Daiichi Sankyo Continues to Transform Treatment Landscape for Patients with Cancer with Practice-Changing Data at ASCO
BASKING RIDGE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Daiichi Sankyo (TSE: 4568) will present new clinical research across its oncology portfolio with more than 20 abstracts in multiple cancers at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Scientific Program (#ASCO25).
Data at ASCO showcasing the company's progress towards creating new standards of care for patients with cancer will include two late-breaking oral presentations. The first will feature results of the DESTINY-Breast09 phase 3 trial (LBA # 1008) where ENHERTU ® (trastuzumab deruxtecan) in combination with pertuzumab demonstrated superior progression-free survival compared to taxane, trastuzumab and pertuzumab (THP) as a first-line treatment in patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer. The second will highlight results of the DESTINY-Gastric04 phase 3 trial (LBA # 4002) where ENHERTU demonstrated superior overall survival compared to ramucirumab and paclitaxel as a second-line treatment in patients with HER2 positive metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma. Data from DESTINY-Breast09 and DESTINY-Gastric04 will be featured in ASCO press briefings.
'This year's ASCO marks the fourth in a row where potential practice-changing ENHERTU data will be showcased,' said Ken Takeshita, MD, Global Head, R&D, Daiichi Sankyo. 'With the results of DESTINY-Breast09 and DESTINY-Gastric04, we now have six breast and two gastric cancer randomized trials that have demonstrated significant survival improvements with ENHERTU. These data, along with other updates across our industry-leading oncology portfolio, underscore our commitment to pushing the boundaries of science to create new medicines or combination strategies that improve outcomes for patients with cancer.'
Other ENHERTU data at ASCO will include an oral presentation featuring an exploratory circulating tumor DNA analysis of the DESTINY-Breast06 phase 3 trial (# 1013) evaluating ENHERTU compared to physician's choice of chemotherapy in hormone receptor (HR) positive, HER2 low (IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH-) or HER2 ultralow (IHC 0 with membrane staining) metastatic breast cancer. Updated results from the PRO-DUCE study (# 1545) examining vital sign monitoring compared to usual care in patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving ENHERTU also will be highlighted as a poster presentation.
A trials-in-progress poster presentation will feature the DESTINY-Gastric05 phase 3 trial (TPS4207) evaluating ENHERTU in combination with a fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy and pembrolizumab compared to trastuzumab in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy and pembrolizumab in previously untreated patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic HER2 positive (IHC 3+ or IHC 2+/ISH+) gastric or GEJ cancer.
Progress in Lung Cancer Across Daiichi Sankyo's DXd ADC Portfolio
Updated DATROWAY ® (datopotamab deruxtecan) combination data across three early-phase trials will be highlighted in patients with early or advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Updated results from the TROPION-Lung02 phase 1b trial (# 8501) evaluating DATROWAY plus pembrolizumab with or without platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with previously untreated advanced NSCLC without actionable genomic alterations will be featured as an oral presentation. This will include results from an exploratory analysis using quantitative continuous scoring (QCS), AstraZeneca's proprietary computational pathology platform.
Poster sessions will highlight the first presentation of data of DATROWAY and rilvegostomig, AstraZeneca's PD-1/TIGIT bispecific antibody, from the TROPION-Lung04 phase 1b trial (# 8521) cohort evaluating the combination in patients without actionable genomic alterations who have advanced or metastatic NSCLC, and the final pathologic complete response and major pathologic response data from the NeoCOAST-2 phase 2 trial (# 8046) evaluating DATROWAY with durvalumab, AstraZeneca's anti-PD-L1 therapy, and chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment followed by adjuvant treatment with durvalumab in patients with resectable early-stage (IIA to IIIB) NSCLC.
Additional lung cancer data at ASCO will include an oral presentation of the HERTHENA-Lung02 phase 3 trial (# 8506) of patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd) versus platinum doublet chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic EGFR-mutated NSCLC with disease progression following the use of an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI).
Trials-in-progress poster presentations in lung cancer across the DXd ADC portfolio will include the TROPION-Lung14 phase 3 trial (TPS8647) evaluating DATROWAY combined with osimertinib, AstraZeneca's EGFR TKI, compared to osimertinib alone in the first-line setting of patients with locally advanced or metastatic EGFR-mutated NSCLC and a substudy of KEYMAKER-U01, a phase 1/2 trial (TPS8652), evaluating pembrolizumab plus ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd) or patritumab deruxtecan with or without chemotherapy in patients with untreated advanced NSCLC.
Additional Data and Trials-in-Progress Across Daiichi Sankyo's Oncology Portfolio at ASCO
Oral presentations also will highlight initial results from the TUXEDO-3 phase 2 trial (# 2005) evaluating patritumab deruxtecan in patients with metastatic breast cancer or advanced NSCLC and active brain metastases and in patients with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis/disease from advanced solid tumors, as well as results from a phase 1 trial (# 10003) evaluating valemetostat, a dual EZH1 and EZH2 inhibitor, in pediatric patients with malignant solid tumors.
Additional DXd ADC trials-in-progress poster presentations include the REJOICE-PanTumor01 phase 2 trial (TPS3158) evaluating raludotatug deruxtecan (R-DXd) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic gynecologic or genitourinary cancers, IDeate-PanTumor02 phase 1b/2 trial (TPS3157) evaluating ifinatamab deruxtecan in patients with recurrent or metastatic solid tumors and a substudy of KEYMAKER-U06, a phase 1/2 trial (TPS4209) evaluating ifinatamab deruxtecan in combination with pembrolizumab with or without chemotherapy in patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Other trials-in-progress posters include the QuANTUM-Wild phase 3 trial (TPS6580) evaluating VANFLYTA ® (quizartinib) in combination with chemotherapy in patients with FLT3 -ITD negative acute myeloid leukemia and a first-in-human phase 1 trial of DS-2243 (TPS2668), a potential first-in-class bispecific T-cell engager targeting HLA-A*02/NY-ESO in patients with advanced solid tumors.
Daiichi Sankyo will hold a virtual conference call for investors on Monday, June 2, 2025 from 6:00 to 7:15 pm CDT / Tuesday, June 3, 2025 from 8:00 to 9:15 am JST. Executives from Daiichi Sankyo will provide an overview of the ASCO research data and address questions.
Details of the two late-breaking ENHERTU oral presentations at ASCO 2025 include:
Highlights of additional clinical data and trials-in-progress from Daiichi Sankyo's oncology pipeline include:
Presentation Title
Author
Abstract
Presentation (CDT)
Breast
Exploratory biomarker analysis of trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) vs physician's choice of chemotherapy in HER2 low/ultralow, hormone receptor-positive (HR+) metastatic breast cancer in DESTINY-Breast06
R. Dent
1013
Oral Presentation
Saturday, May 31
1:15 – 4:15 pm
HERTHENA-Breast03: a phase 2, randomized, open-label study evaluating neoadjuvant patritumab deruxtecan + pembrolizumab before or after pembrolizumab + chemotherapy for early-stage TNBC or HR-low+/HER2- breast cancer
J.
O'Shaughnessy
TPS629
Poster Session
Monday, June 2
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Electronic patient-reported outcomes with vital sign monitoring versus usual care during trastuzumab deruxtecan treatment for metastatic breast cancer: updated results from the PRO-DUCE study
Y. Kikawa
1545
Poster Session
Sunday, June 1
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Lung
TROPION-Lung02: datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd) plus pembrolizumab with or without platinum chemotherapy as first-line therapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer
B. Levy
8501
Oral Presentation
Sunday, June 1
8:00 – 11:00 am
Patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd) in resistant EGFR-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer after a third-generation EGFR TKI: the phase 3 HERTHENA-Lung02 study
T. Mok
8506
Oral Presentation
Sunday, June 1
8:00 – 11:00 am
First-line datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd) + rilvegostomig in advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer: results from TROPION-Lung04 (cohort 5)
S. Waqar
8521
Poster Session
Saturday, May 31
1:30 – 4:30 pm
TROPION-Lung14: a phase 3 study of osimertinib ± datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd) as first-line treatment for patients with EGFR-mutated locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer
S. Lu
TPS8647
Poster Session
Saturday, May 31
1:30 – 4:30 pm
Neoadjuvant durvalumab + chemotherapy + novel anticancer agents and adjuvant durvalumab ± novel agents in resectable non-small cell lung cancer: updated outcomes from NeoCOAST-2
T. Cascone
8046
Poster Session
Saturday, May 31
1:30 – 4:30 pm
KEYMAKER-U01 substudy 01A: phase 1/2 study of pembrolizumab plus ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd) or patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd) with or without chemotherapy in untreated stage IV non-small cell lung cancer
C. Aggarwal
TPS8652
Poster Session
Saturday, May 31 1:30 – 4:30 pm
Gastric
An open-label, randomized, multicenter, phase 3 study of trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) + chemotherapy ± pembrolizumab versus chemo + trastuzumab ± pembro in first-line metastatic HER2+ gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer: DESTINY-Gastric05
K. Shitara
TPS4207
Poster Session
Saturday, May 31
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Esophageal
KEYMAKER-U06 substudy 06E: phase 1/2 open-label, umbrella platform study of ifinatamab deruxtecan in combination with pembrolizumab with or without chemotherapy for first-line treatment of advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
K. Kato
TPS4209
Poster Session
Saturday, May 31
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
AML
QuANTUM-Wild: a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of quizartinib in combination with chemotherapy and as single-agent maintenance in FLT3 -ITD negative acute myeloid leukemia
P. Montesinos
TPS6580
Poster Session
Sunday, June 1
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Pan-Tumor
Patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd) in active brain metastases from metastatic breast and non-small cell lung cancers, and leptomeningeal disease from advanced solid tumors: results from the TUXEDO-3 phase 2 trial
M. Preusser
2005
Oral Presentation
Friday, May 30
2:45 – 5:45 pm
IDeate-PanTumor02: a phase 1b/2 study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd) in patients with recurrent or metastatic solid tumors
T. Kogawa
TPS3157
Poster Session
Monday, June 2
1:30 – 4:30 pm
REJOICE- PanTumor01: a phase 2 signal-seeking study of raludotatug deruxtecan (R-DXd) in patients with advanced or metastatic gynecologic or genitourinary tumors
L. Albiges
TPS3158
Poster Session
Monday, June 2
1:30 – 4:30 pm
A phase 1, first-in-human study of DS-2243, an HLA-A*02/NY-ESO directed bispecific T‑cell engager, in patients with advanced solid tumors
S. D'Angelo
TPS2668
Poster Session
Monday, June 2
1:30 – 4:30 pm
Pediatric
Safety and efficacy of the EZH1/2 inhibitor valemetostat tosylate (DS-3201b) in pediatric patients with malignant solid tumors (NCCH1904): a multicenter phase 1 trial
A. Arakawa
10003
Oral Presentation
Saturday, May 31
3:00 – 6:00 pm
Expand
About the ADC Portfolio of Daiichi Sankyo
The Daiichi Sankyo ADC portfolio consists of seven ADCs in clinical development crafted from two distinct ADC technology platforms discovered in-house by Daiichi Sankyo.
The ADC platform furthest in clinical development is Daiichi Sankyo's DXd ADC Technology where each ADC consists of a monoclonal antibody attached to a number of topoisomerase I inhibitor payloads (an exatecan derivative, DXd) via tetrapeptide-based cleavable linkers. The DXd ADC portfolio currently consists of ENHERTU, a HER2 directed ADC, and DATROWAY, a TROP2 directed ADC, which are being jointly developed and commercialized globally with AstraZeneca. Patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd), a HER3 directed ADC, ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd), a B7-H3 directed ADC, and raludotatug deruxtecan (R-DXd), a CDH6 directed ADC, are being jointly developed and commercialized globally with Merck & Co., Inc, Rahway, NJ, USA. DS-3939, a TA-MUC1 directed ADC, is being developed by Daiichi Sankyo.
The second Daiichi Sankyo ADC platform consists of a monoclonal antibody attached to a modified pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) payload. DS-9606, a CLDN6 directed PBD ADC, is the first of several planned ADCs in clinical development utilizing this platform.
Ifinatamab deruxtecan, patritumab deruxtecan, raludotatug deruxtecan, DS-3939 and DS-9606 are investigational medicines that have not been approved for any indication in any country. Safety and efficacy have not been established.
About Daiichi Sankyo
Daiichi Sankyo is an innovative global healthcare company contributing to the sustainable development of society that discovers, develops and delivers new standards of care to enrich the quality of life around the world. With more than 125 years of experience, Daiichi Sankyo leverages its world-class science and technology to create new modalities and innovative medicines for people with cancer, cardiovascular and other diseases with high unmet medical needs. For more information, please visit www.daiichisankyo.com.
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The Hill
19 minutes ago
- The Hill
Can an American pope apply US-style fundraising and standards to fix troubled Vatican finances?
VATICAN CITY (AP) — As a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost was often on the lookout for used cars that he could buy cheap and fix up himself for use in parishes around his diocese. With cars that were really broken down, he'd watch YouTube videos to learn how to fix them. That kind of make-do-with-less, fix-it-yourself mentality could serve Pope Leo XIV well as he addresses one of the greatest challenges facing him as pope: The Holy See's chronic, 50 million to 60 million euro ($57-68 million) structural deficit, 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall and declining donations that together pose something of an existential threat to the central government of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. As a Chicago-born math major, canon lawyer and two-time superior of his global Augustinian religious order, the 69-year-old pope presumably can read a balance sheet and make sense of the Vatican's complicated finances, which have long been mired in scandal. Whether he can change the financial culture of the Holy See, consolidate reforms Pope Francis started and convince donors that their money is going to good use is another matter. Leo already has one thing going for him: his American-ness. U.S. donors have long been the economic life support system of the Holy See, financing everything from papal charity projects abroad to restorations of St. Peter's Basilica at home. Leo's election as the first American pope has sent a jolt of excitement through U.S. Catholics, some of whom had soured on donating to the Vatican after years of unrelenting stories of mismanagement, corruption and scandal, according to interviews with top Catholic fundraisers, philanthropists and church management experts. 'I think the election of an American is going to give greater confidence that any money given is going to be cared for by American principles, especially of stewardship and transparency,' said the Rev. Roger Landry, director of the Vatican's main missionary fundraising operation in the U.S., the Pontifical Mission Societies. 'So there will be great hope that American generosity is first going to be appreciated and then secondly is going to be well handled,' he said. 'That hasn't always been the circumstance, especially lately.' Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on a mandate to reform the Vatican's opaque finances and made progress during his 12-year pontificate, mostly on the regulatory front. With help from the late Australian Cardinal George Pell, Francis created an economy ministry and council made up of clergy and lay experts to supervise Vatican finances, and he wrestled the Italian-dominated bureaucracy into conforming to international accounting and budgetary standards. He authorized a landmark, if deeply problematic, corruption trial over a botched London property investment that convicted a once-powerful Italian cardinal. And he punished the Vatican's Secretariat of State that had allowed the London deal to go through by stripping it of its ability to manage its own assets. But Francis left unfinished business and his overall record, at least according to some in the donor community, is less than positive. Critics cite Pell's frustrated reform efforts and the firing of the Holy See's first-ever auditor general, who says he was ousted because he had uncovered too much financial wrongdoing. Despite imposing years of belt-tightening and hiring freezes, Francis left the Vatican in somewhat dire financial straits: The main stopgap bucket of money that funds budgetary shortfalls, known as the Peter's Pence, is nearly exhausted, officials say. The 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall that Pell warned about a decade ago remains unaddressed, though Francis had planned reforms. And the structural deficit continues, with the Holy See logging an 83.5 million euro ($95 million) deficit in 2023, according to its latest financial report. As Francis' health worsened, there were signs that his efforts to reform the Vatican's medieval financial culture hadn't really stuck, either. The very same Secretariat of State that Francis had punished for losing tens of millions of euros in the scandalous London property deal somehow ended up heading up a new papal fundraising commission that was announced while Francis was in the hospital. According to its founding charter and statutes, the commission is led by the Secretariat of State's assessor, is composed entirely of Italian Vatican officials with no professional fundraising expertise and has no required external financial oversight. To some Vatican watchers, the commission smacks of the Italian-led Secretariat of State taking advantage of a sick pope to announce a new flow of unchecked donations into its coffers after its 600 million euro ($684 million) sovereign wealth fund was taken away and given to another office to manage as punishment for the London fiasco. 'There are no Americans on the commission. I think it would be good if there were representatives of Europe and Asia and Africa and the United States on the commission,' said Ward Fitzgerald, president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation. It is made up of wealthy American Catholics that since 1990 has provided over $250 million (219 million euros) in grants and scholarships to the pope's global charitable initiatives. Fitzgerald, who spent his career in real estate private equity, said American donors — especially the younger generation — expect transparency and accountability from recipients of their money, and know they can find non-Vatican Catholic charities that meet those expectations. 'We would expect transparency before we would start to solve the problem,' he said. That said, Fitzgerald said he hadn't seen any significant let-up in donor willingness to fund the Papal Foundation's project-specific donations during the Francis pontificate. Indeed, U.S. donations to the Vatican overall have remained more or less consistent even as other countries' offerings declined, with U.S. bishops and individual Catholics contributing more than any other country in the two main channels to donate to papal causes. Francis moved Prevost to take over the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. Residents and fellow priests say he consistently rallied funds, food and other life-saving goods for the neediest — experience that suggests he knows well how to raise money when times are tight and how to spend wisely. He bolstered the local Caritas charity in Chiclayo, with parishes creating food banks that worked with local businesses to distribute donated food, said the Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, a diocesan spokesperson. In 2019, Prevost inaugurated a shelter on the outskirts of Chiclayo, Villa San Vicente de Paul, to house desperate Venezuelan migrants who had fled their country's economic crisis. The migrants remember him still, not only for helping give them and their children shelter, but for bringing live chickens obtained from a donor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prevost launched a campaign to raise funds to build two oxygen plants to provide hard-hit residents with life-saving oxygen. In 2023, when massive rains flooded the region, he personally brought food to the flood-struck zone. Within hours of his May 8 election, videos went viral on social media of Prevost, wearing rubber boots and standing in a flooded street, pitching a solidarity campaign, 'Peru Give a Hand,' to raise money for flood victims. The Rev. Jorge Millán, who lived with Prevost and eight other priests for nearly a decade in Chiclayo, said he had a 'mathematical' mentality and knew how to get the job done. Prevost would always be on the lookout for used cars to buy for use around the diocese, Millán said, noting that the bishop often had to drive long distances to reach all of his flock or get to Lima, the capital. Prevost liked to fix them up himself, and if he didn't know what to do, 'he'd look up solutions on YouTube and very often he'd find them,' Millán told The Associated Press. Before going to Peru, Prevost served two terms as prior general, or superior, of the global Augustinian order. While the order's local provinces are financially independent, Prevost was responsible for reviewing their balance sheets and oversaw the budgeting and investment strategy of the order's headquarters in Rome, said the Rev. Franz Klein, the order's Rome-based economist who worked with Prevost. The Augustinian campus sits on prime real estate just outside St. Peter's Square and supplements revenue by renting out its picturesque terrace to media organizations (including the AP) for major Vatican events, including the conclave that elected Leo pope. But even Prevost saw the need for better fundraising, especially to help out poorer provinces. Toward the end of his 12-year term and with his support, a committee proposed creation of a foundation, Augustinians in the World. At the end of 2023, it had 994,000 euros ($1.13 million) in assets and was helping fund self-sustaining projects across Africa, including a center to rehabilitate former child soldiers in Congo. 'He has a very good interest and also a very good feeling for numbers,' Klein said. 'I have no worry about the finances of the Vatican in these years because he is very, very clever.' ___ Franklin Briceño contributed from Lima, Peru. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How the Vatican manages money and where Pope Leo XIV might find more
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The world's smallest country has a big budget problem. The Vatican doesn't tax its residents or issue bonds. It primarily finances the Catholic Church's central government through donations that have been plunging, ticket sales for the Vatican Museums, as well as income from investments and an underperforming real estate portfolio. The last year the Holy See published a consolidated budget, in 2022, it projected 770 million euros ($878 million), with the bulk paying for embassies around the world and Vatican media operations. In recent years, it hasn't been able to cover costs. That leaves Pope Leo XIV facing challenges to drum up the funds needed to pull his city-state out of the red. Withering donations Anyone can donate money to the Vatican, but the regular sources come in two main forms. Canon law requires bishops around the world to pay an annual fee, with amounts varying and at bishops' discretion 'according to the resources of their dioceses.' U.S. bishops contributed over one-third of the $22 million (19.3 million euros) collected annually under the provision from 2021-2023, according to Vatican data. The other main source of annual donations is more well-known to ordinary Catholics: Peter's Pence, a special collection usually taken on the last Sunday of June. From 2021-2023, individual Catholics in the U.S. gave an average $27 million (23.7 million euros) to Peter's Pence, more than half the global total. American generosity hasn't prevented overall Peter's Pence contributions from cratering. After hitting a high of $101 million (88.6 million euros) in 2006, contributions hovered around $75 million (66.8 million euros) during the 2010's then tanked to $47 million (41.2 million euros) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many churches were closed. Donations remained low in the following years, amid revelations of the Vatican's bungled investment in a London property, a former Harrod's warehouse that it hoped to develop into luxury apartments. The scandal and ensuing trial confirmed that the vast majority of Peter's Pence contributions had funded the Holy See's budgetary shortfalls, not papal charity initiatives as many parishioners had been led to believe. Peter's Pence donations rose slightly in 2023 and Vatican officials expect more growth going forward, in part because there has traditionally been a bump immediately after papal elections. New donors The Vatican bank and the city state's governorate, which controls the museums, also make annual contributions to the pope. As recently as a decade ago, the bank gave the pope around 55 million euros ($62.7 million) a year to help with the budget. But the amounts have dwindled; the bank gave nothing specifically to the pope in 2023, despite registering a net profit of 30 million euros ($34.2 million), according to its financial statements. The governorate's giving has likewise dropped off. Some Vatican officials ask how the Holy See can credibly ask donors to be more generous when its own institutions are holding back. Leo will need to attract donations from outside the U.S., no small task given the different culture of philanthropy, said the Rev. Robert Gahl, director of the Church Management Program at Catholic University of America's business school. He noted that in Europe there is much less of a tradition (and tax advantage) of individual philanthropy, with corporations and government entities doing most of the donating or allocating designated tax dollars. Even more important is leaving behind the 'mendicant mentality' of fundraising to address a particular problem, and instead encouraging Catholics to invest in the church as a project, he said. Speaking right after Leo's installation ceremony in St. Peter's Square, which drew around 200,000 people, Gahl asked: 'Don't you think there were a lot of people there that would have loved to contribute to that and to the pontificate?' In the U.S., donation baskets are passed around at every Sunday Mass. Not so at the Vatican. Untapped real estate The Vatican has 4,249 properties in Italy and 1,200 more in London, Paris, Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland. Only about one-fifth are rented at fair market value, according to the annual report from the APSA patrimony office, which manages them. Some 70% generate no income because they house Vatican or other church offices; the remaining 10% are rented at reduced rents to Vatican employees. In 2023, these properties only generated 35 million euros ($39.9 million) in profit. Financial analysts have long identified such undervalued real estate as a source of potential revenue. But Ward Fitzgerald, the president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation, which finances papal charities, said the Vatican should also be willing to sell properties, especially those too expensive to maintain. Many bishops are wrestling with similar downsizing questions as the number of church-going Catholics in parts of the U.S. and Europe shrinks and once-full churches stand empty. Toward that end, the Vatican recently sold the property housing its embassy in Tokyo's high-end Sanbancho neighborhood, near the Imperial Palace, to a developer building a 13-story apartment complex, according to the Kensetsu News trade journal. Yet there has long been institutional reluctance to part with even money-losing properties. Witness the Vatican announcement in 2021 that the cash-strapped Fatebenefratelli Catholic hospital in Rome, run by a religious order, would not be sold. Pope Francis simultaneously created a Vatican fundraising foundation to keep it and other Catholic hospitals afloat. 'They have to come to grips with the fact that they own so much real estate that is not serving the mission of the church,' said Fitzgerald, who built a career in real estate private equity. ___ AP reporter Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Can an American pope apply US-style fundraising and standards to fix troubled Vatican finances?
VATICAN CITY (AP) — As a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost was often on the lookout for used cars that he could buy cheap and fix up himself for use in parishes around his diocese. With cars that were really broken down, he'd watch YouTube videos to learn how to fix them. That kind of make-do-with-less, fix-it-yourself mentality could serve Pope Leo XIV well as he addresses one of the greatest challenges facing him as pope: The Holy See's chronic, 50 million to 60 million euro ($57-68 million) structural deficit, 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall and declining donations that together pose something of an existential threat to the central government of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. As a Chicago-born math major, canon lawyer and two-time superior of his global Augustinian religious order, the 69-year-old pope presumably can read a balance sheet and make sense of the Vatican's complicated finances, which have long been mired in scandal. Whether he can change the financial culture of the Holy See, consolidate reforms Pope Francis started and convince donors that their money is going to good use is another matter. Leo already has one thing going for him: his American-ness. U.S. donors have long been the economic life support system of the Holy See, financing everything from papal charity projects abroad to restorations of St. Peter's Basilica at home. Leo's election as the first American pope has sent a jolt of excitement through U.S. Catholics, some of whom had soured on donating to the Vatican after years of unrelenting stories of mismanagement, corruption and scandal, according to interviews with top Catholic fundraisers, philanthropists and church management experts. 'I think the election of an American is going to give greater confidence that any money given is going to be cared for by American principles, especially of stewardship and transparency,' said the Rev. Roger Landry, director of the Vatican's main missionary fundraising operation in the U.S., the Pontifical Mission Societies. 'So there will be great hope that American generosity is first going to be appreciated and then secondly is going to be well handled,' he said. 'That hasn't always been the circumstance, especially lately.' Reforms and unfinished business Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on a mandate to reform the Vatican's opaque finances and made progress during his 12-year pontificate, mostly on the regulatory front. With help from the late Australian Cardinal George Pell, Francis created an economy ministry and council made up of clergy and lay experts to supervise Vatican finances, and he wrestled the Italian-dominated bureaucracy into conforming to international accounting and budgetary standards. He authorized a landmark, if deeply problematic, corruption trial over a botched London property investment that convicted a once-powerful Italian cardinal. And he punished the Vatican's Secretariat of State that had allowed the London deal to go through by stripping it of its ability to manage its own assets. But Francis left unfinished business and his overall record, at least according to some in the donor community, is less than positive. Critics cite Pell's frustrated reform efforts and the firing of the Holy See's first-ever auditor general, who says he was ousted because he had uncovered too much financial wrongdoing. Despite imposing years of belt-tightening and hiring freezes, Francis left the Vatican in somewhat dire financial straits: The main stopgap bucket of money that funds budgetary shortfalls, known as the Peter's Pence, is nearly exhausted, officials say. The 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall that Pell warned about a decade ago remains unaddressed, though Francis had planned reforms. And the structural deficit continues, with the Holy See logging an 83.5 million euro ($95 million) deficit in 2023, according to its latest financial report. As Francis' health worsened, there were signs that his efforts to reform the Vatican's medieval financial culture hadn't really stuck, either. The very same Secretariat of State that Francis had punished for losing tens of millions of euros in the scandalous London property deal somehow ended up heading up a new papal fundraising commission that was announced while Francis was in the hospital. According to its founding charter and statutes, the commission is led by the Secretariat of State's assessor, is composed entirely of Italian Vatican officials with no professional fundraising expertise and has no required external financial oversight. To some Vatican watchers, the commission smacks of the Italian-led Secretariat of State taking advantage of a sick pope to announce a new flow of unchecked donations into its coffers after its 600 million euro ($684 million) sovereign wealth fund was taken away and given to another office to manage as punishment for the London fiasco. 'There are no Americans on the commission. I think it would be good if there were representatives of Europe and Asia and Africa and the United States on the commission,' said Ward Fitzgerald, president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation. It is made up of wealthy American Catholics that since 1990 has provided over $250 million (219 million euros) in grants and scholarships to the pope's global charitable initiatives. Fitzgerald, who spent his career in real estate private equity, said American donors — especially the younger generation — expect transparency and accountability from recipients of their money, and know they can find non-Vatican Catholic charities that meet those expectations. 'We would expect transparency before we would start to solve the problem,' he said. That said, Fitzgerald said he hadn't seen any significant let-up in donor willingness to fund the Papal Foundation's project-specific donations during the Francis pontificate. Indeed, U.S. donations to the Vatican overall have remained more or less consistent even as other countries' offerings declined, with U.S. bishops and individual Catholics contributing more than any other country in the two main channels to donate to papal causes. A head for numbers and background fundraising Francis moved Prevost to take over the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. Residents and fellow priests say he consistently rallied funds, food and other life-saving goods for the neediest — experience that suggests he knows well how to raise money when times are tight and how to spend wisely. He bolstered the local Caritas charity in Chiclayo, with parishes creating food banks that worked with local businesses to distribute donated food, said the Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, a diocesan spokesperson. In 2019, Prevost inaugurated a shelter on the outskirts of Chiclayo, Villa San Vicente de Paul, to house desperate Venezuelan migrants who had fled their country's economic crisis. The migrants remember him still, not only for helping give them and their children shelter, but for bringing live chickens obtained from a donor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prevost launched a campaign to raise funds to build two oxygen plants to provide hard-hit residents with life-saving oxygen. In 2023, when massive rains flooded the region, he personally brought food to the flood-struck zone. Within hours of his May 8 election, videos went viral on social media of Prevost, wearing rubber boots and standing in a flooded street, pitching a solidarity campaign, 'Peru Give a Hand,' to raise money for flood victims. The Rev. Jorge Millán, who lived with Prevost and eight other priests for nearly a decade in Chiclayo, said he had a 'mathematical' mentality and knew how to get the job done. Prevost would always be on the lookout for used cars to buy for use around the diocese, Millán said, noting that the bishop often had to drive long distances to reach all of his flock or get to Lima, the capital. Prevost liked to fix them up himself, and if he didn't know what to do, 'he'd look up solutions on YouTube and very often he'd find them,' Millán told The Associated Press. Before going to Peru, Prevost served two terms as prior general, or superior, of the global Augustinian order. While the order's local provinces are financially independent, Prevost was responsible for reviewing their balance sheets and oversaw the budgeting and investment strategy of the order's headquarters in Rome, said the Rev. Franz Klein, the order's Rome-based economist who worked with Prevost. The Augustinian campus sits on prime real estate just outside St. Peter's Square and supplements revenue by renting out its picturesque terrace to media organizations (including the AP) for major Vatican events, including the conclave that elected Leo pope. But even Prevost saw the need for better fundraising, especially to help out poorer provinces. Toward the end of his 12-year term and with his support, a committee proposed creation of a foundation, Augustinians in the World. At the end of 2023, it had 994,000 euros ($1.13 million) in assets and was helping fund self-sustaining projects across Africa, including a center to rehabilitate former child soldiers in Congo. 'He has a very good interest and also a very good feeling for numbers,' Klein said. 'I have no worry about the finances of the Vatican in these years because he is very, very clever.' ___ Franklin Briceño contributed from Lima, Peru. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
