Everything points to a good day in Rome, after the storm always comes the calm. Today there is no rain and the temperature can be spring-like. Let’s go with another day full of information. We start with some audiences that are more newsworthy.
The Pontifical Academy for Life.
Pope Leo XIV received in audience the participants of the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, meeting with them for the first time along with the new president, Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, recently appointed to lead the institution. In his speech, he immediately placed the issue of health in an international context marked by conflicts. Leo XIV cited indicators such as life expectancy and health quality, which vary considerably between countries and social groups, depending on income, education level, and neighborhood. Leo makes it clear: beyond statements, not all lives are respected equally, and health is not protected or promoted uniformly. This approach also leads to a reading of «care» as a fundamental category: support and closeness not only to the sick, but to the vulnerability that permeates all human life.
The audience with Opus Dei.
According to their own admission, nothing at all. «In today’s meeting, February 16, various topics concerning the current affairs of the Work in the world were discussed and the Holy Father imparted his apostolic blessing to the members of Opus Dei and all the people who participate in its apostolates.» In the official statement, they continue to speak of prelate, never of coordinator, but his attire was that of a monsignor, not of a prelate. According to reports: «During the audience, several topics were addressed, in an atmosphere of great trust, regarding the prospects and challenges of the evangelization task that Opus Dei carries out in the world, on the path toward its first centennial. The Holy Father noted that the process of adapting the statutes of Opus Dei is still in the study phase and that no publication date can yet be foreseen. Ocáriz gave him two books: «The Church in the Street. The Reception of Gaudium et spes in Six Holy Pastors» and «Yauyos, an Adventure in the Andes». Well, it seems like nothing at all, wait and see. We continue to put off until tomorrow what can be done today.
Bambino Gesù of Cairo.
Monsignor Yoannis Gaid Lazha, who was secretary to Francis, was present at the audience as president of the Bambino Gesù Foundation of Cairo. The center of attention was Mariano, the 12-year-old boy from Vena di Maida, Calabria, who suffers from a rare disease that forces him to live with respiratory problems and weighs nearly 200 kilos. The foundation «adopted» the boy with a guardianship agreement, transparency, and accountability to ensure him care, dignity, and a future full of hope. The Foundation has established community restaurants and an orphanage in Egypt, fulfilling an educational and social function and offering a concrete example of how protecting children’s rights can become a tool for dialogue between peoples and the construction of a shared human citizenship.
The first serious crisis of the pontificate?
It remains to be seen how Leo XIV intends to address one of the first crises of his pontificate. There are many pending issues from Francis’s pontificate—think of the case of the former Jesuit Marko Rupnik or the legal dispute open in Vatican City State over the management of the Secretariat of State’s funds—but the FSSPX issue is the first “new” ecclesiastical crisis of the Leonine era. All popes since Vatican II have inherited it, and its general framework is the legacy of a debate that has been obsolete for many generations. Paul VI met in a dramatic dialogue with the founder of the FSSPX , Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre; then, St. John Paul II had to address the issue of the schism created by the illicit ordinations; and Benedict XVI offered liturgical openness, but demanded the signing of a doctrinal preamble that the FSSPX could not accept (or at least did not accept). Francis granted faculties and other facilities to FSSPX priests, but never took concrete measures to resolve the fundamental issues. Leo XIV will have to find his own approach.
The February 12 meeting concluded as planned, with the promise of dialogue and the threat of no dialogue. The promise of dialogue is that of a doctrinal path that clarifies certain issues of Vatican II, including those of the FSSPX, in order to define the minimum fundamental requirements for full communion. This is even something less than the doctrinal preamble that Benedict XVI asked to be signed. Benedict XVI could not accept the FSSPX version that the Council was a historical event, merely pastoral, and that, therefore, its developments could be questioned or ignored . And this was not because Benedict XVI was progressive, but because he understood the «Council of the Fathers», its difference from the «Council of the media», and the need to defend it despite the opinions made public.
Leo XIV decided, as was natural, that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith should handle the issue. The absence of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, responsible for dialogue since the original episcopal ordinations of the FSSPX, is something that those working in the Holy See feel deeply. Francis suppressed the Ecclesia Dei Commission and merged its responsibilities with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (then called the Congregation) in 2019. And perhaps a natural consequence is the re-establishment of a commission like Ecclesia Dei, or at least a permanent committee for dialogue, precisely to promote it with delicacy.
During Francis’s pontificate, many internal commissions were abolished or abandoned, while the Pope established other new and provisional ones (the CRIOR on the IOR, the COSEA on administration, the committee and commission for the reform of Vatican communications, the Council of Cardinals itself) and abandoned those that had remained active in the past. For example, there has been no more news of a meeting of the Commission on China convened by Benedict XVI, and Ecclesia Dei was suppressed before Francis’s offensive against the traditionalist movement with the Motu Proprio Traditionis custodes and its subsequent implementation, which effectively repealed the liberalization of the ancient rite authorized by Benedict XVI. Thus, perhaps we will have a new (old) commission.
Perhaps it is not a decisive crisis for the pontificate, but it is a crisis that can reveal to a great extent the governing style of Leo XIV. Leo XIV acts through the institutional channel—the competent dicastery—and does not dialogue personally, as he lacks the necessary charisma to push things forward. Leo XIV waits and only makes decisions when they are inevitable and irrevocable. It remains to be seen if this is the best strategy for the traditionalist world. The followers of the ancient rite are increasingly young and it is a sector of the Church that cannot be ignored. In times of vocational crisis, the traditionalist world can be a source of new faith or the cause of schism and division.
The Jesuits of the Specola.
St. Peter’s Basilica.
Over the last year, more than 20 million people have entered the basilica. Gambetti’s conference downplays the recent incidents of violations in the basilica. The cardinal highlighted «all the preventive work that begins outside the basilica and the proactive work inside, thanks to the presence of approximately 60 security agents. A lot of work is already being done and we are considering implementing protection measures in certain areas.» «We have also questioned the limits of ‘militarization’ to control everything.» «We believe that the basilica must remain a place that offers a sense of freedom to those who enter. We cannot go beyond certain limits.»
The Vatican’s Investments.
The Vatican is not only the spiritual center for millions of Catholics, but also a State with its own financial system and investment portfolio. Its income comes not only from donations and tourism, but also from the management of real estate and capital. The Vatican has its own bank, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), an institution that manages the financial activities of the Holy See. It is not a retail bank for ordinary clients, but a structure that provides services to ecclesiastical institutions and oversees investments. Recently, the IOR introduced a new instrument: two stock indices built on the basis of Catholic principles.
The Vatican Bank plays a central role in this system, collaborating with other entities, such as the APSA (Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See). The APSA manages the portfolio of real estate and investments, while the IOR provides services to ecclesiastical institutions and oversees financial flows. Through these entities, the Vatican maintains funds in the form of bonds, stocks, deposits, and properties, worldwide. The Vatican never reveals how its portfolio is composed. According to APSA data from 2020, the Vatican owns more than 5,000 properties, mainly in privileged areas of Rome, as well as in Paris, London, Geneva, and Lausanne. Some of these properties generate income from rentals.
The Financial History of the Vatican.
The modern financial history of the Vatican begins on February 11, 1929, when the Lateran Pacts were signed between the Holy See and the Italian government led by Benito Mussolini. Under the financial agreement, the Vatican received 750 million lire in cash (about 81 million dollars of the time) and another billion lire in Italian government bonds with 5% interest. In comparison, before that date, the Vatican’s annual budget was only between one and two million dollars. The capital was entrusted to Bernardino Nogara, an experienced international financier. He accepted the position with one condition: no moral restrictions on investments. He acted decisively and pragmatically. During the 1929 U.S. stock market crash, Nogara bought shares in IBM, General Motors, RCA, and other major companies at extremely low prices. These shares skyrocketed during World War II and the postwar economic boom.
In ten years, the Vatican’s assets increased by approximately 2000%. Nogara diversified his investments in U.S. dollars, protecting his capital when the Italian lira was drastically devalued during the war. Subsequently, the Vatican invested in the Italian industrial holding IRI, which controlled companies like Alfa Romeo and Alitalia, and considerably expanded in the real estate sector through Società Generale Immobiliare. At that time, the Vatican went from being a religious center funded by the State to one of Italy’s largest investors.
The Vatican’s investments have always kept the details of the portfolio out of public reach. This discretion contributed to generating profitability, but in the long run it became a weakness. With less transparency and oversight, the greater the risk of errors, inflated commissions, and abuses. Over time, this has damaged the Holy See’s reputation. The era of aggressive capital growth and extraordinary returns seems to have ended. Even the increase in income forecast for 2024 is described by the Vatican itself as a one-off effect. The key question for the coming years is no longer how much the Vatican can earn, but whether it can generate consistent returns within its new ethical framework.
Lay People in the Roman Curia.
A commissioned interview with an emeritus is always suspicious and always a way of saying what cannot, or wants to, be said officially. In the face of the uproar over the recent appointments of nuns in the curia, an attempt is made to justify by defending that we are facing an open trial, or something like that. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Emeritus Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, reflects on the appointment of lay people to positions of authority in the Roman Curia, wondering whether it is a concession that must be reviewed or an ecclesiological advance. Among Pope Francis’s decisions is the appointment of lay people and nuns to positions of authority usually reserved for ordained ministers, bishops, or cardinals in the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia. The Pope justified this innovation with the synodal principle, which demands greater participation of the faithful in the communion and mission of the Church. This contradicts the ancestral custom of entrusting positions of authority to ordained ministers. This custom can certainly be confirmed by Vatican II, which defined the sacramentality of the episcopate (LG 21). Hence the unease before a papal decision that is respected, but perhaps considered temporary. To such an extent that, at the dawn of the new pontificate, some would wish to reaffirm the close bond between the ordained ministry and the function of governing the Church. The canonical justification presented when introducing Praedicate Evangelium did not receive general approval, as it seemed to resolve a centuries-old controversy in a voluntarist or arbitrary manner, by adopting a superficial stance that the Pope had taken to the detriment of prior dialogue with theologians and canonists.
Ouellet: «I have proposed a theological interpretation of this decision of the Supreme Pontiff that transcends the disputed canonical positions on the origin and distinction between the power of Order and the power of jurisdiction in the Church. This interpretation is set out in the article I published on July 21, 2022 in L’Osservatore Romano , and which was developed in the same line in my book Word, Sacrament, Charism. Risks and Opportunities of a Synodal Church (San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2025) «. «The charisms of the Holy Spirit have their own authority in areas where sacramental ordination is not necessary, and it may even be appropriate for competence to be of another order; for example, in human resources management, the administration of justice, cultural and political discernment, financial administration, and ecumenical dialogue. In all these areas, mentioned by way of example, one can imagine a collaboration between clerics, lay people, and religious in which the subordinate position of the ordained minister would not be inappropriate or questionable. The historical experience of the Church demonstrates that the tradition of the great religious orders and the various forms of consecrated or apostolic life presupposes an internal government within the charism, once recognized and officially approved by the hierarchical authority. A chaplain of nuns, for example, cannot arrogate to himself the right to impose his opinions on those responsible for the community he assists. The pastoral ministry cannot substitute for the authority of the charism». A temporary concession that must be reviewed or an ecclesiological advance?
Back to altar girls.
It is already known that parishes run by religious, those of the friars, formerly known for their good and wise confessors, have become in recent decades the nest of every novelty and whim. No vocations and the last one to die hands over to the suffering secular clergy, always reluctantly, a parish reduced to rubble. We don’t know if the case of the Roman parish of Ostia, but it has all the hallmarks. For lack of some proof of the mistake, we stay here, that the Pope appearing served by grown altar girls turns out that Martin SJ likes it: “The use of altar girls has been controversial in some U.S. dioceses and among some bishops, but, apparently, not in the Diocese of Rome nor for its bishop”.
Fr. Martin appears amid what seems to be an exhausting media tour to promote his new autobiography, «Work in Progress» . In recent days, Martin has appeared on Good Morning America and on the late-night show of left-wing talk show host Stephen Colbert to boost book sales. He told Colbert that Leo continues Francis’s pro-LGBT agenda. Martin’s claim has many arguments against it, including irrefutable theological principles as well as practical considerations that take into account the differences between boys and girls and the preparation of young people for the seminary.
Historically, the role of altar servers has been reserved for men and boys in the life of the Church, and several popes have expressly forbidden women from serving at the altar. Pope Gelasius (492-496), of the fifth century, condemned the bad practice of women serving the priest in the celebration of Mass. Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758) reiterated it in his encyclical Allatae Sunt of 1755. In a letter written in 2024 by the Sri Lankan cardinal, Albert Malcolm Ranjit, His Eminence declared that “no girl should be invited to serve at the altar” because that role “is one of the main sources of vocations to the priesthood in Sri Lanka and will affect the number of candidates entering seminaries, a risk we cannot take”. Historically, lectors , like acolytes, were minor orders reserved exclusively to men, as they served as stepping stones to the priesthood. Bishop Athanasius Schneider pointed this out in his book Credo ( 2023 ), stating that the ministers of the Church represent Christ and, therefore, their ministries must be exercised by ordained men or their substitutes, lectors or altar boys. It could be said that the opening of the door to altar girls took place under Paul VI, when in his motu proprio Ministeria Quaedam of 1972 he allowed the roles of lector and acolyte to be «lay ministries,» which eventually led to women assuming them. Pope Francis went further in his motu proprio Spiritus Domini of 2021 , which modified canon law to allow women to be officially installed as acolytes and lectors.
The Persecution in Nicaragua.
It continues to worsen and not only priests are arrested, but the faithful are prevented from celebrating festivities in every sense. The cowardly silence of the Vatican in the face of the persecution of the faithful and religious by the Nicaraguan tyrants continues. On Sunday February 2, Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes announced the transfer of 23 priests to the Archdiocese of Managua, a reorganization forced by the expulsion of the clergy, which has left many parishes without pastors in Nicaragua. The magnitude of religious persecution in Nicaragua is reflected in the shocking figures: according to the report «Faith Under Fire » by the NGO Collective Nicaragua Never Again, at least 261 religious have been expelled from the country since 2018, including four bishops, approximately 140 priests, more than 90 nuns, a dozen seminarians, and three deacons. Among the expelled are the president of the Episcopal Conference, Carlos Enrique Herrera, and Bishops Silvio Báez, Rolando Álvarez, and Isidoro Mora.
Ortega and Rosario maintain «a discourse of reconciliation and love, but their words are not congruent with their actions. The dictatorship «no longer limits itself to harassing religious leaders or canceling processions, but now seeks to silence faith in everyday life and punish any spiritual expression it does not control.» The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) urged the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo to end human rights violations and unconditionally release all persons imprisoned for political reasons in Nicaragua. Only the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, has urged Catholics not to take refuge in silence, urging the Church to raise its voice despite the repression. Could we expect a raid by Trump’s special forces also in Managua? Many are wishing for it.
Gender Confusion.
The latest draft of the long-awaited student safety guidance from the UK Department of Education dilutes its gender confusion policy to the point that children as young as four could be «socially transitioned.» It states that schools «must not allow pupils access to bathrooms, changing rooms, or residences or dormitories designated for the opposite sex, without exception»; «pupils must not be allowed to participate in sports designated for the opposite sex»; «must not initiate any action related to social transition»; and must respect the guiding role of parents and guardians in such decisions. Schools are very cautious: «We expect that support for full social transition will be approved only in very rare cases. The Cass Review recognizes that older children generally have greater autonomy to make their own decisions. Maintaining flexibility and keeping children’s options open will help avoid them feeling pressured to commit to a potentially irrevocable path when they are young.» «Primary school children should not have to deal with pronoun changes. But, surprisingly, the Labor guidance opens the door to referring to children as young as four in a way that does not reflect their biological sex».
The Monks and the Internet.
Matteo Ferrari, 51 years old, is a Camaldolese monk since he was 27 and since November 2023 is Prior General of all Camaldolese monks in the world. Pope Francis had chosen him as the sole representative of the liturgy at the Synod of Bishops . He is an man of few words but very clear ones: «The monastic cell is not the place to watch movies individually. I believe it is much healthier to think in terms of community moments, of shared growth. Netflix and other streaming platforms, as well as social networks like Instagram and TikTok, which are designed to be addictive, should be avoided altogether.» “Mine is not a reproach, but an invitation to reflect on a theme that runs through everyone’s life and cannot be ignored.” «The young people entering the monastery already have a developed digital culture, and it is to them in particular that I address this proposal, so that they learn to consciously handle tools with performative power.» «In the novitiate, practice true detachment, suspending the use of social networks, internet in the cell, individual viewing of videos or movies, subscriptions to platforms like Netflix, and regulating communication with family and friends via WhatsApp. Even the use of smartphones must be regulated by the novice master.» «The use of social networks risks turning the practice of the cell into a mere formality.»
Do you have eyes and do not see; do you have ears and do not hear?
Good reading.