Three years after Pope Francis appointed him to speed up financial reforms, transparency and budget controls at the Vatican, Fr Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves SJ has resigned for health reasons. Source: NCR Online.
The Vatican announced yesterday that Fr Guerrero was stepping down as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy and Francis had named Maximino Caballero Ledo, the secretariat’s general secretary, to succeed him.
Unusually, the announcement included “deep thanks” to Fr Guerrero “for the dedication he has shown in serving the Holy See” and for succeeding with “a strong and challenging work that bore much fruit”.
In a letter to staff of the secretariat, Fr Guerrero said he had undergone surgery and was continuing medical treatment, which is “producing certain side effects that make it particularly difficult for me to fulfill such a demanding task” and that “requires better physical efficiency and mental concentration than I have at the moment”.
While he said he was sad to be leaving, the Jesuit told staff that over the past three years they had “made a contribution to the economic reform called for by the Holy Father himself.”
“Together, and in collaboration with other curial institutions, we helped the Holy Father take important steps in the economic organisation of the Roman Curia, in transparency (and) in the credibility of the Holy See in what concerns economic matter,” he said.
But he also listed areas where work is still underway, including centralising investments rather than having multiple offices handling their own; clarifying and simplifying the rules for purchases and awarding contracts; and completing the setup of the new Directorate for Human Resources.
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Prefect of Vatican economy office steps down, citing illness (CNS via NCR Online)
