Pope Francis has named a serving monsignor in Portsmouth, England, to assist the coordinator of the new Vatican Council for the Economy.
Msgr. Brian Ferme will become prelate secretary of the Council for the Economy, the Vatican announced on Saturday.
His task will be to assist the council’s Cardinal coordinator “in the fulfilment of the functions of the Council for the Economy, whose competences are associated with the guidance and supervision of the administrative and financial activities of the economic entities of the Holy See,” the Vatican said.
The appointment follows the Holy Father’s motu proprio, Fidelis dispensator et prudens (24 February 2014), which established the Secretariat for the Economy. The new body will be presided over by Australian Cardinal George Pell and German Cardinal Reinhard Marx will be its Cardinal coordinator.
Born in 1955, Msgr. Brian Ferme completed his philosophical, theological and canonical studies in Melbourne, Oxford and Rome. He is the author of numerous scientific publications and articles and served as professor of Canon Law at the Gregorian Pontifical University.
He subsequently lectured at the Pontifical Lateran University, where he became Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law in 2000. In 2003, in Washington, he became Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law at the Catholic University of America, after which he transferred to Venice as Head of the St. Pius X Faculty of Canon Law.
Msgr. Ferme already collaborates with various dicasteries of the Roman Curia; in particular, he is a consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.
