Last December 11, Professor Diego Zalbidea defended his doctoral thesis at the School of Law of the University of Navarra with the degree scroll "Transparencia y rendición de cuentas en el ordenamiento canónico" (Transparency and accountability in the canonical order) and directed by Professor Jorge Otaduy.

The study comprises an interdisciplinary research on a complex and multifaceted subject . The new doctor, who is a professor at School of Canon Law of the University of Navarra, approached the issue from multiple angles. He cited the book Educating in Amazementby Catherine L'Ecouyer, which states that "young children are amazed because they do not take the world for granted, but see it as a gift". Accountability serves not to take for granted the management and administration of the Church's goods and, in this sense, financial aid administrators and the faithful to discover and value the gifts received.
For this reason, the subtitle of work is "giving a reason for mercy". It is not simply a matter of studying a technical accounting figure. The same mission statement of the Church is involved in the gifts received and in the transparency with which it manages them to bring mercy to all the peripheries of the world.

The research is divided into five chapters: historical background of the figure; exegetical study of the codicial rules and regulations and doctrinal reflection on accountability; analysis of the civil doctrine, in a broad sense, on transparency (legal applications in the field of guardianship, control of public administrations, non-profit organizations, specialized economic information and the Commercial Law); economic reorganization of the Holy See; and, finally, the pioneering implementation of transparency in the North American archdioceses.

The new doctor thanked the invaluable financial aid that has meant for his work the usual contact with many bursars of Spanish dioceses that are part of the GISIC (group of research for the support of the Catholic Church) and also with some European professors of CASE (Stewardship, Administration and Economic Support of the Church). He also expressly mentioned the attention and financial aid received both in the administrative office of the School of Law, as well as the academic staff.

The Tribunal, presided by Fernando Giménez Barriocanal, Vice-Secretary for Economic Affairs of the Episcopallecture , agreed on the timeliness of the topic and the treatment given by the new doctor. The other members of the Tribunal were Professor Alejandro Torres Gutiérrez, from the School of Juridical Sciences of the Public University of Navarra;

Marta Rey García, from the School of Economics and business of the University of A Coruña; María Dolores Cebriá García, from the School of Law of the University of Extremadura; and, finally, María Blanco Fernández, from the School of Law of the University of Navarra.