Turkson renews call for overhaul of finance systems

The leader of the Vatican’s social justice office has revived his call for a global regulatory body of the world’s financial systems, despite the Holy See having distanced itself from the idea.

In a lecture at the London School of Economics last week, Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, quoted a document that his office issued in 2011, which called for “[the] creation of a world public authority at the service of the common good”.

The document – which also called for a tax on financial transactions, the recapitalisation of banks with public funds, and clear definition between investment and high-street banks – received a mixed reception within the Vatican when it was released. Fr Federico Lombardi, the Holy See’s spokesman, stressed that it did not represent official policy, while the then Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, downplayed the document, complaining he had not been aware of it until the last minute. However, Cardinal Turkson told The Tablet this week that he did not “spring a surprise on [them]”.

In his lecture, the Ghanaian-born cardinal said “six years of crisis” had only made global inequality worse. He added: “Attempts to achieve great gains for so few, while ignoring the needs of very many, is no longer intelligent, productive or justifiable.”

Cardinal Turkson, who delivered a message from Pope Francis to business leaders at the World Economic Forum at Davos last month, also revealed that a document from the Archbishop of Westminster’s ethical business initiative, Blueprint for Better Business, was presented at the event. In questions after the lecture, the cardinal denied that the Vatican was “rich”, arguing that selling off assets such as historic paintings for cash would deprive visitors. He added that “quite often”, Vatican departments ended the financial year in the red “and the [US-based laymen’s organisation] Knights of Columbus bail the Vatican out”.