Council for the Economy

Praedicate Evangelium assigns the Council supervision of the administrative and financial structures and activities of Curial institutions and offices and of the associated or related institutions named in its statutes. This supervision is to follow Catholic social doctrine, ethical and efficient administration, and internationally recognized good practice. The Council proposes guidelines and norms to protect assets, reduce financial risk, allocate resources prudently, and align administration with approved plans and budgets.

The Council approves the Holy See's annual budget and consolidated financial statements before submitting them to the Roman Pontiff. It sets the value and other criteria by which acts of alienation, acquisition, or extraordinary administration require the Secretariat for the Economy's approval for validity. It may receive relevant information from the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority and is informed annually about the Institute for the Works of Religion.

The Council has fifteen papally appointed members serving five-year terms: eight cardinals or bishops representing the universality of the Church and seven lay experts of different nationalities. A Cardinal Coordinator convokes and chairs it with the assistance of a secretary. The Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy participates without a vote. This arrangement joins episcopal responsibility for the universal Church to professional competence in finance and administration.

The Council examines proposals from the Secretariat for the Economy and suggestions from the administrations and financial institutions within its competence. During a vacancy of the Apostolic See, it supplies the Cardinal Camerlengo with the most recent consolidated financial statements and the current budget. These functions make it a supervisory and deliberative body, not the office that performs the Secretariat's daily monitoring, budgeting, personnel, procurement, and approval work.

The Council for the Economy and the Secretariat for the Economy are separate institutions of finance. The Council establishes and approves the governing framework within its competence and exercises high-level supervision. The Secretariat functions as a papal secretariat for economic and financial matters, prepares the budget and consolidated balance sheet, monitors implementation, proposes corrective action, and administers other operational competencies assigned by law.^[2]

The distinction is juridical rather than stylistic. Council for the Economy, Council of the Economy, and Vatican Council for the Economy name the Council; none is a synonym for the Secretariat. An encyclopedia record must therefore preserve separate articles, offices, leaders, competencies, and documentary histories for the two institutions.^[3]