ROME
Bendigo Advertiser
Desmond O’Grady
28 Jun 2017
Rome: The spotlight is on Cardinal George Pell’s Secretariat for the Economy following the unexpected resignation of the Vatican’s Auditor-General Libero Milone.
Milone who had an autonomous role in Pell’s office, was appointed two years ago for a five-year term after an executive search to audit the city state’s financial dealings. Pell was appointed in 2014 to establish the secretariat and untangle the Vatican finances.
Only three months ago, Milone gave an enthusiastic interview with no suggestion that he might leave before the end of his term. Then he said he had at last acquired adequate knowledge of the complex network of 142 Vatican entities. He had a 12-member, all lay staff, half of whom are women.
No reason was given for his abrupt resignation last week but one possibility is clashes of opinion with Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, head of the Vatican’s central bank APSA which administers the Vatican’s real estate and financial holdings.
Calcagno has never welcomed Pell’s role as an overseer of Vatican financial operations. In May Calcagno’s office informed other Vatican offices that they should report on their financial dealings to the financial services firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers which has been working with the Vatican.
Pell and Milone hit back publicly with a strongly worded bulletin saying that checking Vatican finances was their responsibility and no reports should be sent to PwC.
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