'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
The Vatican released information on its real estate holdings for the first time on Saturday, revealing it owns more than 5,000 properties as part of its most detailed financial disclosures ever.
The information was contained in two documents, a consolidated financial statement for 2020 for the Holy See and the first-ever public budget for the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA).
APSA, a sort of general accounting office, manages real estate and investments, pays salaries, and acts as a purchasing office and human resources department.
Between the two documents - each with an unprecedented number of pie charts, graphs and maps - and two explanatory interviews, the Vatican issued more than 50 pages of financial material.
The 30-page APSA budget showed that it owns 4,051 properties in Italy and about 1,120 abroad, not including its embassies around the world.
Only about 14 per cent of its Italian properties were rented at market rates, while the others were rented at cut rates, many to Church employees. About 40 per cent were institutional buildings such as schools, convents and hospitals.
The documentation showed that APSA owns properties as investments in upscale areas of London, Geneva, Lausanne and Paris.
One building, in London's smart South Kensington district, led to enormous losses after it was purchased by the Vatican's Secretariat of State as an investment in 2014.
On Tuesday, the trial of 10 people in connection with its purchase, including a prominent cardinal, starts in the Vatican. They are charged with financial crimes including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud, extortion and abuse of office.
Father Juan Antonio Guerrero, head of the Vatican's Secretariat for the Economy (SPE), told the official Vatican News website that the building would be sold soon.
He said the trial would be a "turning point" in the Vatican's credibility in economic matters and that a similar event could not be repeated because of measures put into place since.
Last year, Pope Francis stripped the Secretariat of State of control over its funds, transferring them to APSA and with oversight by the SPE.
A separate consolidated financial statement for the Holy See issued on Saturday showed a 64.8 million euro deficit in 2020, down from a 79.2 million deficit in 2019.
The Holy See budget includes the central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, known as the Curia, that oversees the governing of the 1.3 billion-member worldwide Church, its global diplomatic representations and media operations.
Vatican City, including the Vatican Museums and the Vatican bank, has a separate budget.
To plug the 2020 deficit, about 50 million euros were taken from Peter's Pence, a fund of donations to help the pope carry out the Church's worldwide work.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Vatican revenues hard in 2020.
St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums, the latter a cash cow that received about 6 million paying visitors in 2019, were closed or only partially open for much of 2020.
(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Alex Richardson)
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.