It’s not every day that publications focusing on corporate
compliance and governance feature pieces about Pope Francis.
But on May 21st, the Wall Street
Journal’s “Risk and Compliance Journal” did just that, and featured a
Fordham faculty member’s quote with it.
Journal columnist Gregory Millman says Pope
Francis “appears to be taking a leaf from the corporate compliance playbook
with major reforms of the Vatican’s governance and finances, aimed at guarding
the Holy See’s reputation and making its dealings more transparent.”
The Vatican’s anti-money-laundering unit, the Financial
Information Authority, on May 20 released its first annual report, and Millman
reports that compliance changes at the Vatican go much further, and include
establishing three new bodies with jurisdiction over finance and
administration.
The essentials of the new governance structure were sketched
out by Pope Francis in a February document called a Motu Proprio.
The objective is to bring 21st-century governance to an
ancient organization whose traditional administration was inadequate to prevent
the well-publicized scandals of recent years, Millman says:
“The first of the new
Vatican organizations is a Council on the Economy, whose membership includes
eight cardinals and seven lay experts. The second new unit, a Secretariat for
the Economy, is equal in rank to the Vatican Secretariat of State. It reports
directly to the Pope, and has jurisdiction over operational matters including
controls, policies and procedures, purchasing and human resources. The third
element of the new governance structure is an independent auditor general.”
Millman also says “Pope
Francis’s governance changes also strike a blow against one of his bête noires:
clericalism, or excessive deference to the clergy even in areas where clerical
status is irrelevant.” And this is where a Fordham theology expert weighs in:
Patrick
Hornbeck, professor and chair of the theology department at Fordham
University in New York, said that the new structure’s provision for sharing of
power between clergy and laity is “a significant and a distinctive feature of
the emerging style of Francis’s papacy,” explaining, “I think that Pope Francis
is recognizing that, with respect to issues like the economy, lay experts who
deal in matters of finance and governance and compliance for a living might be
better positioned to advise him on these issues than members of the clergy
might.”
Read the whole piece here
(subscription required).
-Gina Vergel
