Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office blasted an article on the Vatican’s financial reform published by Italian news magazine L’Espresso, calling it “undignified and petty.”
The article in question claims to show an internal document that shows struggles within Curia members regarding financial reforms carried out by Secretariat for the Economy and its head, Cardinal George Pell.
While L’Espresso claims that the alleged documents prove a great internal struggle, and even resistance to economic reforms, Fr. Lombardi said that such complex and legal issues that are subject to different points of views “should be considered normal.
“Passing confidential documents to the press for polemical ends or to foster conflict is not new, but is always to be strongly condemned, and is illegal,” Father Lombardi said in a statement released by Vatican Radio.
“The article makes direct personal attacks that should be considered undignified and petty.”
The article also accuses Cardinal Pell and the Secretariat for the Economy for carrying out their work inefficiently by spending lavish amounts of money on their offices. The director of the Holy See Press Office stressed that such claims are false.
“It is untrue that the Secretariat for the Economy is not carrying on its work with continuity and efficacy,” he said. “In confirmation of this, the Secretariat is expected in the next few months to publish the financial statements for 2014 and the estimated budgets for 2015 for all of the entities of the Holy See, including the Secretariat itself.”
