In 2014, Pope Francis reaffirmed the centrality of the mission of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione for the good of the Catholic Church, the Holy See and the Vatican City State, and renewed its governing bodies, entrusting them with the task of initiating a path of radical renewal with the aim of reviving the original spirit of its statutory mission and bringing it into conformity with the new regulations of the Vatican City State, aligned with international ones.

The Institute therefore decided to retain its original name, Istituto per le Opere di Religione, because it clearly identified the mission for which it was born, whose centrality to the whole Catholic Church and its pastoral activity had been reaffirmed by Pope Francis.

Being the only Vatican entity authorised by the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority of the Vatican City State to professionally carry out financial activities, the Institute therefore initiated the progressive adoption of the implementing regulations of Law XVIII/2013, issued over time by the above Authority, with the goal of achieving full compliance with the regulations in force and participating in the international financial system.

The radical renewal process, promoted and strongly supported by Pope Francis, was marked by several main stages. The new governing bodies shared a commitment to build all their strategic choices around Catholic ethics and to ensure that the Institute would operate in a transparent and lawful manner.

This commitment resulted in intense internal regulatory activities, in the creation of an effective internal control system, and over the years in the adoption of business plans aimed at transforming the Institute into a financial and payment service provider, aligned with best international practices, but consistently also with its mission and Catholic ethics.

Among the key milestones achieved by the Institute in its path of renewal are accounting and fiscal transparency, the development of an investment process fully compliant with the Social Doctrine of the Church, the evolution of the organisational structure with the inclusion of new professionals, the adoption of new remuneration and incentive policies and, in 2024, the launch of an Internet banking system called IOR Portal, which shows the progress made in the digitisation of the Institute.

The recognitions of the compliance achieved by the Institute have been the admission to the SEPA circuit, the recognition of the Qualified Intermediary status by the U.S. IRS, the “substantial effectiveness” rating awarded by the Moneyval inspectors with reference to the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing measures adopted, as well as the significant increase in the number of the Institute’s financial partners.