Founded by hotel tycoon Conrad Hilton, the foundation is one of the biggest financial aids for Catholic Sisters' jobs around the world, giving roughly $28.5 million to the Vatican-led initiative. Added.
Francis viewed donors as key partners. He not only funded them important causes, but also turned to them to block the creaking finances of the Vatican. In February, while the Pope recovered from a nearby match with double pneumonia, he created the Commissio de Donationibus Pro Sancta Sede, a committee that directly funds for the Curia or Vatican governing classes and strengthens many budgetary shortages. Francis' initiative was bold. He was essentially betting that donors would be happy to openly fund the church's bureaucracy and the far-flung missions of the Roman Catholic Church around the world.
Such a question would have been a very harsh selling point when Francis' Pope began.
At the time, the church's economic reputation was in ruins. Accounting conspiracy and scandal at Vatican Bank loomed on the final conclave. In 2013, just before Francis was elected, Italian banking authorities blocked most of the Vatican ATMs and blocked credit card transactions at Vatican Museums. Decades of mismanagement and corruption scandals have been killed.
The church seemed to need a great business mind as much as it needed a towering theologian.
To help donors, Francis modernized economic surveillance for the Vatican. A year after his Pope, he created an auditor general and strengthened internal anti-corruption controls. He also introduced some financial transparency (which is far from the business world standard), bringing auditors such as KPMG and EY outside, covering costs and helping to run Curia of the Holy See more professionally.
He also worked closer together with the church's major donors, and its impact on the church has grown.
At the same time, the Vatican held a series of impact investment summits, bringing in many Wall Street money near Francis. The Pope became a feature speaker at a major international event addressing the Clinton Global Initiative in 2023.
