ECONOMATO DEI DICASTERI ECCLESIASTICI. - It was instituted by Pio X (circular of the Secretariat of State, 3 Apr. 1909) as the general administrative office of the ecclesiastical dicasteries and was administered by a Commission, selected
ECONOMATO DEI DICASTERI ECCLESIASTICI - ECONOMIA
by the Holy Father, consisting of a president, an economus, and a secretary and inspector.
The first task of the E. of the e. d. was to draw up an exact inventory of the furniture and other objects existing in the various dicasteries, for which it then provided, as it still does, whatever they might require (stationery and similar articles, etc.). The Sacred Congregations of de Propaganda Fide and of the S. Offizio are independent of this E. of the e. d.
At present the E. of the e. d. consists of a cardinal president (an office assigned to the Secretary of State, president of the cardinalitial commission for the administration of the goods of the Holy See), a vice-president (who is the monsignor secretary of the said administration), a cashier, and an auditor. Guglielmo Felici