Pope Leo XIV has permitted the Holy See’s main financial body to use financial institutions outside the Vatican for its investment activities, reversing Pope Francis’ 2022 instruction to move all funds to the so-called Vatican bank.

In the legal order, published Monday, Leo said the Vatican’s asset management body, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), should generally use the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) — better known as the Vatican bank — for its investment activities, unless the competent bodies “deem it more efficient or convenient to use financial intermediaries established in other countries.”

The pope said he consulted experts and evaluated recommendations from the Council for the Economy for the rescript, called Coniuncta Cura(“Shared Responsibility”).

Pope Francis in August 2022 had ordered the Holy See and connected entities to move all financial assets out of other banks and solely into the IOR in the wake of controversy over investments by the Secretariat of State.

The papal rescript was Francis’ interpretation of Article 219, paragraph 3 of Praedicate Evangelium, the constitution of the Roman Curia promulgated in March 2022, which says “the execution [of APSA’s management of real estate and moveable assets] is carried out through the Institute for the Works of Religion.”

In Leo’s rescript, which repeals his predecessor’s, the investment activities must also conform to policies from the Vatican’s investment oversight committee, established in 2022 and chaired by Cardinal Kevin Farrell.

“Co-responsibility in communio is one of the principles of service of the Roman Curia, as desired by Pope Francis and established in the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium of March 19, 2022,” the pontiff wrote.

“This shared responsibility, which also concerns the curial institutions responsible for the Holy See’s financial investment activities, requires that existing provisions be consolidated and the roles and responsibilities of each institution be clearly defined, enabling everyone to converge in a dynamic of mutual collaboration,” he said. 

This article was originally published by CNA.