ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROPERTY OF THE HOLY SEE. – After 20 September 1870, the property of the Holy See was reduced almost exclusively to the offerings by which the piety of the faithful from every part of the world sought to meet the needs of the Holy See.
Since the pre-existing administrative organization, which depended chiefly on the Rev. Apostolic Camera, thus seemed excessive and, moreover, impossible to maintain, the Supreme Pontiff Leo XIII,
by a chirograph dated 9 August 1878, appointed his Secretary of State, Cardinal Nina, prefect of the Sacred Apostolic Palaces and administrator of the property of the Holy See.
Subsequently, when it was deemed advisable to separate the administration of the actual property of the Holy See from that of the movable and immovable goods constituting the Apostolic Palaces and their appurtenances, the Supreme Pontiff, by the motu proprio Le disastrose condizioni of 11 December 1880, divided the two offices, entrusting the administration of the property of the Holy See to a cardinal administrator, assisted by a commission of cardinals with consultative functions. By another motu proprio, Le presenti luttuose circostanze, of the same date, the administration of the property belonging to the “Sovereign Household of the Supreme Pontiff” was then assigned to the cardinal prefect of the Sacred Apostolic Palaces, together with supervision over all court services, all work to be carried out in the buildings under his administration, and the discipline of persons residing in the papal properties.
By the motu proprios of 23 May 1882 and 30 April 1891, various further regulations were established concerning the organization and operation of the cardinalitial commission for the a. of the property of the Holy See, among other things broadening its powers and making the Cardinal Secretary of State its ex officio president.
Finally, by the motu proprio of 16 December 1926, the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI further enlarged the functions of this commission, incorporating within its offices the administrative offices of the Prefecture of the Sacred Apostolic Palaces and of the section of the Ecclesiastical Dicasteries.