Pell ‘right man’ to sort out Vatican finances

Pope Francis has chosen a no-nonsense Anglo-Saxon to head the new Secretariat for the Economy (SfE) but he will nevertheless face stiff resistance to reform, according to Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

Schönborn said that in appointing Cardinal George Pell as prefect of the SfE, the Pope had showed his “forceful hand”, adding: “He has chosen a down-to-earth Anglo-Saxon, who is independent of the Curia, for the job. But implementing the work of the Secretariat will be the difficulty and opposition is to be expected,” Schönborn told the Vienna archdiocesan weekly Der Sonntag on his return from Rome after last month’s consistory.

He explained that the new Secretariat announced on 24 February was one of the fruits of the Pope’s discussions with international administration experts and his council of eight cardinals. It was a radical step and opposition to it was to be expected, he added.

Cardinal Pell told the The Boston Globe last week that the working languages of the SfE will be English as well as Italian, saying: “There will probably have to be formation courses to explain what’s needed.”

He added with a smile that English is still seen as “the language of the enemy” in the Vatican, evoking King Henry VIII and the rise of Protestantism.