One solution would be to offer software engineering or computer science college students in the United States internships at the Vatican...(after vetting)....many would be interested in furthering the Holy See's information systems security efforts.
Well, we now know where all those millions of euros squandered by the Vatican on corrupt British real estate deals could have gone. Yet Cardinal Parolin, the Secretary of State since 2013, who allowed for this deal and who prevented Cardinal Pell from reforming the Vatican's finances is still in his position, while the last man who successfully improved Vatican City's finances, when he was in charge of that about 15 years ago, Archbishop Vigano, is excommunicated, albeit for a different reason.
He's excommunicated for losing all of his sanity points in a game of Call of Cthulhu as I understand it. But possibly some of them were lost in a stare into the abyss of Vatican finances?
There's a team of people running code through various federal systems in an effort to map where all the money is going, where it's coming from, how it gets moved around, what has duplicate funding, what has stymied funding, and what has funding that ought not. The code is discovering things the career bureaucrats didn't know.
The US team is dealing with enforcing financial tracking sufficient to make various offices auditable. Seeing as the US government has had a problem with losing pallets of cash for at least a few decades now.
There are ways of tracking cash. Most US businesses have them now, and it wasn't too long ago that practically all of them did. Probably *especially* the illegal ones. The Vatican just doesn't use them.
That is true. It is sad what happened to Archbishop Vigano, but he did fix up the Vatican City finances by preventing vendors from overcharging the Church and fighting corruption.
Unfortunately, his letters criticizing the corruption were leaked during the infamous Pope Benedict XVI butler scandal and the Pope got rid of him from Rome by sending him as nuncio to the United States, which Vigano opposed. Too bad Vigano could not remain like Bishop Schneider or Cardinal Burke, critical of Pope Francis, but not schismatic. But he was a darn excellent nuncio and administrator.
While visiting St Peter's in 2012, my nephew and I went to morning Mass in the side chapel behind the velvet curtains. After Mass, the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament was placed on the altar for adoration. A crazy man rushed from the back of the chapel, climbed onto the altar and tried to throw the monstrance onto the floor. People quickly moved to restrain him and security came in almost immediately. Later when we went to the sacristy to purchase Mass cards, the sacristan indicated that this was not an uncommon occurrence. Not sure why it was addressed so slowly this time.
Clearly, America should send the Knights of Columbus there, as one of their jobs is to stand watch at Eucharistic adoration. We should probably make them go back to the uniform that included a sword first though.
I hope they don't start stabbing mentally ill people on altars... But more seriously, if the Knights started training people for standing an effective guard and actually using the swords, they might get more members.
The runaway car incident is particularly concerning given the way cars and trucks have been used for terrorist attacks in the last 15 years. The Vatican has large numbers of people and is probably a high-profile target for numerous groups of terrorists.
It’s simple, from a cybersecurity point of view: The Vatican is a big target; if the Vatican is not willing to invest in security measures then they need to remove themselves from the Internet.
One solution would be to offer software engineering or computer science college students in the United States internships at the Vatican...(after vetting)....many would be interested in furthering the Holy See's information systems security efforts.
Maybe the young folks helping Musk at Doge can head to the Vatican next. Just a thought. .
Well, we now know where all those millions of euros squandered by the Vatican on corrupt British real estate deals could have gone. Yet Cardinal Parolin, the Secretary of State since 2013, who allowed for this deal and who prevented Cardinal Pell from reforming the Vatican's finances is still in his position, while the last man who successfully improved Vatican City's finances, when he was in charge of that about 15 years ago, Archbishop Vigano, is excommunicated, albeit for a different reason.
He's excommunicated for losing all of his sanity points in a game of Call of Cthulhu as I understand it. But possibly some of them were lost in a stare into the abyss of Vatican finances?
"But possibly some of them were lost in a stare into the abyss of Vatican finances?"
-Great. Now we should all fear for Ed's sanity, too.
There's a team of people running code through various federal systems in an effort to map where all the money is going, where it's coming from, how it gets moved around, what has duplicate funding, what has stymied funding, and what has funding that ought not. The code is discovering things the career bureaucrats didn't know.
The Vatican might do well to hire the team.
The problem is going to be tracking literal grocery bags stuffed with cash locked away in desk drawers without a reciept or voucher trail.
The US team is dealing with enforcing financial tracking sufficient to make various offices auditable. Seeing as the US government has had a problem with losing pallets of cash for at least a few decades now.
There are ways of tracking cash. Most US businesses have them now, and it wasn't too long ago that practically all of them did. Probably *especially* the illegal ones. The Vatican just doesn't use them.
That is true. It is sad what happened to Archbishop Vigano, but he did fix up the Vatican City finances by preventing vendors from overcharging the Church and fighting corruption.
Unfortunately, his letters criticizing the corruption were leaked during the infamous Pope Benedict XVI butler scandal and the Pope got rid of him from Rome by sending him as nuncio to the United States, which Vigano opposed. Too bad Vigano could not remain like Bishop Schneider or Cardinal Burke, critical of Pope Francis, but not schismatic. But he was a darn excellent nuncio and administrator.
Almost sounds like they need some kind of border security, like a fence maybe...
While visiting St Peter's in 2012, my nephew and I went to morning Mass in the side chapel behind the velvet curtains. After Mass, the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament was placed on the altar for adoration. A crazy man rushed from the back of the chapel, climbed onto the altar and tried to throw the monstrance onto the floor. People quickly moved to restrain him and security came in almost immediately. Later when we went to the sacristy to purchase Mass cards, the sacristan indicated that this was not an uncommon occurrence. Not sure why it was addressed so slowly this time.
Have they considered Swiss guards?
Yes. I thought that is what they were there for.
Swiss Guards are great, but their mission is specifically to protect the person of the Pope. They aren't general security for Vatican City.
Clearly, America should send the Knights of Columbus there, as one of their jobs is to stand watch at Eucharistic adoration. We should probably make them go back to the uniform that included a sword first though.
The current Knights of Columbus uniform still does have a sword.
Great, then we can just start sending them!
Well, the majority of 4th Degree can barely follow the ceremonial aspects of wielding the sword, much less use it as a weapon!
I hope they don't start stabbing mentally ill people on altars... But more seriously, if the Knights started training people for standing an effective guard and actually using the swords, they might get more members.
The runaway car incident is particularly concerning given the way cars and trucks have been used for terrorist attacks in the last 15 years. The Vatican has large numbers of people and is probably a high-profile target for numerous groups of terrorists.
It’s simple, from a cybersecurity point of view: The Vatican is a big target; if the Vatican is not willing to invest in security measures then they need to remove themselves from the Internet.
Honestly, in my senior tech career perspective, this is the best answer. Let credentialed apostolates do the internet stuff on behalf of the vatican.