Between faith that falters and wedding rings that break (complete with Vatican employees fired because they got married), Jorge Mario Bergoglio has chosen to abandon the tiara to put the crown of the Pope King on his head. He seems intent on using an iron fist and so much so that the response could be the first employee strike in the thousand-year history of the Holy See.
In truth, about fifty years ago there was a protest by the Swiss Guards against the grueling shifts, but it was quelled as is done among the military. And now even among the standard bearers who wear the uniforms that legend has it designed by Michelangelo, as for the parish priests, there is a crisis of vocations: 34 of them were sworn in last May, but they are understaffed. The causes? The same ones that concern all the Pope’s employees: wages that are too low and rules that are too rigid; you cannot get married – for example – until after five years of service and if you do so you are not looked upon favorably. The reason is simple: with wives the number of citizens increases and therefore the expenses increase. And the Pontiff’s accounts are in “cardinal red” to the point that Francis asked everyone to save money.
Taking a look at His Holiness’s double entry, we can see how the offerings to the Peter’s Pence have halved in 15 years, going from 83 million euros in 2008 to 48 million last year. The expenditure of the various departments in the last three years has grown by 123.7 million: last year it rose to 370, 4 million of which 90 were covered by Peter’s Pence. He is getting into debt and now APSA – the Administration of the assets of the Apostolic See – which manages over five thousand properties that yield 45.9 million is starting to think about selling some valuable pieces to pay off His Holiness’s debts. The offerings of the faithful are not used to give charity, but to keep Francis’ kingdom afloat. This explains the financial nervousness that is reflected in working conditions.
Now in the Vatican we work in a very tense climate, with increasingly reduced salaries and spies on our heels who file the employees, even high-ranking ones such as the director of the IOR, the Pope’s bank, Gianfranco Mammì. The substitute cardinal at the secretariat of state admitted this Edgar Pena Parra to have placed strict surveillance on the senior official in 2019. The new case that is causing a stir has started from the IOR. Oh God, not that the institute is housed in the grim tower of Nicholas V is new to scandals. Indeed he has spent the last forty years rebuilding his virginity after that Monsignor Marcinkus had brought Vatican finances mixed up with the worst of the worst. The bank tried to clean itself up and with the advent of Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu in the presidency ten years ago, rigor became the rule and iron discipline. And it was precisely a disciplinary incident that brought the IOR back to the forefront of the news. On October 1, two officials were fired outright for having gotten married. To summarize the circumstances: he and she, who already have children from previous marriages annulled by the Sacred Rota, work side by side in the Institute, they go to live together, but more uxorio in the Vatican is inappropriate. They then decide to get married, violating the internal regulations wanted by the severe Franssu-Mammì duo. It imposes that if two Vatican employees, no matter whether they both work in the bank or not, get married, whoever works at the IOR must resign from the bank within 30 days.
And so – as their lawyer explains Laura Sgro – it happened to the couple: «On October 1st the IOR notified the act of immediate withdrawal of the employment relationship, inviting both to leave the office, to return their access cards to the Vatican City and those of their possible family members , credit cards and debit cards”. In short, if you get married in the Vatican you face civil death. The IOR also had its say: «The objective of the Institute is exclusively to guarantee conditions of equal treatment among all employees». Despite an appeal from the couple, the Pontiff remains silent and also “bill monsignor”, the one who reconnects the electricity to the illegal occupants of the house, the Polish cardinal Konrad Krajewski who is a member of the IOR supervisory commission, did not lift a finger. The reason? The Association of lay employees of the Vatican – it is in fact the union from Oltretevere which at the end of September held a very well attended and equally fiery meeting which renewed Alessandro Guarasci as secretariat – has a precise idea: it is about reduce staff to save money.
The Association writes: «What matters most and what hurts the Church and all of us Catholics, who serve her with our daily work, it is the bitter observation that the sacrament of marriage, now debased in every part of the world, instead of being defended and supported, has become a cause for dismissal. Just like a seriously illicit act such as theft or revealing official secrets. As Adlv we are ready to take concrete protest initiatives in support of our two colleagues. The deafening silence of the institutional bodies and the apparent lack of humanity are striking. We address the courageous invitation of Saint John Paul II to our members and all employees: Do not be afraid!
Translated: we are ready for a strike, which would be sensational. But it’s not the first time Francis he fires without saying anything. It happened at the pharmacy, ai Vatican Museums (which no longer make as much as they once did) and above all to the secretariat of state where the cardinal “reigns”. Pietro Parolin which suffers the repercussions of employee malaise. The intent of Bergoglio is evident: eliminate what remains of the church of Wojtyla and of Ratzinger. This is made clear by the appointment, made last week, of the new 21 cardinals which brings the number of electors to 141. 80 percent were appointed by him, who has weakened Europe and wants to guarantee a succession in his image and likeness. Francis he leaves Milan and Venice, which are crucial dioceses of the Italian Church, without a cardinal. In these appointments he has penalized Africa and North America and the reason is simple: from the synod taking place in recent weeks, the European archbishops – apart from the Germans -, the African and American ones are saying to Jorge Mario Bergoglio: your Church does not follow tradition and doctrine. In short, between faith, wedding rings and criminal records – this is what the spies recruited by the leaders of Bergoglio’s curia are looking for – beyond the Tiber there are days of high tension.
