[2] A 2012 report from the Council of Europe identified the value of a section of the Vatican's property assets as an amount in excess of €680 million (£570 million); as of January 2013, a papal official in Rome named Paolo Mennini manages this portion of the Holy See's assets—consisting of British investments, other European holdings and a currency trading arm.
The Guardian described Mennini as "in effect the pope's merchant banker [who] heads a special unit inside the Vatican called the extraordinary division of APSA – Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica – which handles the so-called 'patrimony of the Holy See'.
Pope Paul VI established APSA as part of his broader reform of the Roman Curia in the apostolic constitution Regimini Ecclesiae universae issued on 15 August 1967.
[citation needed] In 2021 it was revealed that Libero Milone the first auditor general in an interview confirmed Holy See invested funds in a pharmaceutical company which produces an emergency contraceptive “morning after pill,” but sold its shares in the company when the Vatican’s auditor reported the investment to senior Church officials.
[14] The apostolic constitution Praedicate evangelium, which takes effect in June 2022, identifies the head of APSA as a president without any requirement as to clerical status.