Pope cancels Holy See fundraising commission announced under questionable circumstances
Nicole Winfield, Associated Press
ROME — Pope Leo XIV has taken his biggest step yet to correct one of Pope Francis’s more problematic financial moves, canceling a special Holy See fundraising commission that was announced under questionable circumstances while Francis was hospitalized.
Leo on Thursday formally suppressed the fundraising commission, abrogated its statutes and fired its members. He decreed that its assets would go to the Holy See as a whole, and that the Vatican patrimony office would oversee the commission’s extinction.
A new working group would be formed, with papally approved members, to come up with fundraising proposals and an appropriate structure going forward, the decree said.
The decree was the latest sign that as 2025 comes to an end, history’s first American pope is wrapping up the loose ends of Francis’s pontificate. Leo is correcting problems as needed and fulfilling Francis’s Holy Year obligations, as he looks ahead to the new year when he can focus more on his own agenda.
The Vatican had announced the creation of the commission, its statutes and members on Feb. 26, while Francis was in the hospital battling double pneumonia. At the time, he was being visited by the top officials of the Secretariat of State.
The commission included only Italians with no professional fundraising experience. Its president was the assessor of the Secretariat of State, the very same Vatican office that Francis had previously stripped of its ability to manage assets after it lost tens of millions of euros in a scandalous London property deal.
the lack of qualified fundraisers and absence of any Americans on the board
the U.S. is the biggest donor to the Vatican
immediately raised questions about the commission’s credibility.
of a sick pope to announce a new flow of unchecked donations into its coffers
after Francis took its 600 million-euro ($684 million) sovereign wealth fund
away and gave it to another office to manage as punishment for the London fiasco.
The decree by the American pope thus appears to be an effort to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch. Donations are a crucial source of revenue to the Holy See, and wealthy American donors in particular had been looking to Leo, a math major, to impose greater financial transparency and accountability on the Vatican’s books.
4 comments:
With Father McDonald's permission:
Here is important confirmation in regard to Pope Leo XIV's holy, uplifting continuity with Pope Francis (requiescat in pace):
PRESENTATION OF CREDENTIAL LETTERS BY THE AMBASSADORS OF
UZBEKISTAN, MOLDOVA, BAHREIN, SRI LANKA, PAKISTAN, LIBERIA, THAILAND,
LESOTHO, SOUTH AFRICA, FIJI, MICRONESIA, LATVIA AND FINLAND
ADDRESS OF POPE LEO XIV
Clementine Hall
Saturday, 6 December 2025
[Multimedia]
____________________________________
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Peace be with you!
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am especially glad to meet you at the beginning of my pontificate and during this Jubilee year of Hope, a celebration that calls everyone “to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.” (Franics, Spes non Confundit, 25). From my first words as Bishop of Rome, I wished to recall the greeting of the Risen Lord Jesus —“Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19) — and to invite all peoples to pursue what I have called an “unarmed and disarming peace” (cf. Urbi et Orbi, 8 May 2025). Peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but “an active and demanding gift,” one that is “built in the heart and from the heart”; it calls each of us to renounce pride and vindictiveness and to resist the temptation to use words as weapons (cf. Audience to Members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, 16 May 2025). This vision of peace has become all the more urgent, as geopolitical tension and fragmentation continue to deepen in ways that burden nations and that strain the bonds of the human family.
Furthermore, we must not forget that the poor and the marginalized suffer most from these upheavals. Indeed, “the measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need” (cf. Francis, Visit to the Community of Varginha, 25 July 2013). In my Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te, I echoed the same conviction: that our world cannot afford to avert its gaze from those who are easily rendered invisible by rapid economic and technological change.
In this regard, I wish to reaffirm that the Holy See will not be a silent bystander to the grave disparities, injustices and fundamental human rights violations in our human and global community, which is increasingly more fractured and conflict-prone. Indeed, the Holy See’s diplomacy, shaped by the values of the Gospel, is consistently directed toward serving the good of humanity, especially by appealing to consciences and by remaining attentive to the voices of those who are poor, in vulnerable situations or pushed to the margins of society.
Your diplomatic mission, and the constructive relations between the Holy See and your nations, can offer real help in addressing these grave concerns. It is my particular hope that our cooperation will also contribute to a renewed spirit of multilateral engagement at a moment when it is sorely needed, revitalizing those international bodies established to resolve disputes among nations. I trust that together we may highlight the situations of those in need, those who are too often forgotten, and that our shared commitment will inspire the international community to lay the foundations for a more just, fraternal and peaceful world.
As you begin your mission to the Holy See, I assure you of the support of the Secretariat of State. May your service help to open new doors of dialogue, foster unity and advance that peace for which the human family so ardently longs. Upon you, your families and the peoples you represent, I willingly invoke abundant divine blessings.
Thank you.
MT, your anxiety is showing. You point out the continuity but neglect the glaring discontinuities. That’s natural trying to cope with the fact Pope Francis is no more and we have another pope quite different than Francis.
Sorry, I had hit the "publish" button too early.
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Speaking of Popes Leo XIV, as well as Francis (requiescat in pace)...with Father McDonald's permission...
The following is important confirmation from Pope Leo XIV today in regard to his wonderful continuity with Pope Francis:
ADDRESS OF POPE LEO XIV
Clementine Hall Saturday, 6 December 2025
"...during this Jubilee year of Hope, a celebration that calls everyone “to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.” (Francis, Spes non Confundit, 25).
"Indeed, “the measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need” (cf. Francis, Visit to the Community of Varginha, 25 July 2013)."
"In my Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te, I echoed the same conviction: that our world cannot afford to avert its gaze from those who are easily rendered invisible by rapid economic and technological change."
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"In this regard, I wish to reaffirm that the Holy See will not be a silent bystander to the grave disparities, injustices and fundamental human rights violations in our human and global community, which is increasingly more fractured and conflict-prone."
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In 2023 A.D., Ukrainian bishops uplifted Pope Francis "as the universal voice of truth and justice."
Today, via his declaration in question, there is not any doubt that Pope Leo XIV will serve as the "as the universal voice of truth and justice."
Again...Pope Leo XIV:
"In this regard, I wish to reaffirm that the Holy See will not be a silent bystander to the grave disparities, injustices and fundamental human rights violations in our human and global community, which is increasingly more fractured and conflict-prone."
May the world throw in with holy Pope Leo XIV.
Through Pope Leo XIV, we hear the voice of Jesus Christ.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Francis was the Biden of popes: corrupt and not too bright!
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