial office. The norms do, however, make a distinction in the secretariat's power over the Vatican City State and the Holy See, the Vatican's diplomatic entity.

While the laws state clearly that the secretariat "controls the annual budget and the final budget of the State of Vatican City," they state that the office "prepares" the budget for the Holy See.

Obliquely referencing past news reports that Vatican offices may have inappropriately sold expensive properties they owned in Rome and other cities, the norms also give Pell the power to "approve every act of alienation, purchase or extraordinary administration put in place by the departments of the Roman Curia or institutions linked to the Holy See."

Pell is also empowered to ask the newly created auditor general to make specific reviews of any Vatican office. Creating the new auditing office in the norms, Francis writes that the office is to be composed of one auditor general and two assisting auditors.

The auditing office, he writes, is to have four key roles that are to be fulfilled "in full autonomy and independence and following the best internationally recognized practices in the field of public administration."

Those four roles:

• Implementing an annual auditing program for Vatican entities;
• Performing reviews on those entities "when he deems it necessary or if it is requested by the Council for the Economy";
• Receiving reports of "anomalies in the activities of institutions and administrations" and investigating those; and
• Proposing new "appropriate measures" to be followed in financial accounting.

The auditor's office is given power to perform specific reviews "whenever there is reasonable cause to suspect that" there are:

• Initiatives and activities that "deviate substantially" from approved budgets;
• "Anomalies in the use or ownership of financial resources or materials";
• "Irregularities in the accounts or records";
• "Significant irregularities in the awarding of agreements or contracts for outside services or in the carrying out of transactions or disposals"; and
• Acts of "corruption, embezzlement or fraud."

Tuesday's norms specify that the Council for the Economy is to "receive and consider" reports from both the auditor's office and the economy secretariat. That body, Francis writes, is to "exercise its functions in the light of the Gospel and according to the social doctrine of the Church."

Francis also formalized the current structure of the council, mandating that eight of its 15 members must be either cardinals or bishops and the remaining seven must be laypeople. The terms for all members are set at five years, with a limit of two terms.

During meetings, members of the council "are required to disclose any conflict of interest resulting from other offices, private investments or relationships of cooperation in place with the Holy See, the State of the Vatican City or any other subject that may have a business relationship."

"The member who is in a situation of conflict of interest shall not participate in discussions in relation to which the conflict may have relevance," Francis writes.

While Pell is able to participate in the council meetings, he does not have a right to vote in their deliberations. Likewise able to attend with the same restriction is the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

The secretary of state is mentioned again in the norms in the section about the powers of the Secretariat for the Economy, where Francis writes that Pell and Parolin should "work in collaboration" but stipulates that Parolin "has sole competence for matters relating to relations with States and other subjects of public international law."

Pointing to just how expansive the powers of the Secretariat for the Economy are, the pope also writes that the secretariat is to help in processing Vatican salaries, creating hiring and firing practices for employees, proposing professional training courses, and managing personal data of Vatican staff.

[Joshua J. McElwee is NCR Vatican correspondent

Pope Francis cements financial reform in new laws, creates Vatican auditor general | National Catholic Reporter

Retrial begins for Philly priest in molestation case

 

PHILADELPHIA Catholic priest took advantage of a quiet kid when he allegedly molested a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997, a prosecutor told a Common Pleas jury yesterday.

The Rev. Andrew McCormick, 58, is being retried a year after a jury remained deadlocked after more than four days of deliberations.

McCormick is accused of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, endangering the welfare of a child and indecent assault of a child under 13 years of age, among other charges.

In her opening statement yesterday, Assistant District Attorney Kristen Kemp said that McCormick had "picked and targeted [the victim] because he wouldn't tell."

The alleged victim, whose name the Daily News is withholding due to the graphic nature of the allegations, is now 28.

The man does not remember the exact date of the alleged incident, but recalls that it was cold outside and that "it was a holy day of obligation," Kemp said in her opening argument.

McCormick allegedly asked the boy, " 'Hey, do you want to see my room upstairs?' " at St. John Cantius Church in Bridesburg, Kemp said.

Once there, the prosecution alleges, McCormick assaulted the boy.

"In an instant, he was not the Father Andy that [the boy] trusted and loved," Kemp told the jury. "He was on him, kissing him and grabbing his genitals."

Kemp further described the priest trying to push his penis into the boy's mouth. When the boy resisted, McCormick allegedly order him to leave.

Kemp said that the alleged victim did not report the incident at that time, but told his cousin a year later and a group on a high-school religious retreat seven years later. Eventually, she said, he told his dad in a middle-of-the-night text message in 2011.

Kemp read the text to the jury: "Hey Dad, I don't want to wake you, but I woke up out of my sleep. And things have been bothering me. And I'm just going to come out and say it. Father Andy molested me."

The defense contends that the alleged victim was a troubled person who "has battled substance abuse for most of his life," McCormick's lawyer, Trevan Borum, said in his opening statement.

"He's been a priest for 30 years," Borum said. "He's served in four different parishes. During that 30 years, he's come into contact with hundreds, if not thousands, of altar boys. [The alleged victim] is the only person in that 30 years that has ever accused Father McCormick of child molestation."

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia placed McCormick on administrative leave in March 2011 in response to allegations of sexual misconduct with minors.

Borum said that when the alleged victim told people at the high-school retreat about the alleged incident "he doesn't say who molested him, he doesn't say when it happened."

The trial continues at 9:30 a.m. today.

Retrial begins for Philly priest in molestation case

Vatican denounces leaks of documents on finance reforms - Yahoo Finance

 

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican spokesman on Friday condemned as "unworthy and petty" the leaks of documents detailing power struggles inside the Holy See and the expenditures of Pope Francis' new finance czar.

In a cover story Friday, Italy's L'Espresso weekly detailed opposition to Cardinal George Pell's financial reform and revealed that his Secretariat for the Economy had racked up a half million euros (dollars) in expenditures in the last six months. Some of the expenses seemed legitimate, but one was a 2,508-euro ($2,800) bill from Rome's swanky Gamarelli tailor.

The Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, condemned the leaks as illegal and called the attacks on Pell "unworthy and petty." He said Pell's office was moving ahead efficiently with reforms.

Pope Francis tasked Pell last year to put the Vatican's finances in order after years of mismanagement, waste and scandal. Francis gave him broad powers and the Australian has received widespread support from cardinals outside Rome.

But questions have swirled about the scope of his power and resistance has grown from within the entrenched Vatican bureaucracy, especially after Pell boasted that he had "discovered" hundreds of millions of euros "tucked away" in accounts off the Vatican balance sheet.

In fact, the money was well-known and much of it was purposefully set aside as reserves for funding shortfalls.

The leaks to L'Espresso were clearly aimed at discrediting Pell and harked back to the "Vati-leaks" affair that tarnished the final year of Pope Benedict XVI's papacy. In that scandal, Benedict's butler leaked reams of papal documents to an Italian journalist, aiming to discredit the Vatican's No. 2 official.

The documents also laid bare the dysfunctions and political intrigue that afflict the Vatican bureaucracy — problems that were central to Francis' election as pope with a mandate for reform

Vatican denounces leaks of documents on finance reforms - Yahoo Finance

Homeless Catholic Man Buried At Vatican Cemetery In Honor Of Years Of Faith

 

A homeless man who became a regular figure at the Vatican for his years of Catholic devotion was buried in a Vatican City cemetery after his remains were left in a morgue unidentified for nearly two months. Pope Francis personally authorized Willy Herteller to be buried in the Teutonic Cemetery, which was founded around the year 800 as a resting place for knights, fallen Swiss guards and royalty.

Herteller, thought to be around 80 years old, “attended 7 o’clock Mass every day for more than 25 years,” said the Rev. Bruno Silvestrinia, pastor of the Vatican’s Church of St. Anne, according to the National Catholic Reporter. He had become known by the Swiss Guard, church officials and other regulars around the Vatican. He would often hang out near St. Peter’s Square and discuss his faith with tourists and pilgrims who came to Vatican City, surviving on their charity and the help of locals.

Herteller died on Dec. 12, 2014, after collapsing on a cold night outside the Vatican grounds and ….

Click on the following to read more:  Homeless Catholic Man Buried At Vatican Cemetery In Honor Of Years Of Faith

Pope Francis' "Mexicanization" remark gets him into trouble with Mexico - CBS News

Click on the following to read this story:  Pope Francis' "Mexicanization" remark gets him into trouble with Mexico - CBS News