The Cardinals’ Vigilance Commission of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), “is in full exercise,” clarified the Director of the Holy See’s Press Office, Greg Burke, on February 3, 2017, following rumors published in the Italian press.
The Commission, made up of six Cardinals has not been abolished, assured Greg Burke: the Pope wished to “reinforce (its) role … in as much as it is a distinct and separate organ of the Council of Superintendence, as established by the Institute’s statute.
This is why “Pope Francis asked that, beginning this year, the meetings of the Council should take place separately from those of the Commission, to underline the distinction of the roles.” Thus the Council of the Vatican’s financial institute, made up of seven members and presided over by Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu, met on its own at the beginning of the civil year.
The Cardinals’ Vigilance Commission, presided over by Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, includes the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin; Cardinal Thomas Christopher Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, Canada; Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna, Austria; Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue and Cardinal Josip Bozanic, Archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
