The feeling is that soon we will be able to talk again about the earthquake in the sacred buildings: the Papa yesterday he made the San Pietro factory.
Monsignor Mario Giordana has the task of putting in order a central body for the homonymous Basilica. The novelty must be interpreted starting from the approval of the new Vatican contract and procurement code: Jorge Mario Bergoglio is insisting a lot on transparency. And there is a real internal reorganization underway, which should conclude with the publication of the new apostolic Constitution – central to the reform of the Curia of Rome -. The text should be ready, but has not yet been exposed.
Monsignor Mario Giordana will therefore have to “updating the statutes, clarifying the administration and reorganizing the administrative and technical offices of the factory”. These are the cases listed in the press release of the Holy See Press Office, as reported by theAdnkronos. The Cardinal generally took care of the Fabbrica di San Pietro Angelo Comastri, who is 76 years old. Did the Argentine pontiff “retire” the Italian cardinal? It would seem that this cannot be presented as a motivation. If only because Monsignor Giordana is 78 years old. If there is an open question, it is not personal.
The reason behind this sort of turn over will be sought elsewhere. The Holy See explained the move, placing an emphasis on“recent promulgation of the motu proprio ‘On transparency, control and competition in the procedures for the award of public contracts of the Holy See and of the Vatican City State”. But the news on the commissioner of the Vatican has been accompanied by a detail that cannot go into the background.
At the same time as the choice of Monsignor Mario Giordana, in fact, the news of a disposition of the judicial organs arrived. Pope Francis also appointed the commissioner in relation to “… a report from the offices of the general auditor, which led, this morning, to the acquisition of documents and electronic devices at the technical and administrative offices of the Fabbrica di San Pietro”. The last time since Vatican they talked about “acquired documents” was because of what would later become the “scandal” of the London building. That’s why talking about a storm coming between the lion walls can make more sense. We will see if news will emerge during the next few hours. The hypotheses that are leaping to the headlines concern a new investigation, which would relate to irregularities found in 4 invoices. It would be the works contracted for the dome of San Pietro. Specifically, the spending limit for the restructuring would have been exceeded. Embezzlement and abuse of office, according to what is underlined byAdnkronos, are the cases that could affect the story.
The new code for tenders and contracts was hailed as a victory by conservatives and Ratzingerians, because it appears that the text is very similar to that proposed during the reign of Benedict XVI. In particular, Cardinal George Pell would have supported the need for such a structured legal instrument. Whatever the case, this phase of Francis’ pontificate – we are on the threshold of the seventh year – is constantly accompanied by curial appointments and commissioners.
The picture is seasoned by the path of Monsignor Giordana, who was an apostolic nuncio. Almost as if diplomatic skills were needed to put the accounts in order. Internal resistances? It can be a trace with which to read the situation. Then we will see whether or not the Vatican’s “pot” will be “uncovered” again by the “prosecutors of Bergoglio”.
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