that it expected its financial deficit for 1981 to be about £14 million. The announcement came after a two-day meeting of a special council of 15 cardinals recently set up by the Pope to help the Vatican come to grips with its financial and organisational problems. It was only the second time that the Vatican had publicly stated its financial position. The official communique gave very few other details of the cardinals' meeting. It said that the cardinals examined "various problems of an organisational nature of the Roman Curia with the intention of presenting ideas and proposals to make its structure and functioning even better adapted to the pastoral needs of the time."
It did not say what practical suggestions the cardinals made regarding either Vatican finances or the organisation of the Curia. All the members are residential archbishops who live outside Italy: Cardinal Casaroli and Capri° took part because of their offices as papal secretary of state and head of the Prefecture of Economic Affairs.