Pope Francis has appointed Benjamín Estévez de Cominges as the new Secretary-General of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy. Until now, Estévez has served as a delegate for the Administration of the Dicastery for Evangelization, specifically within the Section for Primary Evangelization and New Particular Churches.

Estévez succeeds Maximino Caballero Ledo, who was appointed by the Pope as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy on November 30, 2022, following the resignation of Fr. Antonio Guerrero Alves due to health reasons.

Born in 1974 in Spain, Estévez de Cominges earned a Master of Science in Management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States). He holds degrees in Advanced Engineering from the University of Vigo and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), as well as in Economics and Business Administration from the National University of Distance Education (Spain).

He has served as the Director-General of Economic Affairs at the Pontifical Comillas University (Spain). Since December 17, 2021, he has been the delegate for the Administration of the Dicastery for Evangelization, focusing on Primary Evangelization and New Particular Churches.

This internal appointment comes after the new secretary’s tenure in the administration of Propaganda Fide, which possesses its financial autonomy. The appointment also aligns with the direction of greater centralization of Vatican finances.

In recent years, the Secretariat for the Economy has defined the Holy See’s budgetary criteria, enacted a procurement law, and introduced new models for prudent management of Vatican finances. Notably, more entities have been included within the Holy See’s budget scope, as outlined in the budget forecast of January 2022 and subsequently confirmed in the budget of August 2022.

Additionally, the process of transferring all dicastery funds to the Institute for the Works of Religion was defined following the Curia reform with a rescript from Pope Francis on August 22, and this restrictive interpretation may have significantly influenced Fr. Guerrero’s decision to resign, considering that part of the funds has yet to be transferred.

The latest reform affecting the Secretariat for the Economy involves the procurement code and its update.

This article was originally published on ACI Stampa.