Pope Francis ends saint-making financial abuses

Pope Francis has imposed new financial accountability regulations on the Vatican’s multimillion-dollar saint-making machine. 

Gross abuses have been revealed in two books.

The rules require external vigilance over Vatican bank accounts created for beatification and canonisation causes, as well as regular budgeting and accounting.

This is to make sure the donations from the faithful are being used as intended.

The reforms were imposed after Francis tasked a fact-finding commission to investigate Vatican expenditures. Two books by Italian journalists, based on the commission’s confidential findings, revealed that the Vatican’s secretive, saint-making process brought in hundreds of thousands of euros in donations for each saintly candidate, but had no financial oversight on how the money was spent.

The books estimated the average cost for each beatification at €500,000, with the proceeds going to a few lucky people given contracts to investigate the candidates’ lives. While candidates with wealthy donors sprinted ahead, those with less wealthy ones languished.

The new rules call for an administrator for each saintly cause, who must “scrupulously respect” the intention of each donation. The administrator must keep a running tab on expenditures and donations, prepare an annual budget, and be subject to the oversight of the local bishop or religious superior.

That person must approve the annual budget and send it to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints — the Vatican office responsible for reviewing saintly candidates, investigating miracles, and preparing the cases for the Pope’s ultimate decision.

They also set out the mechanism by which each cause pays the congregation for its services, finalising the beatification or canonisation.

Once the candidate is made a saint, the congregation decides what to do with any remaining funds, including sending them to a special solidarity account for less-well funded candidates, the norms say.