New additions to the Council for the Economy

Following the publication of the motu proprio: Fidelis dispensator et prudens on February 24, 2014, which established the Secretariat for the Economy presided over by His Eminence Cardinal George Pell, and having instituted the Council for the Economy and appointing His Eminence Cardinal Reinhard Marx as Cardinal coordinator of this body, the Holy Father has named Monsignor Brian Ferme as Prelate Secretary of the Council for the Economy.

The Prelate Secretary has the task of assisting the Cardinal Coordinator in the fulfilment of the functions of the Council for the Economy, whose competences are associated with the guidance and supervision of the administrative and financial activities of the economic entities of the Holy See.

Monsignor Brian Ferme was born in 1955, and is a priest in the diocese of Portsmouth, England. He completed his philosophical, theological and canonical studies in Melbourne, Oxford and Rome.
Monsignor Ferme is the author of numerous scientific publications and articles. He has served as professor of Canon Law at the Gregorian Pontifical University and subsequently at the Pontifical Lateran University, where he became Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law in 2000.

In 2003, in Washington, he became Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law at the Catholic University of America, after which he transferred to Venice as Head of the Saint Pius X Faculty of Canon Law.
Monsignor Ferme collaborates with various dicasteries of the Roman Curia; in particular, he is a consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.