Leo XIV, procrastinator?

Among the new appointments to the Council for the Economy are two young women in their thirties with impressive resumes: Gisela Liechtenstein and Elena Wettstein Principato. Both have aroused considerable curiosity. They’ve even made headlines.  The attention they’ve drawn is essentially of the same kind as arose in 2021, when Pope Francis reshuffled the Vatican’s Finance Ministry and added a solid majority of women to its membership.

Then as now, there’s much more to note about the composition of the Vatican’s economic body.

The Council for the Economy is a body composed of eight cardinals and seven lay members. It somewhat resembles the Council of Fifteen – the “Council for the Study of the Economic and Organizational Questions of the Holy See” – which ceased to exist when Francis established the Council of Cardinals in 2014.

The Council for the Economy has also assumed some functions once under the purview of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs, which instead became a sort of modern “Ministry of Finance” under Benedict XVI.

This is not the time to delve deeply into how the Vatican economy has been reshaped under Pope Francis. It is worth noting two things, however: First, the Holy See’s economy took on a more “technocratic” approach under the last pope, relying more on the professionalism and financial capacity of its executives outside the Vatican than on internal expertise; second, that change has in some ways led to the loss – at least the weakening – of the Holy See’s sense of diplomatic sovereignty.

If the Holy See’s economy is treated like a company’s, then the very concept of statehood is at risk.

This approach has also reverberated in the Vatican’s major economic reform, has had consequences that are difficult to control (viz., the Becciu trial), and now requires a rebalancing that still appears to be a good ways off.

It’s here that we see how Leo XIV seems to be stalling.

Out of the gate, Leo’s priority was understandably to bring some significant budget challenges under control. If we look at the latest annual reports of the Institute for the Works of Religion, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, and Peter’s Pence, we see the great effort made to overcome pessimistic forecasts and revitalize the Vatican’s economic sector, with some painful decisions that have, in effect, relieved the Holy See of some of its burden.

In short, a financial consolidation operation was needed, to be followed by a real generational change that not only hasn’t happened, but has been institutionally postponed.

The Council for the Economy is proof of that.

Leo has confirmed the Archbishop of Munich and Friesing, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, as the head of the Council, for an exceptional third five-year term. Exceptional, I say, because, according to the Apostolic Constitution Preedicate Evangelium commissioned by Pope Francis, top positions cannot be renewed more than once.  Nevertheless, Leo XIV prefers to keep Marx in his post.

Thus, the following are leaving the group of member cardinals: Napier, who is over 80 years old; Arborelius, who will soon retire; Petrocchi, who is also president of the IOR and may have some “incompatibility” in the two roles, if only because the IOR is another financial institution; and Erdö, whose health does not allow him to accumulate positions.

Those entering, however, are cardinals born and raised under the aegis of Pope Francis: Grzegorz Ryś, Archbishop of Kraków (Poland); Ladislav Nemet, SVD, Archbishop of Beograd (Serbia); Jean-Paul Vesco, OP, Archbishop of Algiers (Algeria); Roberto Repole, Archbishop of Turin and Bishop of Susa (Italy).

None of these names can be made to represent a discontinuity with the previous pontificate and its choices, nor can anyone bearing any one of them direct the Vatican economy towards reform (or even very far in the way of adjustment from the trajectory under Pope Francis).

Cardinal Lacroix, Cardinal Tobin, and Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer remain among the members. When Pope Francis appointed Scherer, many were surprised by the addition of a member of the “old guard” to the Council. Leo XIV reiterated this choice.

Among the lay members, noteworthy is the appointment of Paolo Nusiner, currently director general of the Directorate for General Affairs of the Dicastery for Communication. Membership on the Council and membership as a dicastery official are not in themselves incompatible, but the appointment suggests the Dicastery for the C0mmunication will undergo a major reshuffle once Montse Alvarado moves into the prefect’s office at comms.

As far as lay members go, Leo XIV shows a new balance of power and geographical representation.

The two Spanish members (Maria Concepción Oscar Garaicoechea and Eva Castillo Sanz) depart, as does one of the English members (Ruth Mary Kelly), and one of the German members (Marija Kolak). A Frenchman (Denis Duverne) and two Italians (Nusiner and Wettstein Principato) enter, demonstrating that the Pope is seeking a new balance within the Council.

What do these nominations essentially say?

First of all, Leo XIV is temporizing and relying on Pope Francis’s Old Guard. He has no ideological prejudice against them, nor against their work, even when it has been challenged. The Pope likely doesn’t yet have all the dossiers in hand and is therefore waiting before making a final decision.

Second, on the financial front, the coalition that had tightened around Francis continued to operate even under Leo XIV. Suffice it to say that, after Jean-Baptiste de Franssu’s departure as president of the IOR, François Pauly, a member of the Board of Superintendence, was chosen as president, fully adhering to de Franssu’s stance. During de Franssu’s twelve years as president, the IOR experienced mixed financial results, as were its international ratings . Council of Europe’s Moneyval reports, for instance, had lights and shadows. However, the IOR has built a strong narrative that has continued under the new presidency, blaming all its failures on the previous administration.

Is this, however, really a path that will bear fruit?

Third, Leo XIV appears to have priorities other than financial organization. Indeed, even the Financial Information and Supervision Authority has been effectively dismantled, losing its original function and becoming a mere office of the Curia, and the Pope has endorsed this decision.

Ultimately, those who expected swift institutional strengthening of the Holy See have been disappointed. Leo XIV is correcting some of Pope Francis’s excesses, and the latest of these adjustments concerns the fundamental law of Vatican City State, where the reference to the munus petrinum legitimizing the Pope’s power as head of the small city-state has been eliminated. But at the same time, he has not yet made any major institutional decisions, and in some situations, he is simply maintaining continuity, without making hard choices.

In others, he has begun a small revolution, but it remains to be seen what his priorities truly are.

Governance is a hot topic today regarding Leo XIV’s pontificate. Will the Pope deviate from the path charted by Francis’s pontificate, or will he continue this path, with all the consequences?

The reshuffle of the Council for the Economy suggests that the Pope will maintain his position for now. And it ultimately signals that this decision could also apply to other areas. Indeed, this has already happened, considering the appointment of the prefect and pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (Sister Alessandra Smerilli, former secretary, and Cardinal Fabio Baggio, former undersecretary).

No, Leo XIV is not a Francis II, and yet he continues to rely on Francis’s men. He will not be able to ignore the reforms of his predecessor forever, but whether he will be able to address them with his predecessor’s men in place, is a legitimate question.

More and more, it is becoming a question whether – and if so, when – he intends to.