VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg Businessweek
By Carol Matlack and Bernhard Warner on February 11, 2013
Memo to the College of Cardinals: You didn’t ask our advice, so we won’t give it, on the person you should choose as the next spiritual leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. But whoever it is, could you please ask him to get the ATMs in the Vatican Museum working again?
The Bank of Italy last month shut down all ATMs in the Vatican and blocked its museum’s ticket windows and shops from accepting debit and credit-card payments from visitors. It was the latest chapter in a messy scandal involving the Vatican Bank, which regulators say has failed to comply with international banking standards and money-laundering regulations.
True, the $120 million or so in annual revenue from Vatican visitors is peanuts compared with the tens of billions raised and spent annually by Catholic dioceses and institutions worldwide. Still, it wouldn’t hurt for the next pope to have a good head for business.
Pope Benedict XVI, who announced today he will resign on Feb. 28 for health reasons, “has had a very difficult papacy” from a financial standpoint, says Chester Gillis, dean of Georgetown College and professor of theology at Georgetown University. Settlements and judgments in sexual-abuse cases have cost billions of dollars already and forced some dioceses into bankruptcy. More such lawsuits are still pending.
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