Pope Francis, the dramatic day: the Vatican one step away from default, the documents that torment him

The Vatican's financial crisis has reached the point of no return: the default. To tell the desperate accounts in red is Gianluigi Nuzzi, who in his new book talks about a Vatican that has reached the edge of the precipice. The last act is at the end of May when Bergoglio – he explains Republic – receives the balance sheet data of APSA, the central bank of the Holy See and discovers that "for the first time in history" the 2018 financial year is negative. The reason? One management patronage and without rules of heritage.

"The deficit that afflicts the Holy See has reached worrying levels, at the risk of leading to default". This is the dramatic news coming from the members of the Council for the Economy, to which is added that "lacking the fundamental information to determine the deficit accurately and correctly". The Vatican structure resists, but without ever recovering from the beating and so Francesco asks to analyze the gigantic real estate of the Holy See: half a million square meters worth 2.7 billion. From here emerges a bleak picture.

The "treasure" is made up of 41 percent homes, offices for 26, shops for 8 percent, with a total of 4,421 assets, but 800 properties are vacant, out of the 3,200 leased assets, 15% is at zero rent, half at preferential rent. The average fee is between 7.47 and 8.18 euros per square meter per month, with a reduction from 20 to 70 per cent on the market. The arrears come to 2.7 million euros. And here is why the revenue collapses, while expenses are constantly growing.