VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
John L. Allen Jr. | Jul. 19, 2013
ROME Let’s be clear: Francis’ first overseas trip July 22-29 to Brazil for World Youth Day almost certainly will be perceived as a runaway hit. He’ll likely draw large and enthusiastic crowds, his freewheeling and warm style should play as well on the road as it does in Rome, and his palpable concern for the poor should strike deep chords in a society where social justice is an idée fixe.
Moreover, amid a summer of discontent, Brazilians seem hungry for a good story to tell about themselves. When the final word is in, the dominant headline will probably be something like: “Francis brings peace and wins hearts.”
More problems within the Vatican bank
A nasty war of words erupted Friday in Rome in the wake of an explosive piece in the newsmagazine L’Espresso, charging that a cleric hand-picked by Pope Francis to reform the Vatican bank was involved in fairly brazen gay affairs while serving as a papal diplomat more than a decade ago.
So far, the pope appears to be standing by his man, with a senior Vatican official saying Friday morning on background that Francis “has listened to everyone and has confidence” in Msgr. Battista Ricca, the cleric named in the piece.
On the record, Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi on Friday branded the story “not credible.”
The Ricca story broke the same day Francis announced a new pontifical commission dealing with the Vatican’s economic and administrative structures. The aim, according to a legal document with which Francis created the body, is to draft reforms promoting “simplification and rationalization” and “more careful planning of economic activities,” as well as to “favor transparency” and “ever greater prudence in the area of finances.” The eight-member commission is composed almost entirely of laypeople, led by Joseph F.X. Zahra of Malta, an economist and businessman who has also served as a board member of the Vatican-based Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation and on the International Audit Committee of the Holy See and the Vatican State.
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