Ior, reform at the test of Leo XIV. And the dividend arrives for 13.8 million

Profit grew by 7% over 2023, the 'dividend' allocated directly to the Pope was 13.8 million, just above that of last year. The Ior - the Institute for Works of Religion, the 'Vatican bank' - archives a good year for accounts, with administered assets growing to 5.7 billion, made up of current accounts, deposits, asset management and custody securities from clients, who are Vatican employees, religious congregations, dioceses, and embassies to the Holy See. Now the Ior - having filed the balance sheet - must present to Leo its "plans" for the future in line with the whole reform of the finances, now almost stabilised, but the knot of appointments remains: the president Jean Baptiste de Franssu, a French banker, has been in office for almost 15 years, more than two terms, and according to the statute should be replaced, as among other things had emerged in the last phase of Francis' pontificate. Instead, the management is entrusted to Gian Franco Mammì, a long-time executive who had full confidence in Bergoglio.

Certainly Leo will take his time. Between October and February 2025, Francis had appointed three new members of the board of superintendence, the 'lay board' (of which not a single Italian is a member), and in the note it was added - an unusual fact - 'this renewal at board level will continue in the coming months in order to ensure a linear and gradual transition and greater heterogeneity of its members'. We will see what Prevost will decide, who will in any case have to deal with the Vatican finances as a whole, both for the completion of the reform and the state of the accounts. In fact, after the "Sloane Avenue" affair, Francis had decided on the complete centralisation of all finances in the Apsa, as well as real estate outside the territory of the state, and in particular had removed the "cash" from the Secretariat of State, including the Obolus. But based on Leone's recent declarations, a return to the centrality of the "Third Lodge" is foreseeable, perhaps with some reassignment of certain competences from which it had been excluded (probably starting with the "reserved matters"). In addition, what in fact appears to be a double assignment decided by Francis, without a formal resolution, of financial management in the funds markets between Apsa and Ior (the latter formally holding the function) will have to be resolved.