Laxity, opacity, small arrangements… The Court of Auditors criticizes the management of French religious places in Rome

Five churches and 13 buildings located in the heart of the Italian capital are managed by the “Pious Establishments of France in Rome and Loreto”. The Court of Auditors draws up a damning assessment of their management between 2015 and 2022.

It is a well-known institution in Rome. The “Pious Establishments of France in Rome and Loreto” manage the religious and real estate assets of France in the city of the Pope. This represents five churches, including the Trinità-des-Monts and Saint-Louis-des-Français, and 13 buildings in the very centre of the Italian capital, which generate revenues of more than 5 million euros each year. In a flamethrower report, the Court of Auditors denounces poor management and a lack of control by the French embassy in the Vatican.

The report describes a lax, opaque world of arrangements. “The deficiencies are numerous and obvious”the Court notes from the outset, citing for example the case of the inhabitant of a large apartment since 1985, without a lease for 22 years, with a rent at least two times lower than the market price. Estimated loss over the years: nearly 3 million euros.

More broadly, on real estate, the Court of Auditors mentions a “opaque policy of allocating and fixing rents” of 148 apartments and 31 stores, on average “below the low range” with “unjustified advantages granted to many tenants”. A “lack of professionalism” which makes him lose “nearly 50%” of potential income.

The magistrates also denounce the lack of transparency: no precise inventory of the heritage, no public calls for tender for maintenance work. Work entrusted to few companies, leading to a “risk of significant overcharging”. Some of the accounting is off-balance sheet. The report also mentions “failing cooperation with the Ministry of Culture”, especially on fire prevention instructions, which is causing a stir “a proven risk to the safety of property and people.”

All this under the passive gaze of the French embassy in the Vatican, which is ultimately responsible. “Having been informed of these abuses for a long time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not taken the necessary measures to restore a degraded situation,” continues the Court of Auditors. The State “must immediately put an end to the errors observed”wrote the Court, considering that the legal framework “must absolutely evolve”.

The report focuses on the period 2015-2022. The current administrator who arrived in 2023 ensures that most of the Court’s recommendations are gradually being implemented. A major project remains: the inventory, again missing, of the movable property of the pious, which contains treasures, such as three famous paintings by Caravaggio in the Saint-Louis-des-Français church, estimated at several hundred million euros.