Yesterday afternoon, 16 February 2021, the Council for the Economy met online.

The participants in the virtual assembly were the president, His Eminence Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the secretary Msgr. Brian Edwin Ferme, and the majority of members of the Council: Their Eminences Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, archbishop of Durban; Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, archbishop of São Paulo, Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, archbishop of Québec, Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, archbishop of Newark, Cardinal Anders Arborelius, bishop of Stockholm, and Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, archbishop of L’Aquila; and with them, Professor Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof, Dr. Eva Castillo Sanz, Dr. Leslie Jane Ferrar, Dr. Alberto Minali, Dr. María Concepción Osácar Garaicoechea, and the Honorable Ruth Kelly, via live connection from their respective countries of residence. Also connected from the Vatican were His Eminence Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Fr. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Dr. Maximino Caballero Ledo, and Dr. Emilio Ferrara, respectively secretary general and director of the administrative section of the same Secretariat.

The meeting focused on the discussion of the annual Holy See Budget for 2021, presented in detail by Dr. Caballero Ledo, followed by observations by Dr. Ferrar, on behalf of the Audit Committee. Dr. Ferrara then presented some principles for the application of the two points of the Motu proprio of 28 December 2020, A better organisation with particular regard to the approval of budgets and financial statements and the appointment of official auditors. Finally, the discussion turned to the statutes of the Audit Committee. The Assembly closed at 18.00 and adjourned to the next meeting, scheduled for April 2021