CV NEWS FEED // In an exclusive book-length interview with Italian journalist Massimo Franco, the Vatican’s soon to be retired prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Archive revealed how funding from US Catholics “saved the day” for the papal conclave 1922.
As AP News reported, Archbishop Sergio Pagana disclosed a wide range of Vatican insider details in his book-length interview, titled “Secretum,” including the role of US Catholics in financing the 1922 conclave that elected Pope Pius XI.
Pagana revealed in the interview published on Tuesday that the Vatican was left in dire financial straits after the death of Pope Benedict XV in January 1922. Pagano said that the papal coffer normally used to fund the conclave to elect a new pope was “literally empty.”
According to the text of the encrypted telegrams reproduced in Pagano’s book, the Vatican secretary of state asked the Holy See’s Washington ambassador to urgently send “what you have in the safe” in order to fund the conclave.
“The Vatican embassy sent what US churches had collected from the American faithful, down to the cents: $210,400.09, allowing the vote that eventually elected Pope Pius XI,” AP News stated, adding:
Pagano suggests that Francis’ 2019 decision to remove the word “Secret” from the archive’s name and rename it the ‘Vatican Apostolic Archive’ was perhaps another financial nod to the wealthy U.S. church — a rebranding to remove any negative connotations and thus encourage potential donations, primarily via ‘Treasures of History,’ a new U.S.-based foundation that supports the archive.
Pagano will retire this year after working as prefect of the Archives for 45 years.
