Pope Decides that Only the “Vatican Bank” Will Be Concerned with the Holy See’s Real Estate Patrimony

(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 23.08.2022).- On Tuesday, August 23, a day after addressing the subject with the Vatican Secretary of State, a new “Rescript” of the Pope was published, by which the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) –the so-called “Vatican Bank”–, is granted the exclusive management of the Holy See’s real estate patrimony. Thus the IOR has the jurisdiction to manage the movable property of all that is related to the Holy See. 

The Rescript notes that it is an Instruction on the administration and management of the Holy See’s financial assets and liquidity and of institutions linked to it. Hence, this Rescript is deemed to interpret all preceding provisions on the management and administration of the matter and, consequently, orders that anyone who has assets in an institution other than the IOR must transfer them to it. 

Here is a translation of the Rescript:

Instruction on the Administration and Management of the Financial Assets and Liquidity of the Holy See and of Institutions Associated with the Holy See

1. In the audience granted to the Secretary of State on August 22, the Holy Father Francis decided to dictate the present Instruction, on the administration and management of the financial assets and liquidity of the Holy See and of institutions related to it.

2. The Holy Father has decreed that it will have the character of an authentic interpretation of the current dispositions and will be firm and stable in its validity, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, even if it is prior to the Rescript or refers specifically to special things.

3. Article 219, paragraph 3, of the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, promulgated on March 19, 2022, must be interpreted in the sense that  the activity of management of properties and custody of the movable patrimony of the Holy See and of Institutions related to the Holy See is the exclusive responsibility of the Institute for the Works of Religion.

4. The Holy See and Institutions linked to the Holy See that have financial assets and liquid assets  –regardless of the way in which they are held–, in financial institutions other than the IOR, will have to inform the IOR and transfer them to it as soon as possible within the 30 days following the 1st of September 2022.

5. It will come into force immediately through its publication in L’Osservatore Romano. The acts previously adopted, which are not in conformity, must be adapted to these instructions. 

FRANCISCUS