The World

Bertone ruling not aimed at Council for Justice and Peace

The unusual and somewhat mysterious gestation process of Vatican documents came into the spotlight recently, thanks to a controversial white paper on economic justice.

The 41 page text on reforming the international financial system, prepared by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, proposed among other things a “central world bank” to regulate the flow of monetary exchanges, and taxation on financial transactions to aid the economies of poorer countries.

Critics immediately tried to downplay the document and argued the justice and peace council was a minor player at the Vatican. Then an Italian blogger reported the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, had ordered that, from now on, all such documents must have the approval of his office.

The real back story was far different, according to informed sources. Months ago, in view of the upcoming G-20 meeting in France (in early November), Vatican officials discussed how to contribute to the discussion on international monetary reform.

Because the Vatican is not a member of the G-20 and had not been invited to its meeting, Vatican officials decided a statement on financial reform should come in the form of a “note” by the justice and peace council, rather than a formal statement of the Holy See.

The council’s members and consultants worked with the Secretariat of State throughout the drafting process. The “Second Section” of the Secretariat, which deals with foreign affairs, not only discussed the document’s approach but reviewed and “adjusted” its content before publication, sources said.

So the idea that Cardinal Peter Turkson’s justice and peace council had pulled a fast one on Vatican higher-ups was baseless. But the story got legs because of a misunderstanding that occurred about the same time.

Every year, the Pope issues a message for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees. The message is prepared by the pontifical council that deals with migration issues, and receives final approval by the Secretariat of State.

This year, however, extensive excerpts of the Pope’s migration message were inadvertently published five days early on the website of the Vatican Information Service. The text was removed after several hours, but there was enough embarrassment to prompt action by Cardinal Bertone. He issued instructions that all documents bearing the Pope’s signature must be released through the Secretariat of State, and not circulated ahead of time by other Vatican agencies.

That led some to mistakenly conclude that Cardinal Bertone was reacting to the document on financial reform, and reining in radical Roman Curia elements at the justice and peace council. On the contrary, Vatican sources said, no document on sensitive global economic issues would ever be published without the nulla osta of the Secretariat of State. - CNS

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