Pope Leo XIV places St. Peter’s and St. Mary Major under Vatican Economy Council oversight in new motu proprio, continuing Francis-era transparency drive.
Newsroom (27/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) In a previously unreported motu proprio dated September 29, 2025, Pope Leo XIV has placed the two papal major basilicas of St. Peter and St. Mary Major under the ordinary administrative and financial oversight of the Council for the Economy, marking another step in the ongoing refinement of the Holy See’s economic governance.
The decree, formally promulgated this month by its posting in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, abrogates earlier normative texts governing the historic Fabbrica di San Pietro and the Chapter of St. Mary Major. Both institutions will now follow the same supervisory framework applied to other Vatican entities as defined by the 2022 apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium and the statutes of the Council for the Economy.
In the text, Pope Leo XIV states that the Holy See’s broader economic and financial reform “requires periodic reevaluation and redefinition” of the regulatory framework, underscoring the need for continuous adaptation nearly a decade after Pope Francis launched sweeping transparency and accountability measures.
To guarantee what the pontiff describes as an “immediate and structured transition,” the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy will coordinate implementation alongside a dedicated consultative group tasked with addressing any practical or legal questions that emerge. The new norms will eventually appear in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the official compendium of Holy See legislation.
The move follows Pope Leo’s October decree Coniuncta Cura, which ended the Vatican Bank’s (IOR) monopoly on managing Holy See investments and reopened asset management to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) and other accredited intermediaries when financially advantageous. That reform partially reversed a 2022 centralization decision under Pope Francis and was presented as a pragmatic step to diversify risk, boost returns, and secure the Vatican’s fiscal sustainability amid rising costs.
While the latest decree does not alter the liturgical or pastoral roles of either basilica, it aligns their administrative and financial operations with the standardized controls now in force across most Vatican dicasteries and entities. Analysts see the changes as evidence that Pope Leo XIV, eight months into his pontificate, intends to preserve and fine-tune rather than dismantle the anti-corruption and professionalization architecture built by his predecessor.
Neither the Fabbrica di San Pietro nor the Chapter of St. Mary Major has publicly commented on the new oversight structure. The norms take immediate effect.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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