The legislator in the Code of Canon Law of 1983 states: “To pursue its proper purposes, the Catholic Church by innate right is able to acquire, retain, administer, and alienate temporal goods independently from civil power” (can. 1254 § 1). 82 The author in the article analyzes the financial institutions of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, i.e. the Institute of Religious Works, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy, the Auditor General, the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, and the Apostolic Camera.