A press conference organised by the Vatican yesterday afternoon served to highlight the Holy See’s efforts to bring its economic affairs in order, including the appointment of a new president of the Vatican Bank, Frenchman Jean-Baptiste de Franssu.

But the main speaker at the press conference, Cardinal George Pell, who heads the Secretariat of the Economy, reserved his strongest words of praise for Maltese economist Joseph F.X. Zahra.

On July 18, 2013, Mr Zahra was appointed president of the 8-member Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA), which concluded its work earlier this year.

He earned another papal appointment last February, when Pope Francis established the secretariat headed by Cardinal Pell and appointed a 15-member Council for the Economy to draw up policy guidelines and analyse its work. The council consists of eight cardinals – including Munich Archbishop Reinhard Marx, who was made the group’s coordinator – and seven lay experts, including Mr Zahra, the group’s vice-coordinator.

But as reports that a change at the helm of the Vatican Bank was imminent surfaced, so did claims that Mr Zahra was seeking to profit out of it.

Cardinal George Pell

The reports on Italian news magazine L’Espresso and newspaper Il Giornale correctly claimed that Mr de Franssu would replace German national Ernst von Freyberg as the president of the Vatican Bank, whose official name is the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR). But they also insisted that the Frenchman and Mr Zahra had long-standing business ties, as did another member of the Council, Italian professor Francesco Vermiglio, through Misco, the company founded by Mr Zahra, and claimed that this company would somehow end up benefiting from IOR funds.

Jean Baptiste Franssu

Mr Zahra had dismissed these claims in comments to The Malta Independent, and in yesterday’s press conference, he stressed that there were no business links between him and Mr de Franssu. It appears that Mr Franssu’s participation in a conference organised by Misco Directors’ Network Ltd in November 2013 – months after both he and Mr Zahra were appointed to COSEA – has been misinterpreted.

The Maltese economist only had a brief intervention to make in yesterday’s press conference, but it did provide Cardinal Pell with the opportunity to back him publicly.

“The Church owes him an enormous debt,” the Cardinal maintained, pointing out that Mr Zahra – and other members of COSEA – “never took one penny” for their work.

“I don’t know what other work he’s got or he has time for… but we owe a great debt to him and other members,” Cardinal Pell maintained.

In his intervention, the Cardinal also pointed out that the press conference served to limit speculation, stating that “the more accurate information there is out there, the less room there is for fantasy and invention.”

Ernst von Freyberg

Mr von Freyberg stressed that his departure from IOR after just 17 months was an amicable one, pointing out that he oversaw the first phase of reforms but agreed that it was best to have someone else in charge of the second phase.

He said that it was appropriate for the IOR to be headed by someone who could be there full-time and who had experience in asset management, and that he was “very happy” to hand over the reins to Mr de Franssu.

Mr de Franssu, on his part, described his predecessor as a friend, and emphasised that his presence should be seen as representing continuity.