VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has again clipped the wings of his finance czar Cardinal George Pell by effectively removing many of the administrative functions of the Vatican’s key financial office from his department. In a new law Saturday, Francis essentially reversed a 2014 law that had transferred the main operational section of the patrimony office to Pell’s Secretariat for the Economy. Pope Francis, right, flanked by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, arrives to St. John at the Lateran Basilica in Rome, Thursday, June 16, 2016 to participate in a meeting with Rome’s parishes. (AP Photo/Fabio Frustaci) Francis, who was elected on a reform mandate, says he was restoring these administrative functions to the APSA office because he realized there needed to be an “unequivocal and full separation” between those who manage Vatican assets (APSA) and those who supervise them (Pell). Pell, a longtime critic of the Vatican’s financial inefficiencies, had assumed control [...]
