UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Jul. 18, 2014 Faith and Justice

Ever since Jesus appointed Judas to take care of the purse, the church has had problems with finances. The church may have been founded by Jesus, but it is run by men. Will the recent reforms of the Vatican bank end these problems? Probably not, but that does not mean the Vatican will be operating with business as usual.

As with many problems in the church, the problems with Vatican bank find their roots in clericalism and secrecy.

No one enters the seminary with the desire to someday be in charge of church finances. Rather, seminarians want to become pastors. Seminaries also do not do a good job training their students to handle church finances. Priests who do develop expertise in church finances do so on the job. It would be extremely rare to find…