How Francis Wooed Donors

World leaders and pilgrims descended on St. Peter’s Square this morning to bid an emotional farewell to Pope Francis. Next, the hard work of selecting a new pope begins. And whomever the 135 cardinal electors select will inherit not only a church divided by politics but a financial basket case.

Donor groups tell DealBook that they’ll be watching closely — and praying.

The Roman Catholic Church presides over an enormous portfolio of real estate, art and other investments; the so-called Vatican bank manages roughly $6 billion in assets, but has been rocked by a string of corruption scandals over the years.

Francis worked to restore confidence in the Vatican’s finances, a push that succeeded in drawing in donors. But with a succession fight about to begin, big questions loom over whether those efforts will continue — or whether the new pope will reverse them.

“We are in a period of uncertainty,” Sister Jane Wakahiu, the associate vice president for programs at the Hilton Foundation, told DealBook. “No one can possibly be able to fill perfectly the shoes of Pope Francis.”

Founded by Conrad Hilton, the hotel magnate, the Hilton Foundation is one of the biggest financial backers of Catholic sisters’ work around the world, and has given roughly $28.5 million to Vatican-led initiatives, including Vatican departments, since 2020.

Francis saw donors as vital partners. He looked to them not only to fund the causes dear to him but also to plug the Vatican’s creaky finances. In February, while the pope was recovering from a near-death bout of double pneumonia, he created the Commissio de Donationibus pro Sancta Sede, a committee to fund-raise directly for the curia, or the Vatican’s governing hierarchy, and to shore up its many budget shortfalls. Francis’ initiative was bold: He was essentially betting that donors would be happy to openly fund church bureaucracy as well as the Roman Catholic Church’s far-flung missions around the world.