Updated March 4, 2014
Read our new blog: Pope Francis the CON Christ. Pretender & Impostor of Jesus. Merlin hoax CANNOT CLONE JESUS or dogs http://pope-francis-con-christ.blogspot.ca/
Our latest related article about New Jersey "Bling" Bishop Myers http://pope-francis-con-christ.blogspot.ca/2014/02/new-jersey-bling-bishop-myers-wants-100.html
Updated July 11, 2013 with more news from Italy about the art works collection of the Bishop
The Vatican has become a live TV reality show (that surpass the Amazing Race) and its thick Bernini marble walls can no longer hide the Pope Crimes and Vatican Evils of the 20th and the 21st centuries. The Borgias may have made TV entertainment ratings but today’s people will no longer tolerate real papal crimes as entertaining beneath priestly robes. And the speedy canonization of John Paul II will be the biggest Catholic farce because he personally did nothing and said nothing to protect hundreds of thousands of children from the clutches of thousands of pedophile priests under his watch, the longest papacy ever; hence they are aptly called John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army. The silence of John Paul II towards children victims of pedophile pedophilia was abhorrent, read more here John Paul II MIllstone http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/
Vatican official arrested in corruption plot
VATICAN CITY
Boston.com
By NICOLE WINFIELD / Associated Press / June 28, 2013
VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican official was arrested Friday by Italian police for allegedly trying to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into the country from Switzerland aboard an Italian government plane, his lawyer said.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, already under investigation in a purported money-laundering plot involving the Vatican bank, is accused of fraud, corruption and slander stemming from the plot, which never got off the ground, attorney Silverio Sica told The Associated Press.
It was the latest financial scandal to hit the Vatican and came just two days after Pope Francis created a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank to get to the bottom of the problems that have plagued it for decades and contributed to damaging the Vatican’s reputation.
Sica said Scarano was a middleman in the Swiss operation. Friends had asked him to intervene with a broker, Giovanni Carenzio, to return 20 million euros they had given him to invest. Sica said Scarano persuaded Carenzio to return the money, and an Italian secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito, went to Switzerland to bring the cash back aboard an Italian government aircraft. Such a move would presumably prevent any reporting of the money coming into Italy.
Vatican Accountant Accused of Smuggling $26 Million in Private Jet With Ex-Italian Spy
ROME
ABC News (US)
[with video]
By NICK SCHIFRIN (@nickschifrin) and GIULIA SAUDELLI
LONDON. June 28, 2013
Is the world's holiest bank riddled with corruption?
Many are asking that question today after a senior Vatican accountant was accused of plotting to sneak $26 million in bags of cash into Italy by stashing them away on a private jet, with the help of a former Italian spy.
The accountant, the former spy and an Italian financial broker have all been arrested in a case that highlights the Vatican's continuing challenge to eliminate fraud within the famously secretive Vatican Bank.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, who was the head of analytic accounts at the Holy See's property-management agency, has been accused of fraud, corruption and slander. He was the middle-man in a complex plot that involved secretly flying his friends' money from Switzerland to Italy, evading customs and driving to his house in an armored convoy in order to avoid taxes, according to prosecutors.
Vatican monsignor arrested in 20M euro plot
VATICAN CITY
Houston Chronicle
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press | June 28, 2013
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The plot involved an armed police escort, a wealthy shipping family and a plan to secretly transport $26 million (20 million euros) from a Swiss bank account into Italy aboard a private jet. At the heart of the story of greed: a silver-haired Vatican monsignor.
The latest corruption scandal to hit the Holy See unraveled in public on Friday as Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a Vatican accountant, was arrested in the customs-dodging Swiss bank case. He is also under investigation in a separate case of alleged money-laundering involving his Vatican bank account.
The developments came two days after Pope Francis created a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank to get to the bottom of the problems that have plagued it for decades and contributed to its reputation as an unregulated, offshore tax haven.
Francis has made it clear that he has no tolerance for corruption or for Vatican officials who use their jobs for personal ambition or gain. He has said he wants a "poor" church that ministers to those most in need. He has also noted, tongue in cheek, that "St. Peter didn't have a bank account."
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, top Vatican official, busted in shady money smuggling deal
ITALY
New York Daily News
BY CORKY SIEMASZKO / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2013
Thou shalt not smuggle a fortune into Italy.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a top Vatican bean counter, was busted Friday for trying to do just that along with an Italian military police honcho and a shady financier.
Scarano was the middleman in a scheme to avoid paying customs and taxes by sneaking $26 million from a Swiss bank to Rome by private jet, an Italian prosecutor said.
But Scarano, who was already under investigation for using money meant for a hospice to buy himself a Sicilian hideaway, was undone when the wiretaps on his phone caught him plotting, prosecutor Nello Rossi said.
Vatican prelate arrested as part of IOR inquiry
VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
Nunzio Serrano, who served in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, has been arrested after he apparently helped friends bring 20 million Euros into Italy. Vatican spokesman Lombardi says the Vatican is prepared to cooperate with the judiciary
ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY
Less than forty eight hours after it was announced that Francis had ordered the setting up of a commission to inquire into the activities of the IOR, the Vatican bank has come under the media spotlight again, following the arrest of Italian monsignor Nunzio Scarano, who had been working for APSA (the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See). Two others were arrested as well: Italian policeman Giovanni Maria Zito, who was dismissed from the Italian secret services three months ago and broker Giovanni Carenzio. They are accused of corruption, slander and fraud. The arrest was made as part of the inquiry that is being carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rome, into the activities of the IOR. Public Prosecutors Nello Rossi and Stefano Fava have been leading the three year investigation into the violation of anti-money laundering regulations by the IOR’s director general Paolo Cipriani and deputy director Massimo Tulli.
Mgr. Scarano, a former banker who became a priest 27 years ago, apparently agreed to pay 400 thousand Euros to have 20 million Euros in cash brought into Italy on a private jet. According to Scarano’s lawyer, the money was in fact transported on a State-authorised flight and the prelate only acted as a go-between. The money belonged to one of his friend’s families. But the monsignor was also placed under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of his home city, Salerno, last 13 June, on charges of money-laundering. The investigation is being led by Public Prosecutor Elena Guarino and looking into the illegal transaction of money via cheques worth 10 thousand Euros each. Although accounting records show these as donations to help settle debts accumulated by a property in Salerno, it is suspected the transactions were part of a money laundering operation. In 2009, Mgr. Scarano withdrew 560 thousand Euros in cash from his IOR bank account, claiming it went towards paying off a mortgage.
PRESS RELEASE ON ARREST OF CURIA PRELATE
VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service
Vatican City, 28 June 2013 (VIS) – This morning, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, issued the following communique regarding the arrest, in Italy, of Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, director of accounting analysis service of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), in the context of an investigation on corruption and fraud.
“As has been made known in the past few days, Msgr. Nunzio Scarano was suspended from his position at the APSA over a month ago, as soon as his superiors were informed that he was under investigation. This is in compliance of the Regulations of the Roman Curia, which require the precautionary suspension of persons against whom prosecution has been initiated.”
“The Holy See has still not received any request from the competent Italian authorities on the matter, but has confirmed its willingness to cooperate fully.”
“The competent Vatican authority, the AIF (the Vatican Financial Information Authority), is following the issue in order to take, if necessary, appropriate measures within its competence.”
The language of shaming: Pope Francis urges profound change to global economic system
ROME
GlobalPost
Jason Berry (a Vatican Pied Piper now)
May 30, 2013
Analysis: In his candid speeches and sermons, the new pope "forges a moral vocabulary on economics" to remind church leaders — and followers — of their responsibility to the poor.
"The globalization that makes everything uniform is essentially imperialist and instrumentally liberal, but it is not human. In the end, it is a way to enslave nations."
Those blunt words from spoken by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 2010 speak to the plight of millions who are jobless in Spain and Greece, their economies yoked to a European Union bank system meshed with globalized finance.
The statement appeared in On Heaven and Earth, a dialogue book with Buenos Aires Rabbi Abraham Skorka, which is now available in English.
In the two months since the cardinals’ conclave in Rome elected the little-known Argentine and the first Jesuit pope, Francis has taken to his pastoral role as Bishop of Rome. Refusing to live in the Apostolic Palace, he has made his home in a religious hotel in Vatican City, and he has replaced the pope’s golden throne with a wooden chair. He has dispensed with the ornate red stole with filigrees of gold that Pope Benedict wore, instead presenting himself in white, wearing a metal cross without the customary papal jewels and regalia. Benedict wore red shoes; Francis’s are black and workmanlike.
This pope has also fashioned a symbolic language of shaming, and the candor in his statements and sermons aim to remind the clerical establishment — accustomed to lordly status — of the church’s core commitment to the poor. He has yet to make major personnel changes in a Roman Curia whose scandals riveted media coverage at the conclave, yet his rhetoric is that of a world leader endorsing purgative change.
News updates for July 11, 2013
Financial Express
Italian investigators have said that the Vatican bank operated in a way that facilitated money laundering, according to leaked papers quoted by two Italian newspapers today following a three-year inquiry.
The bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR in Italian), did not carry out enough checks on its clients and account holders were allowed to transfer large sums on behalf of others.
"There is a high risk that the way the IOR operates, without specifying its real clients, can be used as a screen to hide illegal operations," prosecutors wrote in a document that was quoted by Corriere della Sera.
They also faulted Italian banks that accepted transfers from the IOR for failing to probe the origin of the money, which is then moved into other banks.
"The IOR can easily become a channel for the laundering of money with a criminal origin, they said.
Baron Ernst von Freyberg insists that the so-called Vatican Bank is a “well-managed and clean financial institution” that merely suffers from a bad reputation linked to old scandals. The German aristocrat and industrialist was hired last February after an extensive search to be the president of the bank – officially named the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR). And he recently began a media campaign to convince people that he and his team were well on the road to bringing greater transparency and propriety to the 71-year-old institution.
But a new and embarrassing scandal has caused a major obstacle to that journey and this past week the president was forced to admit that still more drastic measures were needed to truly clean up the IOR’s bad image and improve efforts undertaken in the past three years to combat money laundering and provide greater transparency.
“It is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process,” von Freyberg said in a communiqué issued late on Monday. The unusually timed note announced the sudden and surprising resignations of the two men in charge of the IOR’s daily operations – bank director Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli. Both stepped down (or were more likely forced out) after six years in their posts.
The resignations came just five days after Pope Francis established a five-member special commission of inquiry to get to the bottom of problems linked to the IOR’s structure and functioning. But even more poignantly they occurred only three days after Mgr Nunzio Scarano, a Vatican official who has at least two accounts at the IOR, was arrested along with two accomplices after being suspected of trying to smuggle €20 million (£17m) from Switzerland into Italy.
The arrest of Mgr Scarano, a former banker and now a chief accountant at the Administration for the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (Apsa), is said to have especially perturbed the Pope, who has often warned clerics (and others) to be wary of “money worshipping”. In fact, the Vatican had already suspended the monsignor several weeks ago after it learned he was also under investigation over financial dealings in his native Salerno, a port city just south of Naples.
The cardinals who elected Pope Francis gave him a mandate to reform the Roman Curia and the IOR, two institutions that last year’s VatiLeaks scandal portrayed as tinged with corruption and mismanagement. That was not the first time, either, that the bank, founded in 1942 by Pius XII as a private organisation providing religious institutions with banking facilities, had been mired in scandal. In 1982, it was implicated in a major political and financial crisis when the Banco Ambrosiano, of which it was the major shareholder, collapsed with US$4.7 billion debts. More recently, in 2010, the then president of the IOR, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was investigated over a money-laundering scandal and then later stepped down after a no-confidence vote by the bank’s directors. He claimed he was targeted because he wanted transparency and wanted to target the non-religious holders of bank accounts.
Pope Francis may well wish to close the bank but he would face stiff opposition from many people, not least the institute’s 114 employees and the many religious orders that keep their money there. For now the Jesuit Pope is working with existing Vatican staff and their methods to deal with the difficult situation he inherited. His first move, several weeks ago, was to see to that Mgr Battista Ricca, the director of the Santa Marta residence where he lives, be named as “prelate” ad interim of the IOR. The Commission of Cardinals (headed by Secretary of State Bertone) appoints the prelate to be its liaison with the lay-run board of directors (headed by von Freyberg) and he attends the meetings of both groups.
Next, Francis chose five Vatican insiders to be part of his newly set up commission of inquiry. The president of the group is Italian Cardinal Raffaele Farina SDB, 79, head of the Vatican Library. Spanish Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, a 62-year-old Opus Dei canon lawyer who is secretary at the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, is the commission’s coordinator. There is also French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, 70, one of the Holy See’s best diplomats and currently its top official for interreligious dialogue, as well as a member of the cardinals’ commission that oversees the IOR. Mary Glendon, 74, the American lawyer who heads the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and is a former US ambassador to the Holy See, is also a member. And finally, Mgr Peter Wells, 50, the American who serves as “assessore” or No. 3 in the Secretariat of State, serves as the commission’s secretary. Glendon and Wells have strong personal connections to fellow American Carl Anderson, head of the very wealthy Knights of Columbus and a member of the IOR board of directors. It goes without saying that all five of these people have personal bank accounts at the IOR.
Anyone hoping that the commission of inquiry might be composed of people with outside objectivity and no inside personal interest would be very disappointed with this group. On the other hand, those likely to be most threatened by such a commission and the Pope’s reforms might feel some reassurance by the names on this list.
Pope Francis has asked the commission of inquiry to present him with some canonical and legal options for restructuring the IOR so that its mission and ideals are more reflective of a Church than a bank. The Vatican has always denied allegations that the IOR has been used as an offshore financial institution (or worse, for money laundering) and most recently affirmed again that only its employees, religious orders and church officials can hold accounts. But many people are sceptical. That is because among the account holders there are also the papal gentleman, mostly well-to-do Italian businessmen, industrialists and aristocrats who assist at formal papal ceremonies. Over the years some of them have fallen foul of the law. Francesco La Motta, for instance, was arrested in mid-June for his alleged role in the disappearance of more than €10m (£8.5m) from an Interior Ministry account that he oversaw. The former high-ranking Italian secret-service agent has been a papal gentleman since 2007. Another, Angelo Balducci, was arrested in 2010 on corruption charges linked to building contracts. He was quietly removed from the ranks of the papal gentlemen. La Motta will probably meet the same fate. Both men had accounts at the IOR that provided a convenient way to hide money.
IOR officials say they have begun adopting more stringent international anti-money-laundering protocols and Baron von Freyberg has even hired outside consultants from the United States to ensure they are implemented correctly. That will be essential in helping Pope Francis face perhaps his toughest challenge, the vast network of family and friends that make up the Vatican’s tightly knit workforce. Many have followed in the footsteps of fathers and grandfathers, cousins and uncles, as Vatican employees. Take the papal nuncio in Britain, Archbishop Antonio Mennini. His late father was the IOR’s long-time managing director. And his brother Paolo is currently in charge of the Apsa wing where Mgr Scarano has been working for many years. These types of intertwining relationships are typical of the complicated culture of the Vatican, and which can cause people to be resistant to reform.
So what is likely to happen? Most people believe Pope Francis will move like a good Jesuit superior. He will listen to the suggestions from his cardinal-advisers, as well as the commission of inquiry and other officials at the IOR. Then he will make up his own mind. Among his options might be to restructure the IOR into a sort of credit union, perhaps with more international and less Italian oversight. Another possibility is that he could choose to divest the Holy See of its entire interest in the institute’s ownership or management. In this case, perhaps he could even allow some Catholic group with a proven track record in financial operations (like the Knights of Columbus) to take control of the IOR. Of course, the most radical action that Papa Francesco could take would be to close the IOR all together and leave its clients to deposit their assets in regular banks.
Various cardinals and Vatican officials have said with assurance that closure is not an option. But they are the same people who think that the Pope will eventually move into the Apostolic Palace.
===========================
Update news for July 11, 2013
Gazzetta del Sud
Rome, July 3 - Two men being probed together with disgraced Vatican prelate Msgr Nunzio Scarano denied Wednesday that 20 million euros in cash seized by police belonged to them. "Those 20 million euros are not ours," Paolo and Cesare D'Amico, whose family was friendly with Scarano, told prosecutors. Their version of events does not correspond to what Scarano, who until recently led a key Vatican accounting unit, told prosecutors under continued questioning. Scarano has denied charges that he conspired with a former Italian spy and a financial broker to try to secretly repatriate 20 million euros of laundered money from Switzerland to Italy. Scarano, who is from the port city of Salerno near Naples, was suspended a month ago from his job as head of analytic accounts at the Holy See's asset-management agency APSA when police started sifting through his assets because of his suspiciously large financial holdings and artistic trove.
Gazzetta del Sud
Rome, July 1 - Italian magistrates questioned Msgr Nunzio Scarano Monday in a 20-million-euro corruption plot involving the Holy See's asset-management agency APSA. Scarano, who was arrested last Friday on suspicion of corruption and fraud, said he was not comfortable in Rome's Regina Coeli prison and requested house arrest, prosecutors said. Scarano was questioned for about three hours by investigating magistrate Barbara Callari, who will decide the next step in the process. Scarano was arrested along with Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent in Italy's domestic intelligence agency, and Rome broker Giovanni Carenzio. It's alleged the trio were involved in a failed attempt to fly 20 million euros of alleged tax-evasion proceeds from Switzerland back to Italy.
Bloomberg Businessweek
July 03, 2013
ROME (AP) — An Italian shipping family denies any role in an alleged money-smuggling plot involving a Vatican accountant. The d'Amico family says the priest who was jailed in the affair, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, was their "spiritual" adviser.
A family lawyer, Vincenzo Cupri, spoke to reporters Wednesday as he left offices of Rome prosecutors who are investigating the alleged plot to spirit 20 million euros ($26 million) from Switzerland into Italy.
Scarano has been suspended by the Vatican from his accountant post. Prosecutors say they suspect the money belongs to the d'Amico family and was deposited in Switzerland to avoid Italian taxes.
Fox News
ROME, Italy (AFP) – A senior cleric arrested last week is suspected of acting as a front for suspicious payments made through the Vatican bank from Monaco, Italian newspapers reported on Wednesday, citing leaked documents.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano "is a real screen in front of the actual economic beneficiary of the operation and he interrupts the traceability of the money," said one financial police document, quoted by the Corriere della Sera daily.
The investigators allege that Scarano had used Vatican bank accounts to make transfers on behalf of his friends, including an attempt to move 20 million euros ($26 million) on behalf of a Neapolitan shipowning family.
Scarano's lawyers have rejected the charges.
Irish Independent
SARAH MCCABE – 10 JULY 2013
THE Vatican Bank is one of Europe's best known but least understood financial institutions, and it is no stranger to scandal.
This week Italian prosecutors decided to drop a negligence inquiry into the bank's former president, but investigations roll on; two of his juniors are now implicated in a money-laundering scandal.
Under the microscope are the bank's director general Paolo Cipriani and its deputy director Massimo Tulli, who both resigned last week. The allegations cast yet more global scrutiny on the secretive 70-year-old institution.
The Vatican Bank is known formally as the Institute for the Works of Religion and was established in 1942 by Pope Pius XII. It is used by Vatican agencies, church organisations, bishops and religious orders around the world.
It has an investment portfolio and offers currency exchange services and savings accounts to its members.
AFP
ROME — A senior Catholic cleric arrested as part of a sweeping probe of the scandal-plagued Vatican bank rejected accusations of money-laundering and corruption on Monday, Italian media reported.
Nunzio Scarano, 61, who was arrested Friday along with a former Italian spy and a financer for allegedly plotting to smuggle millions of euros into Italy, "strongly reaffirms his morality," his lawyers were reported as saying.
"He has defended himself and we have requested he be moved to house arrest somewhere where he can celebrate mass," media quoted lawyers Francesco Caroleo Grimaldi, Silverio Sica and Luca Paternostro as saying, following a three-hour meeting with their client and judge Barbara Callari in Rome.
Scarano "is not well, he is very tried and is not sleeping well," they said.
Reuters
By Philip Pullella
ROME | Mon Jul 1, 2013
(Reuters) - To most people, a book is a book. But to Monsignor Nunizio Scarano, a Vatican official arrested on charges of money smuggling, a "book" was a code word for one million euros in cash, a report by the judge on the case said.
"Encyclopaedia," and "bookmarks" were among other code words that Scarano, who had close connections to the Vatican bank, used in phone conversations with secret service agent Giovanni Zito and broker Giovanni Carenzio, it said.
The three were arrested on Friday for allegedly attempting to smuggle 20 million euros in cash from Switzerland a year ago for Scarano's rich shipping industry friends in their home town of Salerno in southern Italy.
Daily Mail (UK)
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 11:37 EST, 1 July 2013
A Vatican priest arrested in a £17million smuggling plot has admitted he behaved wrongly but said he was only trying to help out friends.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, dubbed 'Don 500' because the 500 euro note is his favourite banknote, was questioned for three hours by Judge Barbara Callari.
His lawyer Silverio Sica said that Scarano is not well in prison and had asked for house arrest to await a decision on his fate, expected in a day or two.
Scarano was arrested on Friday with two others accused of plotting to smuggle 20million euros from a Swiss bank account into Italy by private jet without reporting it to customs.
Chicago Tribune
Reuters
July 1, 2013
ROME (Reuters) - Magistrates on Monday questioned Nunzio Scarano, the Vatican prelate detained on suspicion of trying to smuggle tens of millions of euros into Italy, and lawyers asked that he be released into house arrest.
"He explained everything he could. He cooperated in an extremely loyal and honest way. He said he was in good faith and at the disposal of the magistrates whenever they needed," lawyer Francesco Grimaldi told reporters outside Rome's Queen of Heaven jail after the three-hour interrogation.
Scarano, who had close connections to the Vatican bank, was arrested on Friday along with Giovanni Zito, a secret services agent, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio.
They have been accused of plotting to bring 20 million euros ($26.00 million)in cash to Italy from Switzerland for Scarano's rich shipping industry friends in the southern city of Salerno. Scarano is under a separate investigation there on suspicion of money laundering.
Vatican Insider
President Ernst von Freyberg to assume General Director duties ad interim
VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
VATICAN CITY
IOR-Director Comm. Paolo Cipriani and Deputy Director Dott. Massimo Tulli have offered their resignations from their current positions. After many years of service both have decided that this decision would be in the best interest of the Institute and the Holy See. The Oversight Council and the Commission of Cardinals have accepted their resignations and asked President Ernst von Freyberg to assume the functions of the General Director ad interim with immediate effect. The Vatican regulator AIF has been informed accordingly. The Special Commission appointed on June 26 2013 has acknowledged the decision.
Ernst von Freyberg will be supported by Rolando Marranci as acting Deputy Director and Antonio Montaresi in the newly created position as acting Chief Risk Officer with the remit of overseeing compliance and special projects. Previously Rolando Marranci served as Chief Operating Officer at a leading Italian bank in London. Antonio Montaresi has served as Chief Risk and Chief Compliance Officer with various banks in the US.
“In the name of the Oversight Council I thank Mr. Cipriani and Mr. Tulli for their personal dedication over the past years,” said President Ernst von Freyberg. “I welcome Rolando Marranci and Antonio Montaresi as outstanding professionals,” he said. “Since 2010 the IOR and its management have been working hard to bring structures and processes in line with international standards for anti-money laundering. While we are grateful for what has been achieved, it is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process. Our progress is in no small measure due to the continued support from the governing bodies of the Institute and its personnel.”
Vatican Information Service
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Vatican City, 2 July 2013 (VIS) – A communique was issued in English by the Holy See Press Office late yesterday afternoon, the full text of which is given below:
“IOR-Director Comm. Paolo Cipriani and Deputy Director Dott. Massimo Tulli have offered their resignations from their current positions. After many years of service both have decided that this decision would be in the best interest of the Institute and the Holy See. The Oversight Council and the Commission of Cardinals have accepted their resignations and asked President Ernst von Freyberg to assume the functions of the General Director ad interim with immediate effect. The Vatican regulator AIF has been informed accordingly. The Special Commission appointed on June 26 2013 has acknowledged the decision.
“Ernst von Freyberg will be supported by Rolando Marranci as acting Deputy Director and Antonio Montaresi in the newly created position as acting Chief Risk Officer with the remit of overseeing compliance and special projects. Previously Rolando Marranci served as Chief Operating Officer at a leading Italian bank in London. Antonio Montaresi has served as Chief Risk and Chief Compliance Officer with various banks in the US.
“'In the name of the Oversight Council I thank Mr. Cipriani and Mr. Tulli for their personal dedication over the past years,' said President Ernst von Freyberg. 'I welcome Rolando Marranci and Antonio Montaresi as outstanding professionals,' he said. 'Since 2010 the IOR and its management have been working hard to bring structures and processes in line with international standards for anti-money laundering. While we are grateful for what has been achieved, it is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process. Our progress is in no small measure due to the continued support from the governing bodies of the Institute and its personnel.'
Chiesa
Not only the resignation of its highest-ranking operational directors, but also the revelations about the new "prelate" appointed by Francis. Having been made aware of them, the pope could revoke his appointment soon
by Sandro Magister
ROME, July 3, 2013 – Since the first of this month, the Institute for Works of Religion, IOR, has been at the center of a twofold storm.
Twofold because it is made up not only of the sensational resignations of the director general and of the vice-director of the controversial Vatican “bank,” Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli, but also of another scandal near the point of exploding, concerning the “prelate” of the IOR, Monsignor Battista Ricca, just appointed by Pope Francis.
As for the resignation of the two highest-ranking operational directors of the IOR, the statement that gave the news on the evening of Monday, July 1 says that “after many years of service both have decided that this action would be in the best interests of the Institute itself and of the Holy See."
The Economist
Pope Francis grapples with his bank—the first of many problems
Jul 6th 2013 | VATICAN CITY |From the print edition
IT IS in the Vatican, but neither an institution of the city-state, nor part of the Roman Curia, the Catholic church’s central administration. It is only half a bank (it takes deposits, but does not give loans). Yet the blandly named Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) has caused endless discomfort to recent popes.
The problems go back to at least 1982 when the IOR was involved in the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano. In June of that year the Italian bank’s chairman, Roberto Calvi, was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in London. The latest scandal is less grisly, but equally bizarre. On July 1st the IOR’s director, Paolo Cipriani, and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, resigned three days after the Italian authorities arrested and jailed a Vatican cleric, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano. He is accused of bribery as part of a plot to smuggle €20m ($26m) in cash into Italy from Switzerland on a private jet. He was claimed to have paid €400,000 to an alleged fellow-conspirator, a non-commissioned officer in the Carabinieri (the Italian gendarmerie) working with the domestic spy agency.
The intelligence officer and the other alleged member of the plot, a financial broker, were said to have met through a Catholic order of chivalry. Documents presented to a judge suggest Mr Tulli and Mr Cipriani helped clear transactions involved in the case. It is hard to imagine a story more likely to reinforce the sinister, esoteric image of the Vatican propagated by authors such as Dan Brown in “The Da Vinci Code”.
According to Italian prosecutors, the intelligence officer got to Switzerland, but returned empty-handed when the broker failed to deliver the cash, allegedly entrusted to him by a Neapolitan shipping family (which denies any suggestion of tax-dodging). Monsignor Scarano, a banker who came unusually late in life to holy orders, was already a suspect in a separate money-laundering investigation involving rich friends from his home town of Salerno. He has denied wrongdoing in that case, but his lawyer said he did not dispute the facts of the bribery investigation. He would, however, contest the prosecutors’ accusations on a point of law. The monsignor had been merely trying “to help out his friends”, he said.
Boston Globe
By Nicole Winfield | ASSOCIATED PRESS JULY 02, 2013
ROME — The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy resigned Monday, the latest heads to roll in a broadening finance scandal that has landed one Vatican monsignor in prison and added urgency to Pope Francis’s reform efforts.
The Vatican said Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, stepped down ‘‘in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See.’’ The speed with which they resigned, however, indicated the decision was not entirely theirs.
Cipriani, along with the bank’s then-president, was placed under investigation by Rome prosecutors in 2010 for alleged violations of Italy’s antimoney laundering rules after financial police seized $30 million from a Vatican account at a Rome bank. Neither has been charged and the money was eventually ordered released.
But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, has remained in the news amid fresh concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.
BBC News
The director and deputy director of the Vatican bank have resigned following the arrest of a senior Italian cleric over corruption and fraud allegations.
Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli offered to step down on Monday "in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See'', the Vatican says.
It comes three days after the arrest of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano.
The 61-year-old and two others are suspected of trying to move 20m euros ($26m; £17m) illegally.
Monsignor Scarano, a priest from southern Italy, worked for years as a senior accountant for a Vatican department known as Apsa (the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See).
Wall Street Journal
By STACY MEICHTRY And GIADA ZAMPANO
VATICAN CITY—Two top managers at the Vatican bank resigned on Monday, in the latest shake-up at the scandal-plagued institution, the Holy See said.
Paolo Cipriani—managing director of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione, or IOR, as the Vatican bank is known—stepped down along with his deputy, Massimo Tulli.
As the highest-ranking administrators at the bank reporting, Messrs. Cipriani and Tulli spearheaded efforts under former Pope Benedict XVI to clean up the Vatican bank and make it more accountable to outside regulators.
"While we are grateful for what has been achieved, it is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process," Vatican bank Chairman Ernest von Freyberg said.
Reuters
Mon Jul 1, 2013
(Adds detail, background)
(Reuters) - The director and deputy director of the Vatican bank resigned on Monday, following the arrest of a senior cleric with close connections to the bank who is accused of plotting to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland.
A statement from the Vatican said Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli had handed in their resignations, three days after the arrest of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, an accountant in a Vatican department who is the subject of two separate investigations by Italian magistrates.
Ernst von Freyberg, the bank's president will take over as interim director general and a new position of chief risk officer will also be created to improve compliance with financial regulations.
In the latest of a series of blows to the Vatican's scandal-plagued bank, Scarano, 61, was arrested on Friday along with Giovanni Zito, a secret services agent, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio.
Deutsche Welle
The director and the deputy director of the Vatican Bank have resigned. This comes three days after a Vatican official was arrested in a financial scandal as the pope seeks to clean up the bank.
The Vatican announced on Monday that Paolo Cipriani, director of the Vatican bank, and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, had stepped down "in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See."
The bank has come under increased scrutiny since Pope Francis assumed the papacy, and has long been of interest to Italian authorities who suspect it is used as a tax haven.
Last week, a Vatican accountant was placed under arrest as part of an investigation by authorities in Rome into the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), as the bank is officially called.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is suspected of taking part in a plot to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland. He and two other accomplices are thought to have planned to give the money to Scarano's friends in the shipping industry in the southern city of Salerno. Scarano is being investigated in Salerno on separate charges of money laundering.
Boston.com
By NICOLE WINFIELD / Associated Press / July 1, 2013
ROME (AP) — The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy resigned Monday following the latest developments in a broadening finance scandal that has already landed one Vatican monsignor in prison and added urgency to Pope Francis’ reform efforts.
The Vatican said in a statement that Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, stepped down ‘‘in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See.’’
Cipriani, along with the bank’s then-president, was placed under investigation by Rome prosecutors in 2010 for alleged violations of Italy’s anti-money-laundering norms after financial police seized 23 million euro ($30 million) from a Vatican account at a Rome bank. Neither has been charged and the money was eventually ordered released.
But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, has remained under the glare of prosecutors and now Francis amid fresh concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.
Last week, a Vatican accountant was arrested as part of Rome prosecutors’ broadening investigation into the IOR. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is accused of corruption and slander in connection with a plot to smuggle 20 million euro ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland without reporting it to customs officials.
Bloomberg Businessweek
By Alessandra Migliaccio
July 02, 2013
The director and deputy director of the Vatican bank resigned yesterday as a series of investigations lead to a renewal of the Church’s financial structures.
Paolo Cipriani and his deputy Massimo Tulli stepped down “in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See,” the Vatican said in a statement late yesterday. Ernst von Freyberg, the bank’s president appointed last February, will take over as interim director general and a new position of chief risk officer will be created. “It is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process,” von Freyberg said in the statement.
The resignations come three days after senior Vatican cleric Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was arrested by Italian authorities along with an Italian secret service agent and a financial broker as part of a corruption investigation. The three are accused of plotting to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland in a private jet, according Rome prosecutor Nello Rossi. Scarano has denied the accusations.
The Vatican bank, known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, or IOR, is increasingly in the spotlight of investigations as Pope Francis works to bring it in line with international standards. Last week, the pope named a commission to oversee the operations of the Vatican bank after Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s monitoring body for money laundering and terrorism financing, called for independent supervision of the bank.
AFP
By Francoise Kadri (AFP)
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis's bid to take the scandal-dogged Vatican bank in hand has stepped up a gear, experts said Tuesday, with the ousting of top management from the institution following the launch of a special papal probe.
Officially, Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli, director and deputy director of the bank, handed in their resignations on Monday "in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See".
The bank's president, Ernst von Freyberg, put their decision down to a need for "new leadership to increase the pace" of bringing the institution "in line with international standards against money laundering."
Religious and judicial specialists on Tuesday said the Vatican had forcibly shed two long-serving chiefs who survived the unceremonious eviction in May 2012 of the former head, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, purportedly for poor management but amid reports of money-laundering.
Their expulsion was deemed opportune by the Vatican, according to Fiorenza Sarzanini in the Corriere della Sera daily, because Cipriani and Tulli are of interest in an inquiry launched by Rome prosecutors in 2010 into money-laundering.
The Economist
Pope Francis grapples with his bank—the first of many problems
Jul 6th 2013 | VATICAN CITY |From the print edition
IT IS in the Vatican, but neither an institution of the city-state, nor part of the Roman Curia, the Catholic church’s central administration. It is only half a bank (it takes deposits, but does not give loans). Yet the blandly named Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) has caused endless discomfort to recent popes.
The problems go back to at least 1982 when the IOR was involved in the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano. In June of that year the Italian bank’s chairman, Roberto Calvi, was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in London. The latest scandal is less grisly, but equally bizarre. On July 1st the IOR’s director, Paolo Cipriani, and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, resigned three days after the Italian authorities arrested and jailed a Vatican cleric, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano. He is accused of bribery as part of a plot to smuggle €20m ($26m) in cash into Italy from Switzerland on a private jet. He was claimed to have paid €400,000 to an alleged fellow-conspirator, a non-commissioned officer in the Carabinieri (the Italian gendarmerie) working with the domestic spy agency.
The intelligence officer and the other alleged member of the plot, a financial broker, were said to have met through a Catholic order of chivalry. Documents presented to a judge suggest Mr Tulli and Mr Cipriani helped clear transactions involved in the case. It is hard to imagine a story more likely to reinforce the sinister, esoteric image of the Vatican propagated by authors such as Dan Brown in “The Da Vinci Code”.
According to Italian prosecutors, the intelligence officer got to Switzerland, but returned empty-handed when the broker failed to deliver the cash, allegedly entrusted to him by a Neapolitan shipping family (which denies any suggestion of tax-dodging). Monsignor Scarano, a banker who came unusually late in life to holy orders, was already a suspect in a separate money-laundering investigation involving rich friends from his home town of Salerno. He has denied wrongdoing in that case, but his lawyer said he did not dispute the facts of the bribery investigation. He would, however, contest the prosecutors’ accusations on a point of law. The monsignor had been merely trying “to help out his friends”, he said.
Daily Mail (UK)
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 06:30 EST, 2 July 2013
The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy have resigned over a financial scandal which has already landed one monsignor in prison.
Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, stepped down 'in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See', The Vatican has said.
The speed with which they resigned, however, indicated that the decision was not entirely theirs.
But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, has remained under the watchful eye of prosecutors amid fresh concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.
It was the latest turmoil to hit the IOR, which has long been the source of scandal for the Holy See.
Last year, the bank's board ousted its then-president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, for incompetence and erratic behavior.
Yesterday's resignations and nominations of interim administrators represented a final overthrow of the bank's old guard management and coincided with its efforts to comply with international regulations to fight money-laundering and terror financing.
The following are VATICAN DECEITS PLOY articles
Inquirer
AFP
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Thursday said it had a budget surplus of 2.2 million euros ($2.8 million) last year compared to a deficit of 14.9 million euros in 2011 but said cardinals should still cut costs.
The committee that approved the accounts said the biggest expenses were salaries for the Vatican’s 2,823 employees and the payment of a new property tax introduced by the Italian government.
Donations to the Vatican fell to $65.9 million from $69.7 million in 2011 and contributions from Catholic
Bloomberg
By Lorenzo Totaro - Jul 4, 2013
The Holy See, the Vatican’s central administration, generated a profit of 2.19 million euros ($2.83 million) last year even as donations from Catholics throughout the world declined.
Last year’s earnings compare with a 14.9 million-euro deficit in 2011, the Holy See said today in a statement. Contributions from Catholic individuals, institutes and foundations fell 7.5 percent.
The Catholic Church, which tries to supplement donations by investing in traded securities, benefited in the 1990s from booming stock markets, before plunging into the red for the first time in 2003. Last year, “the good performance in financial management” more than offset the costs of staff and taxes such as a new Italian property levy, according to the statement.
The Vatican, led by Pope Francis, is located in central Rome near the Tiber River. The Vatican Governorate, the institution that runs Vatican City and its support offices, had a surplus of 23.1 million euros last year, according to the statement.
Newsday
NICOLE WINFIELD (Associated Press)
VATICAN CITY - (AP) -- The Vatican posted a 2.2 million euro ($2.85 million) budget surplus for 2012, an improvement from the previous year and some good news as it struggles to cope with a scandal involving its embattled bank.
In its annual financial statement Thursday, the Holy See said better management had helped it recover from one of its worst deficits a year earlier, when it booked a 14.9 million euro shortfall.
A 12 percent drop in donations from ordinary faithful, a 5 percent drop in offerings from religious orders and 5 million euros in new property taxes in 2012 prevented an even better result. Most of its expenses were for its 2,823 staff and the steep costs of running the Holy See's global radio programming.
The Vatican City State, which runs the profit-making Vatican Museums, post office and supermarket, has a separate budget. Its profits were 23.08 million euros, up from 21.8 million euros in 2011. Fifty more people came to work in this branch of the Vatican in 2012, bringing its staffing up to 1,936.
The annual report, which was approved by a group of cardinals on Wednesday, followed one of the most convulsive weeks in the Vatican's recent financial history: Last week, Pope Francis created a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank, long the source of scandal for the Holy See. Two days later, a Vatican accountant was arrested in an elaborate 20 million euro smuggling plot. And on Monday, the Vatican bank's two top managers resigned, apparently because they weren't embracing the Holy See's new push for financial transparency sufficiently.
Vatican Information Service
Vatican City, 4 July 2013 (VIS) - On Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 July, a meeting was held of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See, presided over by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. Particularly noteworthy was the visit on Wednesday 3 by the Holy Father Francesco, who addressed the speakers and engaged in a brief dialogue, reiterating the aims and purpose of the Council and inviting the continuation of periodical meetings.
Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, presented before the Council first the report on the consolidated financial statement of the Holy See for the year 2012 and subsequently that of the Governorate of Vatican City State.
The consolidated financial statement for the Holy See for the year 2012 closes with a profit of € 2,185,622, due mainly to good performance in financial management.
The most significant categories of expenditure are those regarding the cost of personnel,(2,823 persons), means of social communication considered in their entirety, and the new property taxes (IMU) which resulted in an increase in expenditure of € 5,000,000 compared to the previous year's figures.
GMA News
July 4, 2013
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican, embroiled in scandal involving its bank, released a rare bit of good news on its finances on Thursday, announcing that it had posted a $2.2 million budget surplus in 2012.
However, figures released showed donations to a fund for use by the pope dropped by nearly 12 percent in 2012.
The fall coincided with the year the Vatican was hit by a leaks scandal and the arrest of former Pope Benedict's butler.
The Vatican bank, which has been the subject of scandals for decades, is currently under investigation by Italian magistrates for money laundering. The bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), denies the accusations.
A Vatican spokesman said he believed the worldwide economic crisis was responsible for a drop to $56.9 million from $69.7 million the year before in Peter's Pence, a special collection taken up each year for use by the pope.
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Gazzetta del Sud
Rome, July 5 - A judge in Rome rejected an appeal Friday from Msgr Nunzio Scarano to move him to house arrest after he was jailed on suspicion of planning to elude customs with 20 million euros in cash. The prelate had reportedly said he was not comfortable in Rome's Regina Coeli prison, and Scarano's lawyer said he would appeal the judge's decision. Scarano was arrested last week along with Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent in the AISI intelligence agency, and Rome broker Giovanni Carenzio. Police said Scarano and Zito got a private jet to fly back from Switzerland to Italy 20 million euros in cash for a family who were friends with Scarano. Zito is suspected of getting 400,000 euros for arranging cover for the flight.
adnkronos
Rome, 5 July (AKI) - A senior Catholic arrested last week on suspicion of trying to move 20 million euros illegally into Italy must stay in Rome's Regina Coeli prison, a judge ruled on Friday.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano's lawyer had asked for his client to be granted house arrest.
Scarono a Vatican accountant, was arrested last Friday together with Italian secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito, and a financial broker, Giovanni Carenzio.
All three suspects are accused off attempting to smuggle the cash to Italy from Switzerland on a private jet.
Scarano allegedly paid a 400,000 euro bribe in the cash-smuggling case. His lawyer said he did not dispute the facts of the bribery investigation but claimed he was merely "trying to help out some friends".
Scarono has also been targeted by a separate probe investigating a series of suspicious transactions involving the recycling of cheques described as church donations through the Vatican Bank - a lender long-tainted by accusations of money-laundering.
Reuters
ROME, July 5 | Fri Jul 5, 2013
(Reuters) - A Vatican prelate detained on suspicion of trying to smuggle tens of millions of euros into Italy will remain in jail after an Italian judge on Friday rejected his request to be released into house arrest, judicial sources said.
The judge decided there was still a need to keep Monsignor Nunzio Scarano in prison due to concerns that he could tamper with evidence or try to escape if released, the sources said.
Scarano, who had close connections to the Vatican bank, was arrested last week along with Giovanni Zito, a secret services agent, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio.
They have been accused of plotting to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into Italy from Switzerland for Scarano's rich shipping industry friends in the southern city of Salerno. Scarano is under a separate investigation there on suspicion of money laundering.
Vatican Insider
The reckless operations of Monsignor: isolated case or general mechanism that does not work? Why was it not stopped sooner?
ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY
If the investigative elements that emerge from eavesdropping an investigation for corruption and fraud that led to the imprisonment of Monsignor Nuncio Scarano are confirmed, this time it will not be easy for the authorities of Oltretevere to argue that we are faced with the classic "rotten apple."
From inside the Vatican, someone who obviously still does not realize what has happened, filters out this observation: "The errors of the individual do not question the institution. If anything they can question the way in which the institution takes on staff." In other words: the system works, but we need to be more careful about who we hire ... An applicable reference to the same Monsignor Scarano, as well as to the managers of the IOR who authorized his reckless transactions just as the Vatican undertook the process to comply with money laundering regulations.
The Holy See has assured full cooperation with the Italian judiciary, and therefore the bank accounts of the former robed banker one can probably figure out who has authorized the movement of large sums and why, which were used - according to the accusation - to do favours (reciprocated) for businessmen friends. A movement that, even without waiting for the entry into force of special anti-money laundering rules, should worry about the leadership of the bank. Instead this has not happened. No one noticed anything. No one seems to have worried. Thus, Scarano has been suspended as a precaution after the news of the investigation on him by the Italian judiciary, and not before. Perhaps it is not correct to speak of "system", but of "cultural habit" yes. Something evidently rooted in time.
U.S. Catholic
By Bryan Cones
The much-anticipated release of documents related to sex abuse has revealed--exactly what we have come to expect from the this whole sorry affair. The most sensational news will surely be that current New York Archbishop and Cardinal Timothy Dolan moved some $57 million from diocesan accounts to cemetary trust funds to protect them from lawsuits. (Dolan has disputed the purpose of the transfer, but his request to the Vatican to transfer the funds stated that the purpose of the transfer was to protect them from legal liability.) Coverage also notes $20,000 payments to priests who were convinced to resign their orders voluntarily.
An NCR story quotes former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland describing his dilemma regarding whether or when to make public allegations against priests: "There are a lot of things that when you make an assignment you don't disclose," he said, noting other problems such as alcohol abuse and financial troubles as other problems for some priests. Weakland also admitted treating priests accused of abuse differently from, say, a teacher: "There was a certain obligation that I had toward the priests that went beyond what I might have toward anyone else."
The Tablet (UK)
Fr Tony Flannery
5 July 2013
There are so many interesting signals coming out of the Vatican since the election Pope Francis that most of us are beginning to hope for a brighter future. The signals have not as yet been followed by real changes in approach or structure, but it is probably too soon to realistically expect that. The latest statement the CDF Prefect that the solution to the ‘problem' of the priests' groups is to be found in the declarations of the Second Vatican Council is one such signal. If it is real, and if the bishops mean something the same as we do when they refer to the teachings of the Vatican Council, then it is great news.
Here in Ireland those of us who were part of the founding of the Association of Catholic Priests were inspired by our desire to see the renewal and reforms of the Council implemented in full. Central to this, as we understand it, are the ideas of shared decision-making and dialogue.
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The black belt means she is pregnant
![[30.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4DxeIokv0wYjRUZU6DvfDQWD7aQjJrp8LZXnK-gMlwObOfVsfTY4Huq49fFEMdUzd8cYFoUYi1GmkwOXxM3NtZc7OK12skj2f-Sqn07rxgPojGTZFghK3WXS0q-X8UXILcz6kXg53ww/s1600/30.jpg)
READ more here about the pregnancy of Our Lady http://stella0maris.blogspot.ca/2010/01/magisterium-benedict-versus-holy-mary.html
Read our new blog: Pope Francis the CON Christ. Pretender & Impostor of Jesus. Merlin hoax CANNOT CLONE JESUS or dogs http://pope-francis-con-christ.blogspot.ca/
Our latest related article about New Jersey "Bling" Bishop Myers http://pope-francis-con-christ.blogspot.ca/2014/02/new-jersey-bling-bishop-myers-wants-100.html
Updated July 11, 2013 with more news from Italy about the art works collection of the Bishop
Switzerland appears in the Vatican scene
Switzerland is finally coming into the visible map of the Vatican Bank and Vatican Titanic Empire deep in the ocean of moral bankruptcy. The Vatican Bank’s accountant, a Bishop, was caught smuggling €20 million ($26.1 million) in bags of cash from Switzerland into Italy by stashing them away on a private jet. And the videos of the Vatican homo-lobby are now hidden in a safe in Switzerland, see news updates below. Switzerland is the other half of the Vatican Titanic deep in the ocean of moral bankruptcy. If a Bishop can travel and transfer 26 million dollars, how much more a nuncio or Cardinal who ahve Diplomatic Immunity! Think again before you believe all that Vatican Deceits that Pope Francis is concocting out there at St. Peter's Square.
So why is Switzerland a "neutral country"?
And why is the Vatican the smallest country with no women and children in its population?
Why are there only Swiss Guard Army made up only of Swiss men? Because these men are being prepared to take over Vatican Swiss Banks, read our related articles shttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/02/usa-ambassador-to-vatican-for-what.html and
BOSTON Opus Dei-Swiss Guard seminar on Pope & CEO: WORLD DOMINATION AGENDA proof that Opus Dei controls the world's finances
Vatican MAMMON Reality Show
The Vatican has become a live TV reality show (that surpass the Amazing Race) and its thick Bernini marble walls can no longer hide the Pope Crimes and Vatican Evils of the 20th and the 21st centuries. The Borgias may have made TV entertainment ratings but today’s people will no longer tolerate real papal crimes as entertaining beneath priestly robes. And the speedy canonization of John Paul II will be the biggest Catholic farce because he personally did nothing and said nothing to protect hundreds of thousands of children from the clutches of thousands of pedophile priests under his watch, the longest papacy ever; hence they are aptly called John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army. The silence of John Paul II towards children victims of pedophile pedophilia was abhorrent, read more here John Paul II MIllstone http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/
The Vatican is not a holy sacred place. So Catholics better beware and be aware that their holiest site in Catholicism or Christendom is infested with Mortal Sins termites which the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Pope’s Infallibility cannot magically eradicate. No penance from the Sacrament of Confession or quick-fix recitation of the Rosary or 3 Hail Mary’s can magically wipe away these papal crimes. The Transubstantiation formula may clone Christ within 9-seconds but the monetary crimes of the Vatican Bank and the pedophile corruptions of the Vatican Gay Lobby within the Vatican holy chambers cannot be eradicated by the quick-fix daily Eucharist or weekly Papal Angelus in St. Peter’s Square which regularly attracts 200,000 regular Catholic pilgrims -- because these Vatican crimes are now in the hands of the secular Police -- and the pedophile half-a-century crimes of the Vatican Catholic Church under the Holy See or watch of John Paul II and Benedict XVI cannot be deleted by the speedy canonization of John Paul II or by the Goliath bully Catholic League or by the Vatican Media Empire and the sweet All Things Catholic words of Vatican Pied Pipers like John Allen Jr.
Read our related article -Pope Francis Top 10 Vatican Deceits. Francis cloned @3.13.13 inside Vatican Titanic as Jesuit Mask of Vatican Evils. “Bergoglio. Basura. Vos sos la dictadura.” http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/03/pope-francis-top-10-vatican-deceits_30.html .
Vatican Bank Under Investigation for Money Laundering http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/09/vatican-bank-under-investigation-for.html
Read our related article -Pope Francis Top 10 Vatican Deceits. Francis cloned @3.13.13 inside Vatican Titanic as Jesuit Mask of Vatican Evils. “Bergoglio. Basura. Vos sos la dictadura.” http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/03/pope-francis-top-10-vatican-deceits_30.html .
Vatican Bank Under Investigation for Money Laundering http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/09/vatican-bank-under-investigation-for.html
'Monsignor 500' and suitcases full of cash in Vatican bank scandal
ROME
Telegraph (UK)
The Catholic priest at the heart of a Vatican money scandal has claimed he did not act for personal gain when he attempted to bring 20 million euros into Italy from Switzerland illicitly.
Nick Squires in Rome 5:03PM BST 30 Jun 2013
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, will be questioned by investigators on Monday in the 17th century Rome prison in which is being held, as more details emerge of the complex scheme.
Nicknamed by fellow priests "Monsignor 500" for his habit of flashing a wallet full of 500 euro notes, he has insisted that he committed no crime when he allegedly tried to import the cash on board a private jet.
Telegraph (UK)
The Catholic priest at the heart of a Vatican money scandal has claimed he did not act for personal gain when he attempted to bring 20 million euros into Italy from Switzerland illicitly.
Nick Squires in Rome 5:03PM BST 30 Jun 2013
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, will be questioned by investigators on Monday in the 17th century Rome prison in which is being held, as more details emerge of the complex scheme.
Nicknamed by fellow priests "Monsignor 500" for his habit of flashing a wallet full of 500 euro notes, he has insisted that he committed no crime when he allegedly tried to import the cash on board a private jet.
"Monsignor Scarano will answer all questions and will explain what his role was, showing that he had no personal interest in the matter," Silverio Sica, his lawyer, said.
"There was no profit in it for him and he acted purely in a spirit of friendship."
That "friendship" was with the heirs to a large Neapolitan shipping company, to whom the 20 million euros allegedly belonged.
Msgr Scarano, who worked in a bank before joining the priesthood in the 1980s, allegedly funnelled hundreds of thousands of euros through accounts he held with the Vatican bank, known officially as the Institute for the Works of Religion.
He worked as a senior accountant in a Vatican department that manages the Holy See's property and other assets, but was suspended a month ago when the corruption allegations came to light.
His close contacts with the Vatican bank "enabled him to act as a very private and illicit branch" of the bank, according to Nello Rossi, one of the prosecutors in the case, amid questions about how much his superiors knew about his illicit activities.
One of the accounts he held with the Vatican bank was for his personal use while the other was designated "fondo anziani" – funds for old people.
Msgr Scarano allegedly conspired with Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent with one of Italy's secret services who is now being held in a military prison, and Giovanni Carenzio, a financial broker from Pompeii near Naples, to smuggle the 20 million euros from a UBS bank account in Lugano, in Switzerland, into Italy.
The money – in 500 euro notes – was reportedly packed into a suitcase ready for the flight last summer, but the plot failed to come to fruition.
The alleged scam came to light because Msgr Scarano's telephones were being wiretapped by police in connection with a separate corruption investigation into his activities in Salerno, near Naples.
Msgr Scarano reportedly met the broker and the intelligence agent through The Constantine Order of St George, a chivalric order that claims to have been founded in 313AD by the Emperor Constantine and which was later linked to the Bourbon royals who ruled parts of Italy.
He worked as a senior accountant in a Vatican department that manages the Holy See's property and other assets, but was suspended a month ago when the corruption allegations came to light.
His close contacts with the Vatican bank "enabled him to act as a very private and illicit branch" of the bank, according to Nello Rossi, one of the prosecutors in the case, amid questions about how much his superiors knew about his illicit activities.
One of the accounts he held with the Vatican bank was for his personal use while the other was designated "fondo anziani" – funds for old people.
Msgr Scarano allegedly conspired with Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent with one of Italy's secret services who is now being held in a military prison, and Giovanni Carenzio, a financial broker from Pompeii near Naples, to smuggle the 20 million euros from a UBS bank account in Lugano, in Switzerland, into Italy.
The money – in 500 euro notes – was reportedly packed into a suitcase ready for the flight last summer, but the plot failed to come to fruition.
The alleged scam came to light because Msgr Scarano's telephones were being wiretapped by police in connection with a separate corruption investigation into his activities in Salerno, near Naples.
Msgr Scarano reportedly met the broker and the intelligence agent through The Constantine Order of St George, a chivalric order that claims to have been founded in 313AD by the Emperor Constantine and which was later linked to the Bourbon royals who ruled parts of Italy.
ITALY
Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle
The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on its website that the arrested cleric was Nunzio Scarano, the bishop of Salerno in southern Italy. He had been put under investigation for money laundering.
The former intelligence officer Giovanni Mario Zito and the finance broker Giovanni Carinzo were also arrested on the charges of corruption, fraud and slander, according to the German news agency dpa, quoting Italian authorities.
Earlier this week the AP news agency had reported that Scarano had withdrawn more than half a million euros in charitable donations without any flags being raised, walked out of Vatican City with the cash, and then used it to pay off a personal mortgage.
On Friday, dpa quoted Italian prosecutors as saying Bishop Scarano had paid Zito 400,000 euros ($520,000) to transport 20 million euros in cash from Switzerland to Italy onboard a private jet.
ITALY
Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal
By Gilles Castonguay
MILAN—Italian financial police Friday arrested a senior prelate, a financial broker and a member of Italy’s secret service in an investigation into a failed attempt to bring about €20 million ($26.1 million) in cash into Italy from Switzerland by plane, a spokesman for the financial police said.
According to the spokesman, the investigation was opened by the public prosecutor’s office in Rome while it was pursuing a separate probe into the Vatican’s bank, the Institute of Religious Works, which is under pressure from international regulators to improve its transparency.
The investigation didn’t concern the bank, known by its Italian abbreviation, IOR, the spokesman said.
“It is an offshoot,” he said.
The suspects, including Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, are being investigated for crimes such as fraud and corruption, he added.
Msgr. Scarano’s lawyer, Silverio Sica, confirmed the arrest.
Msgr. Scarano had already suspended himself from his duties with the church after coming under investigation in a separate money-laundering case, Mr. Sica added.
ITALY
euronews
euronews
Three people have been arrested as part of an Italian investigation into the Vatican bank.
A member of Italy’s secret services, a financial broker and a cleric were all detained on Friday.
The cleric, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, worked as an accountant in the Vatican’s financial administration. He was suspended from duties several weeks ago after being placed under investigation by magistrates.
Scarano is accused of taking 600,000 euros out of a Vatican Bank account. He is said to have taken out small amounts at a time and given them to friends who in turn wrote him cheques. The money was apparently used to pay off a mortgage.
The Monsignor’s lawyer Silverio Sica said he was additionally accused of being involved in an attempt to help friends bring 20 million euros into Italy from Switzerland by plane in league with the secret service agent and the financial intermediary.
ITALY
Reuters
Reuters
* Trio accused of trying to bring 20 million euros from Switzerland
* Vatican prelate was already involved in another investigation
* Arrests come after Pope sets up commission to look into bank (Adds details from lawyer, latest charges, Vatican response)
* Vatican prelate was already involved in another investigation
* Arrests come after Pope sets up commission to look into bank (Adds details from lawyer, latest charges, Vatican response)
By Philip Pullella
ROME, June 28 (Reuters) - A senior Vatican cleric suspected of trying to help rich friends bring millions of euros into Italy illegally was arrested on Friday as part of an investigation into the Vatican bank, police sources and his lawyer said.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, worked as a senior accountant in the Vatican's financial administration and is already involved in another investigation by magistrates in southern Italy.
He was arrested in a parish in the outskirts of Rome and taken to the city's Queen of Heaven jail, his lawyer Silverio Sica told Reuters. Also arrested in the investigation were a member of Italy's secret services and a financial broker.
Sica said Scarano was accused of being involved in an attempt to help friends bring 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland by plane in league with the secret service agent and the financial intermediary.
Vatican official arrested in corruption plot
VATICAN CITY
Boston.com
By NICOLE WINFIELD / Associated Press / June 28, 2013
VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican official was arrested Friday by Italian police for allegedly trying to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into the country from Switzerland aboard an Italian government plane, his lawyer said.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, already under investigation in a purported money-laundering plot involving the Vatican bank, is accused of fraud, corruption and slander stemming from the plot, which never got off the ground, attorney Silverio Sica told The Associated Press.
It was the latest financial scandal to hit the Vatican and came just two days after Pope Francis created a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank to get to the bottom of the problems that have plagued it for decades and contributed to damaging the Vatican’s reputation.
Sica said Scarano was a middleman in the Swiss operation. Friends had asked him to intervene with a broker, Giovanni Carenzio, to return 20 million euros they had given him to invest. Sica said Scarano persuaded Carenzio to return the money, and an Italian secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito, went to Switzerland to bring the cash back aboard an Italian government aircraft. Such a move would presumably prevent any reporting of the money coming into Italy.
ITALY
NBC News
NBC News
By Claudio Lavanga and Ian Johnston, NBC News
A monsignor suspended from his job as an accountant at the Vatican has been arrested, a papal spokesman said Friday.
Greg Burke, the senior Vatican communication adviser, confirmed Monsignor Nunzio Scarano had been detained.
Scarano normally works as an accountant for APSA, the body that manages the Vatican's real estate, but was suspended over alleged financial offenses.
The cleric’s lawyer Silverio Sica told The Associated Press that his client was arrested on Wednesday over separate allegations and was now accused of fraud, corruption and slander.
Sica laid out what the prosecutors claimed had happened in the interview with the AP:
He said Scarano was a middleman in the operation: Friends had asked him to intervene with a broker, Giovanni Carenzio, to return 20 million euros ($26 million) they had given him to invest.
ITALY
Telegraph (UK)
Telegraph (UK)
An Italian spy, a Vatican official and banker have been arrested on suspicion of corruption and fraud involving an alleged plot to bring 20 million euros in cash into Italy from Switzerland aboard a government plane.
By Nick Squires, Rome11:57AM BST 28 Jun 2013
The arrests come just two days after Pope Francis appointed a special commission to oversee the Vatican's scandal-plagued bank, which is known officially as the Institute for Religious Works.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was arrested after allegedly trying to bring the sum of money into Italy from Switzerland in an Italian government plane.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was arrested after allegedly trying to bring the sum of money into Italy from Switzerland in an Italian government plane.
He had recently been suspended as an accountant in a Vatican department which manages the assets of the Holy See.
He is accused of fraud, corruption and slander.
His lawyer, Silverio Sica, told The Associated Press that the prelate was a middleman in the operation – friends had asked him to intervene with a broker, Giovanni Carenzio, to return 20 million euros (£17m) they had given him to invest.
Mr Sica said Msgr Scarano had persuaded Mr Carenzio to return the money, and an Italian secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito, went to Switzerland to bring the cash back aboard an Italian government aircraft.
The operation failed because Mr Carenzio, the broker, reneged on the deal, the lawyer said.
Vatican Accountant Accused of Smuggling $26 Million in Private Jet With Ex-Italian Spy
ROME
ABC News (US)
[with video]
By NICK SCHIFRIN (@nickschifrin) and GIULIA SAUDELLI
LONDON. June 28, 2013
Is the world's holiest bank riddled with corruption?
Many are asking that question today after a senior Vatican accountant was accused of plotting to sneak $26 million in bags of cash into Italy by stashing them away on a private jet, with the help of a former Italian spy.
The accountant, the former spy and an Italian financial broker have all been arrested in a case that highlights the Vatican's continuing challenge to eliminate fraud within the famously secretive Vatican Bank.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, who was the head of analytic accounts at the Holy See's property-management agency, has been accused of fraud, corruption and slander. He was the middle-man in a complex plot that involved secretly flying his friends' money from Switzerland to Italy, evading customs and driving to his house in an armored convoy in order to avoid taxes, according to prosecutors.
ROME
Mirror (UK)
Mirror (UK)
A top Catholic cleric with connections to the Vatican Bank was under arrest last night accused of laundering tens of millions of euro.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, is suspected of plotting to help rich friends smuggle huge sums of cash into Italy from Switzerland.
The move comes two days after the Pope set up an inquiry to look into the activities of the troubled bank.
In a scandal that reads like a spy novel, it involves police wiretaps, a private plane rented to collect the cash and burned mobile phones.
An allegedly corrupt secret services agent who promised to get the money past Customs is also being quizzed by police.
The case against Msgr Scarano will come as an acute embarrassment to Pope Francis who has dispensed with many of the trappings of office stressing the importance of a simple life.
ROME
Irish Sun
Irish Sun
By GARY MENEELY
ONE of the Pope’s top moneymen was behind bars yesterday over an alleged bid to smuggle €20million in cash across Europe.
Cops lifted Monsignor Nunzio Scarano on suspicion of fraud and corruption along with a financial adviser and an Italian secret service agent.
It’s claimed that the Vatican accountant, 61, who spent last night in a Rome prison, had been asked by wealthy pals to spirit in suitcases of money from Switzerland.
In phone calls tapped by police last July, he apparently offered the spook €600,000 to fly the cash into Rome on a private jet, and use his spy skills to avoid customs checks. Chief investigator Nello Rossi said the plane was to have been met on the runway and the wads of notes taken under armed escort to Msgr Scarano’s home.
In the event, the operation was abandoned when the alleged conspirators — who include the money owners’ broker — got cold feet.
Vatican monsignor arrested in 20M euro plot
VATICAN CITY
Houston Chronicle
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press | June 28, 2013
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The plot involved an armed police escort, a wealthy shipping family and a plan to secretly transport $26 million (20 million euros) from a Swiss bank account into Italy aboard a private jet. At the heart of the story of greed: a silver-haired Vatican monsignor.
The latest corruption scandal to hit the Holy See unraveled in public on Friday as Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a Vatican accountant, was arrested in the customs-dodging Swiss bank case. He is also under investigation in a separate case of alleged money-laundering involving his Vatican bank account.
The developments came two days after Pope Francis created a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank to get to the bottom of the problems that have plagued it for decades and contributed to its reputation as an unregulated, offshore tax haven.
Francis has made it clear that he has no tolerance for corruption or for Vatican officials who use their jobs for personal ambition or gain. He has said he wants a "poor" church that ministers to those most in need. He has also noted, tongue in cheek, that "St. Peter didn't have a bank account."
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, top Vatican official, busted in shady money smuggling deal
ITALY
New York Daily News
BY CORKY SIEMASZKO / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2013
Thou shalt not smuggle a fortune into Italy.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a top Vatican bean counter, was busted Friday for trying to do just that along with an Italian military police honcho and a shady financier.
Scarano was the middleman in a scheme to avoid paying customs and taxes by sneaking $26 million from a Swiss bank to Rome by private jet, an Italian prosecutor said.
But Scarano, who was already under investigation for using money meant for a hospice to buy himself a Sicilian hideaway, was undone when the wiretaps on his phone caught him plotting, prosecutor Nello Rossi said.
Vatican prelate arrested as part of IOR inquiry
VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
Nunzio Serrano, who served in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, has been arrested after he apparently helped friends bring 20 million Euros into Italy. Vatican spokesman Lombardi says the Vatican is prepared to cooperate with the judiciary
ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY
Less than forty eight hours after it was announced that Francis had ordered the setting up of a commission to inquire into the activities of the IOR, the Vatican bank has come under the media spotlight again, following the arrest of Italian monsignor Nunzio Scarano, who had been working for APSA (the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See). Two others were arrested as well: Italian policeman Giovanni Maria Zito, who was dismissed from the Italian secret services three months ago and broker Giovanni Carenzio. They are accused of corruption, slander and fraud. The arrest was made as part of the inquiry that is being carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rome, into the activities of the IOR. Public Prosecutors Nello Rossi and Stefano Fava have been leading the three year investigation into the violation of anti-money laundering regulations by the IOR’s director general Paolo Cipriani and deputy director Massimo Tulli.
Mgr. Scarano, a former banker who became a priest 27 years ago, apparently agreed to pay 400 thousand Euros to have 20 million Euros in cash brought into Italy on a private jet. According to Scarano’s lawyer, the money was in fact transported on a State-authorised flight and the prelate only acted as a go-between. The money belonged to one of his friend’s families. But the monsignor was also placed under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of his home city, Salerno, last 13 June, on charges of money-laundering. The investigation is being led by Public Prosecutor Elena Guarino and looking into the illegal transaction of money via cheques worth 10 thousand Euros each. Although accounting records show these as donations to help settle debts accumulated by a property in Salerno, it is suspected the transactions were part of a money laundering operation. In 2009, Mgr. Scarano withdrew 560 thousand Euros in cash from his IOR bank account, claiming it went towards paying off a mortgage.
ITALY
The Atlantic Wire
The Atlantic Wire
DASHIELL BENNETT
A high-ranking official at the troubled Vatican bank (who was already under investigation for a possible money laundering scheme) was arrested on Friday for trying to bring 20 million euros in to the country illegally. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was detained along with two others for the failed plot that involved bringing the cash from Switzerland to Italy on an Italian government plane, presumably so they could avoid customs checks, and therefore, taxes.
Scarano's lawyer denies all the charges and says his client "can explain," though he did not elaborate on how. The new charges follow a separate investigation of Scarano that stemmed from a series of shady transactions he made back in 2009, transferring money between his personal accounts in The Vatican and in Italy.
On a personal scale, Scarano's crimes are not that disastrous, but they come at a very difficult time for the Church and the new pope. Just two days ago, Pope Francis created an inquiry commission to investigate corruption and mismanagement at the Vatican bank. The bank, which operates under different laws than the rest of the European Union, has been accused of failing to meet the more rigorous standards of the world financial community and an excess of secrecy. Scarano's alleged crimes appear to be exactly the kind of behavior the Pope is trying to put a stop to.
VATICAN CITY
adnkronos
adnkronos
Vatican City, 28 June (AKI) - The Holy See on Friday said it would "cooperate fully" with Italian investigators after the arrest of senior cleric on suspicion of fraud and graft amid a wider probe into the Vatican Bank.
"The Holy See has not received any request by Italian authorities in this case, but it confirms it is willing to cooperate fully," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement.
"The Holy See has not received any request by Italian authorities in this case, but it confirms it is willing to cooperate fully," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement.
Lombardi said the body which oversees the Vatican's financial institutions was also across the case of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a Vatican accountant arrested on Friday for suspected fraud, corruption and slander.
"The Financial Information Authority (Ais) is following this problem and will take any necessary action within its remit," Lombardi stated.
He noted that Scarano was suspended last month from his post with the Vatican's Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (Apsa), which manages the Vatican's portfolio of assets including its real estate.
As a Vatican employee, Scarano was eligible to hold an account at the Vatican Bank, which Pope Francis on Wednesday put under investigation amid several money-laundering scandals.
VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
National Catholic Reporter
Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service | Jun. 28, 2013
VATICAN CITY An Italian monsignor, already suspended from his Vatican accounting job while under investigation for money laundering, was arrested Friday on charges of fraud, corruption and slander in a separate case.
Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, a priest of the archdiocese of Salerno-Campagna-Acero, was head of the analytical accounting service at the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, the Vatican office that oversees Vatican property and investments.
Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said Scarano was suspended in May, "as soon as his superiors were informed that he was under investigation." Vatican rules call for the suspension of any employee who is the subject of a criminal investigation, he said Friday.
The spokesman also said, "The Holy See has not yet received any request on this matter from the proper Italian authorities, but confirms it is ready to collaborate fully."
ROME
CNN
CNN
By Hada Messia and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
June 28, 2013
June 28, 2013
Rome (CNN) -- A Vatican official, a financial broker and a former secret service police officer were arrested Friday on suspicion of corruption over an alleged attempt to smuggle a huge sum of cash into Italy, Rome's prosecutor said.
The official, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, works as a financial analyst in the Vatican office that administers Vatican-owned property.
The archdiocese of Salerno, in southern Italy, issued a statement saying media reports identifying him as a bishop there were incorrect.
Prosecutor Nello Rossi told reporters the three suspects could face corruption charges, with Scarano also facing a possible count of defamation.
He stressed that the investigation is ongoing and that money laundering is not among the possible charges based on what investigators have uncovered so far.
PRESS RELEASE ON ARREST OF CURIA PRELATE
VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service
Vatican City, 28 June 2013 (VIS) – This morning, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, issued the following communique regarding the arrest, in Italy, of Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, director of accounting analysis service of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), in the context of an investigation on corruption and fraud.
“As has been made known in the past few days, Msgr. Nunzio Scarano was suspended from his position at the APSA over a month ago, as soon as his superiors were informed that he was under investigation. This is in compliance of the Regulations of the Roman Curia, which require the precautionary suspension of persons against whom prosecution has been initiated.”
“The Holy See has still not received any request from the competent Italian authorities on the matter, but has confirmed its willingness to cooperate fully.”
“The competent Vatican authority, the AIF (the Vatican Financial Information Authority), is following the issue in order to take, if necessary, appropriate measures within its competence.”
ITALY
The New York Times
The New York Times
By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: June 28, 2013
Published: June 28, 2013
ROME — Italian police on Friday arrested a prelate, a financial broker and an agent of the Italian Secret Service on corruption charges as part of a complex plot in which the priest — who is already under investigation for money-laundering involving the Vatican Bank — allegedly tried to repatriate millions of euros from Switzerland to Italy in a private plane.
The priest, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, had been suspended this spring from a position at one of the Vatican’s main financial departments. Those arrested were charged with fraud, corruption and slander as part of a broad investigation tied to the famously secretive Vatican Bank.
Prosecutors allege that the broker and the secret service agent helped the monsignor bring 20 million euros, or $26 million, into Italy from Switzerland in a private jet, the ANSA news agency reported. It said that the 20 million euros belonged to “some friends of the monsignor.”
The Vatican did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A Vatican official said that Monsignor Scarano had been suspended from his position as an accountant at APSA, a department that oversees the Vatican’s real estate holdings, after prosecutors in Salerno opened a separate investigation into money-laundering. The official indicated that the suspension was a sign that the Vatican was stepping up its internal vigilance.
ITALY
7 News
7 News
ROME (AFP) - A priest has been arrested on suspicion of fraud and corruption in connection with the sweeping probe of the scandal-plagued Vatican bank, Italian media reported Friday.
Nunzio Scarano, a priest from Salerno, was arrested after an investigation into the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), as the bank is known, unearthed a suspected international fraud scheme, reports said.
Initial reports that had suggested Scarano was a bishop were incorrect, Vatican senior media advisor Greg Burke said.
The priest was suspended from his position as a member of the administration that manages the Vatican's assets (the APSA) "about a month ago, after his superiors learnt about an investigation into his activities," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.
Scarano was arrested along with a former member of the Italian secret services and a financier for allegedly plotting to illegally move 20 million euros ($26 million) from Switzerland to Italy.
ITALY
MSN
MSN
If Dan Brown's casting around for a plot twist for his next blockbuster tale, hopefully he's watching the news. Senior Vatican bishop, Monsignore Nunzio Scarano, has reportedly been arrested in an alleged plot to illegally bring $26 million into Italy on a government plane. It comes straight on the heels of Pope Francis ordering an unprecedented internal investigation into the uber-secretive Vatican Bank. (And we thought he was just busy with heart-warming stuff like offering kids rides on the popemobile and washing inmates' feet.) Scarano's been under police investigation, and his arrest, along with a secret service agent and a financial broker, could be a major step in Pope Francis' plan to purify the ailing reputation of the bank and its $7.1 billion in assets.
ITALY
The Hindu
The Hindu
A high-ranking Vatican official and two others have been arrested on suspicion of financial fraud at the Institute of Religious Works (IOR), the Holy See’s scandal-tainted bank, Italian authorities said on Friday.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano — who had wrongly been identified as a bishop in earlier media reports — is accused of corruption, fraud and slander along with Giovanni Maria Zito, a former intelligence officer, and Giovanni Carinzo, a financial broker. They are all Italian.
According to Rome prosecutors, Mr. Scarano paid Mr. Zito 400,000 euros (523,000 dollars) to transport 20 million euros in cash from Switzerland to Italy on board a jet. The money belonged to a family friend.
The prelate’s lawyer, Silverio Sica, told the SkyTG24 news channel that Mr. Scarano had “tried to help friends that were important to him, who had suffered a loss,” and ruled out that he had made any personal gains.
The monsignor had been placed under investigation earlier this month for alleged money laundering in his home town of Salerno, southern Italy, and was suspended from his accounting role at Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) — the Holy See’s central bank.
ITALY
The Washington Times
The Washington Times
By Cheryl K. Chumley-The Washington Times Friday, June 28, 2013
A Vatican accountant has been arrested on charges of fraud and corruption related to a money-laundering scheme to bring $26 million from Switzerland into Italy aboard an Italian government plane, authorities said.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was arrested before the plane ever left the ground, The Associated Press reported. His attorney, Silverio Sica, said he’s accused of being a middleman for the scheme, which also allegedly involved his friends.
Monsignor Scarano was reportedly asked to convince a broker, Giovanni Carenzio, to give back $26 million he was going to invest on his friends’ behalf. An Italian secret service agent — Mario Zito — was supposed to fly to Switzerland, recoup the money and return it to Monsignor Scarano’s friends. But the broker changed his mind and the plot fell through, AP reported.
ROME
Daily Mail (UK)
Daily Mail (UK)
By HANNAH ROBERTS IN ROME
One of the Vatican’s most senior money-men has been arrested in an alleged plot to smuggle 20 million Euros into Italy on a government plane.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, the bishop of Salerno, and the chief accountant for the Vatican’s vast property portfolio, has been taken into custody along with an Italian secret agent Mario Zito and broker Giovanni Carenzio.
Scarano, 61, who worked at Deutsche bank before taking ecclesiastical vows, is accused of fraud, corruption, and other charges, as part of a wider investigation into the IOR Vatican Bank.
His nickname in Vatican circles was reportedly ‘Don 500 Euros’ thanks to his habit of showing people that he had only the largest bank note in his wallet.
The high profile arrests come just 48 hours after Pope Francis announced the line up for his commission into the Vatican Bank.
The so-called ‘Bank of God ‘ has been tarnished by scandal and suspicion for 30 years.
ITALY
ANSA
ANSA
(ANSAmed) - VATICAN CITY, JUNE 21 - Pope Francis ''doesn't have much time to set Peter's boat afloat once more'', for it has been ''somewhat battered by the pedophile priest storm and the Curia divisions which Ratzinger's pontificate ran aground on''. And if on the one hand it is ''necessary to repair the sails and the rudder'' and ''to throw overboard certain foul-smelling excess baggage'', it is also true that ''time presses'': it can play in favor, as in the case of John XXIII whose Council ''opened the Church up to a new era''; or it could on the other hand turn into an insurmountable obstacle. The many challenges of Bergoglio's pontificate, their roots firmly sunk into the knots left untangled by his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI, are the central theme of ''Our Fathers'' (Manni publishers, 206 pages, 14 euros), in which Vatican expert Elisa Pinna offers an attentive and in-depth view of the historic passage the Church has recently experienced: the one that began with Ratzinger's shocking resignation and ended with the election of the pope ''that came from the end of the world''. A pope whose ''Franciscan simplicity'', ''attention to the poor'', and ''personal frugality''', are ''extraordinarily in tune with the sentiment shared by a majority of the faithful (and not only the faithful) in a Europe crushed by an economic crisis that has now transformed into a social crisis''.
CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
El Universal
El Universal
NICOLE WINFIELD - AP | CIUDAD DEL VATICANO | Publicado el 28 de junio de 2013
Un funcionario del Vaticano que ya estaba bajo investigación por un presunto ardid para lavar dinero, fue arrestado el viernes por una operación distinta: los fiscales dicen que trató de trasladar 20 millones de euros en efectivo de Suiza a Italia a bordo de un avión del gobierno italiano.
Monseñor Nunzio Scarano, recientemente suspendido como contador de uno de los principales departamentos financieros del Vaticano, está acusado de fraude, corrupción y otros cargos relacionados con el plan, el cual nunca se llevó a cabo, dijo su abogado Silverio Sica a The Associated Press.
ITALIA
la Repubblica
la Repubblica
La nomina di ieri di monsignor Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca come prelato dello Ior non è che il primo atto di una rivoluzione che in autunno porterà la curia romana a cambiare completamente pelle. Il 29 giugno, in particolare, festa dei santi Pietro e Paolo, è data ritenuta importante. In questo giorno, infatti, potrebbero essere annunciati gli spostamenti di alcuni capi dicastero, "promozioni" utili a ridisegnare la governance vaticana. Insieme, spostamenti che permetteranno al Papa di convogliare nei posti che contano energie nuove e soprattutto persone di sua stretta fiducia. Sul nome del nuovo Segretario di Stato, invece, vige il massimo riserbo. Così anche sulla data dell'annuncio.
A oggi in pole position c'è l'attuale presidente del governatorato della Città del Vaticano, Giuseppe Bertello, che in scia a quanto auspicava la "Pastor Bonus" di Paolo VI (la costituzione apostolica dedicata proprio alla curia romana), se nominato manterrebbe entrambi gli incarichi. In alternativa, un altro nome molto considerato da Bergoglio è quello dell'attuale nunzio in Venezuela Pietro Parolin, già numero tre della stessa segreteria di stato. Certo, il "nodo Bertone" non è ancora del tutto risolto: il quasi ottantenne segretario di stato, infatti, sembra puntare a una clamorosa, quanto improbabile, prorogatio di un anno.
ITALIE
Atlantico (France)
Atlantico (France)
Le pape François avait dit lors d'une audience privée, il y a quelques semaines, que le Vatican était "gangrené par la corruption". Il semble que le souverain pontife ait eu raison. En tout cas, l'arrestation de Mgr Nunzio Scarano, évêque de Salerne, jette le trouble. Le prélat est en effet soupçonné de fraude et de corruption. Un membre des services secrets italiens et un intermédiaire financier ont été eux aussi arrêtés vendredi matin dans le cadre d'une enquête de la justice italienne sur l'Institut des oeuvres de religion (IOR), la banque du Vatican. Des dizaines de millions d'euros avaient été bloqués dans le cadre d'une enquête qui avait conduit, entre autre, au limogeage de la direction du IOR. Au fil des ans, des scandales retentissants ont entaché la réputation de l'IOR, des milieux criminels ayant profité de l'anonymat ou de prête-noms pour y blanchir leurs fonds.
ITALIA
Corriere del Ticino
Corriere del Ticino
ROMA - Tre persone sono state arrestate oggi nell'ambito di un filone di indagine sullo Ior in corso alla procura della Repubblica di Roma.
Tra i fermati c'è monsignor Nunzio Scarano, responsabile del servizio di contabilità analitica dell'Amministrazione del patrimonio della Sede Apostolica (Apsa), l'organismo che gestisce i beni della Santa Sede.
Scarano, tra l'altro, è coinvolto a Salerno in un'altra indagine per ricettazione.
Le altre due persone arrestate sono l'agente dell'Aisi Maria Zito e il broker Giovanni Carenzio. Le ordinanze di custodia cautelare sono state firmate del giudice per le indagini preliminari (gip) Barbara Callari su richiesta del procuratore aggiunto Nello Rossi e dei sostituti Stefano Rocco Fava e Stefano Pesci.
Le altre due persone arrestate sono l'agente dell'Aisi Maria Zito e il broker Giovanni Carenzio. Le ordinanze di custodia cautelare sono state firmate del giudice per le indagini preliminari (gip) Barbara Callari su richiesta del procuratore aggiunto Nello Rossi e dei sostituti Stefano Rocco Fava e Stefano Pesci.
ITALIA
ANSA
ANSA
Sacerdote dal 1987, mons. Nunzio Scarano prima di prendere i voti e' stato funzionario di banca. Nei primi giorni di giugno e' stato iscritto nel registro degli indagati della Procura della Repubblica di Salerno con l'accusa di riciclaggio in un'inchiesta su presunte donazioni, ritenute fittizie dall'accusa. Secondo l'ipotesi investigativa, in realta' queste donazioni sarebbero servite a mascherare un maxi riciclaggio di denaro, che ruotava proprio intorno alla figura di Scarano. Il prelato - sempre secondo l'ipotesi investigativa - avrebbe contattato alcune decine di persone (56 gli indagati tra Salerno e provincia) e avrebbe chiesto a ognuno di loro la compilazione di un assegno circolare da 10mila euro, spiegando di dover ripianare i debiti di una societa' immobiliare titolare di alcune case nel centro di Salerno.
ITALIA
il Mattino
il Mattino
Guerra tra cugini. Scarano contro Scarano. È da una diatriba familiare che nasce l’inchiesta . Il prelato che velatamente accusa il cugino e il socio di questi di furto e un avvocato, Cecchino Cacciatore, che nel presentare le proprie indagini difensive consegna nelle mani degli inquirenti delle carte che «scottano».
A far partire le indagini, dunque, una denuncia presentata proprio da monsignor Nunzio Scarano ai carabinieri. Il prelato aveva subito, secondo quanto denunciato, un furto nella sua abitazione di Salerno di tele, monili in oro, argenteria, quadri d’autore di De Chirico, Labella e Guttuso, di un crocifisso dell’altare di San Pietro del Bernini, e infine di una pergamena in olio che rappresenta un vaso dello Scatizzi. Il tutto per un danno di circa cinque-sei milioni di euro.
ITALY
BBC News
BBC News
A senior Italian cleric has been arrested in connection with an inquiry into the Vatican bank scandal over allegations of corruption and fraud.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano works in the Vatican's financial administration. A secret service agent and a financial broker have also been arrested.
They are suspected of trying to move 20m euros illegally into Italy.
Pope Francis ordered an unprecedented internal investigation into the bank's affairs in the wake of recent scandals.
Monsignor Scarano has been under investigation by Italian police for a series of suspicious transactions involving the recycling of a series of cheques described as church donations through the Vatican Bank.
ITALIA
il Mattino
il Mattino
SALERNO. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, prelato salernitano, è indagato dalla Procura della Repubblica di Salerno, insieme ad altre 56 persone, per il reato di riciclaggio. Monsignor Scarano è addetto tecnico di prima categoria dell'Apsa in Vaticano, l'Amministrazione Patrimonio Sede Apostolica che gestisce i beni della Santa Sede in Italia. L'iscrizione di mons. Scarano nel registro degli indagati - anticipata dal quotidiano salernitano La Città - è stata confermata da fonti della Procura di Salerno.
ITALIA
Corriere della Sera
Corriere della Sera
ROMA - A neppure 48 ore dalla svolta di Papa Francesco che mercoledì 26 ha nominato una commissione di cardinali per raccogliere informazioni sulle reali attività dell'Istituto per le Opere Religiose, arriva una clamorosa svolta nei rapporti tra Stato italiano e Vaticano: un alto prelato, un funzionario dei Servizi segreti ed un broker finanziario sono stati arrestati nell' ambito di un filone di indagine sullo Ior in corso alla Procura della Repubblica di Roma. Sono accusati di corruzione, calunnia e truffa: i reati riguardano la vicenda del rientro di una grossa somma in contanti dalla Svizzera. Le autorità vaticane si sono dette «pronte a collaborare» anche se al momento non avrebbero «ancora alcuna richiesta», ha spiegato il portavoce padre Federico Lombardi.
INDAGINI DELLA GUARDIA DI FINANZA - Gli arresti, dopo le indagini svolte dal nucleo valutario della Gdf, sono stati chiesti dalla Procura e confermati dal gip della Capitale, Barbara Callari. Il provvedimento cautelare ha colpito: monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61 anni, fino a 24 ore prima capo contabile all'Apsa (Amministrazione del patrimonio della Sede Apostolica) - e da due settimane già indagato dalla Procura di Salerno per il crack del Pastificio Amato -; un ex funzionario del Servizio segreto interno, Giovanni Maria Zito, sottufficiale dei carabinieri, espulso dall'Aisi tre mesi fa; il broker finanziario Giovanni Carenzio, un italiano che lavora soprattutto all'estero.
ITALIEN
N24
N24
Die italienische Polizei hat den hochrangigen Vatikan-Geistlichen Nunzio Scarano festgenommen. Er soll in einen Geldwäsche-Skandal verwickelt sein. Ermittelt wird auch gegen einen Geheimdienstler.
Die italienische Polizei hat den vatikanischen Geistlichen Monsignor Nunzio Scarano wegen seiner mutmaßlichen Beteiligung an einem millionenschweren geplanten Geldtransfer festgenommen. Dem kürzlich suspendierten Funktionär der durch Geldwäscheskandale angeschlagenen Vatikanbank wird vorgeworfen, den heimlichen Transfer von 20 Millionen Euro in einem Regierungsflugzeug aus der Schweiz nach Italien geplant zu haben, wie Scaranos Anwalt Silverio Sica am Freitag mitteilte. Der Plan wurde letztlich nie in die Tat umgesetzt.
VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
National Catholic Reporter
Thomas Reese | Jun. 20, 2013 NCR Today
Journalists should “be uncompromising against the hypocrisies which result from the closed, the sick heart,” said Pope Francis to a group of Jesuit journalists. “Be uncompromising against this spiritual illness.”
Telling journalists to attack hypocrisy might sound suicidal to most church leaders, especially after more than two decades of investigative journalism on the sexual abuse crisis, but it shows how much Pope Francis hates the vices he believes undermine the Gospel message: clericalism, careerism and hypocrisy.
Beyond exposing hypocrisy, Francis said the main task of journalists “is not to build walls but bridges” and to establish dialogue with all people. At a time when ratings and readership are built by stirring up antagonism and fights, this will not be an easy teaching.
Although he was speaking to the Jesuit staff of the Italian journal La Civilta Cattolica, Pope Francis laid out a dynamic vision relevant to the vocation of anyone in journalism. “The great spiritual questions are more alive today than ever,” he said, “but there is need of someone to interpret them and to understand them.” But the approach to these questions should be through dialogue not screaming heads.
The language of shaming: Pope Francis urges profound change to global economic system
ROME
GlobalPost
Jason Berry (a Vatican Pied Piper now)
May 30, 2013
Analysis: In his candid speeches and sermons, the new pope "forges a moral vocabulary on economics" to remind church leaders — and followers — of their responsibility to the poor.
"The globalization that makes everything uniform is essentially imperialist and instrumentally liberal, but it is not human. In the end, it is a way to enslave nations."
Those blunt words from spoken by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 2010 speak to the plight of millions who are jobless in Spain and Greece, their economies yoked to a European Union bank system meshed with globalized finance.
The statement appeared in On Heaven and Earth, a dialogue book with Buenos Aires Rabbi Abraham Skorka, which is now available in English.
In the two months since the cardinals’ conclave in Rome elected the little-known Argentine and the first Jesuit pope, Francis has taken to his pastoral role as Bishop of Rome. Refusing to live in the Apostolic Palace, he has made his home in a religious hotel in Vatican City, and he has replaced the pope’s golden throne with a wooden chair. He has dispensed with the ornate red stole with filigrees of gold that Pope Benedict wore, instead presenting himself in white, wearing a metal cross without the customary papal jewels and regalia. Benedict wore red shoes; Francis’s are black and workmanlike.
This pope has also fashioned a symbolic language of shaming, and the candor in his statements and sermons aim to remind the clerical establishment — accustomed to lordly status — of the church’s core commitment to the poor. He has yet to make major personnel changes in a Roman Curia whose scandals riveted media coverage at the conclave, yet his rhetoric is that of a world leader endorsing purgative change.
News updates for July 11, 2013
Vatican bank open to money laundering: inquiry
VATICAN CITYFinancial Express
Italian investigators have said that the Vatican bank operated in a way that facilitated money laundering, according to leaked papers quoted by two Italian newspapers today following a three-year inquiry.
The bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR in Italian), did not carry out enough checks on its clients and account holders were allowed to transfer large sums on behalf of others.
"There is a high risk that the way the IOR operates, without specifying its real clients, can be used as a screen to hide illegal operations," prosecutors wrote in a document that was quoted by Corriere della Sera.
They also faulted Italian banks that accepted transfers from the IOR for failing to probe the origin of the money, which is then moved into other banks.
"The IOR can easily become a channel for the laundering of money with a criminal origin, they said.
Holding the bank to account
Crisis at the IOR
Robert Mickens - 6 July 2013
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/164384
First
an inquiry announced, then an arrest, followed by major resignations.
It has been quite a week at the Vatican Bank, the financial organisation
that Pope Francis has in his sights. But can he and his allies really
get to grips with what has been happening behind its closed doors and
ensure transparency? Baron Ernst von Freyberg insists that the so-called Vatican Bank is a “well-managed and clean financial institution” that merely suffers from a bad reputation linked to old scandals. The German aristocrat and industrialist was hired last February after an extensive search to be the president of the bank – officially named the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR). And he recently began a media campaign to convince people that he and his team were well on the road to bringing greater transparency and propriety to the 71-year-old institution.
But a new and embarrassing scandal has caused a major obstacle to that journey and this past week the president was forced to admit that still more drastic measures were needed to truly clean up the IOR’s bad image and improve efforts undertaken in the past three years to combat money laundering and provide greater transparency.
“It is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process,” von Freyberg said in a communiqué issued late on Monday. The unusually timed note announced the sudden and surprising resignations of the two men in charge of the IOR’s daily operations – bank director Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli. Both stepped down (or were more likely forced out) after six years in their posts.
The resignations came just five days after Pope Francis established a five-member special commission of inquiry to get to the bottom of problems linked to the IOR’s structure and functioning. But even more poignantly they occurred only three days after Mgr Nunzio Scarano, a Vatican official who has at least two accounts at the IOR, was arrested along with two accomplices after being suspected of trying to smuggle €20 million (£17m) from Switzerland into Italy.
The arrest of Mgr Scarano, a former banker and now a chief accountant at the Administration for the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (Apsa), is said to have especially perturbed the Pope, who has often warned clerics (and others) to be wary of “money worshipping”. In fact, the Vatican had already suspended the monsignor several weeks ago after it learned he was also under investigation over financial dealings in his native Salerno, a port city just south of Naples.
The cardinals who elected Pope Francis gave him a mandate to reform the Roman Curia and the IOR, two institutions that last year’s VatiLeaks scandal portrayed as tinged with corruption and mismanagement. That was not the first time, either, that the bank, founded in 1942 by Pius XII as a private organisation providing religious institutions with banking facilities, had been mired in scandal. In 1982, it was implicated in a major political and financial crisis when the Banco Ambrosiano, of which it was the major shareholder, collapsed with US$4.7 billion debts. More recently, in 2010, the then president of the IOR, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was investigated over a money-laundering scandal and then later stepped down after a no-confidence vote by the bank’s directors. He claimed he was targeted because he wanted transparency and wanted to target the non-religious holders of bank accounts.
Pope Francis may well wish to close the bank but he would face stiff opposition from many people, not least the institute’s 114 employees and the many religious orders that keep their money there. For now the Jesuit Pope is working with existing Vatican staff and their methods to deal with the difficult situation he inherited. His first move, several weeks ago, was to see to that Mgr Battista Ricca, the director of the Santa Marta residence where he lives, be named as “prelate” ad interim of the IOR. The Commission of Cardinals (headed by Secretary of State Bertone) appoints the prelate to be its liaison with the lay-run board of directors (headed by von Freyberg) and he attends the meetings of both groups.
Next, Francis chose five Vatican insiders to be part of his newly set up commission of inquiry. The president of the group is Italian Cardinal Raffaele Farina SDB, 79, head of the Vatican Library. Spanish Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, a 62-year-old Opus Dei canon lawyer who is secretary at the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, is the commission’s coordinator. There is also French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, 70, one of the Holy See’s best diplomats and currently its top official for interreligious dialogue, as well as a member of the cardinals’ commission that oversees the IOR. Mary Glendon, 74, the American lawyer who heads the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and is a former US ambassador to the Holy See, is also a member. And finally, Mgr Peter Wells, 50, the American who serves as “assessore” or No. 3 in the Secretariat of State, serves as the commission’s secretary. Glendon and Wells have strong personal connections to fellow American Carl Anderson, head of the very wealthy Knights of Columbus and a member of the IOR board of directors. It goes without saying that all five of these people have personal bank accounts at the IOR.
Anyone hoping that the commission of inquiry might be composed of people with outside objectivity and no inside personal interest would be very disappointed with this group. On the other hand, those likely to be most threatened by such a commission and the Pope’s reforms might feel some reassurance by the names on this list.
Pope Francis has asked the commission of inquiry to present him with some canonical and legal options for restructuring the IOR so that its mission and ideals are more reflective of a Church than a bank. The Vatican has always denied allegations that the IOR has been used as an offshore financial institution (or worse, for money laundering) and most recently affirmed again that only its employees, religious orders and church officials can hold accounts. But many people are sceptical. That is because among the account holders there are also the papal gentleman, mostly well-to-do Italian businessmen, industrialists and aristocrats who assist at formal papal ceremonies. Over the years some of them have fallen foul of the law. Francesco La Motta, for instance, was arrested in mid-June for his alleged role in the disappearance of more than €10m (£8.5m) from an Interior Ministry account that he oversaw. The former high-ranking Italian secret-service agent has been a papal gentleman since 2007. Another, Angelo Balducci, was arrested in 2010 on corruption charges linked to building contracts. He was quietly removed from the ranks of the papal gentlemen. La Motta will probably meet the same fate. Both men had accounts at the IOR that provided a convenient way to hide money.
IOR officials say they have begun adopting more stringent international anti-money-laundering protocols and Baron von Freyberg has even hired outside consultants from the United States to ensure they are implemented correctly. That will be essential in helping Pope Francis face perhaps his toughest challenge, the vast network of family and friends that make up the Vatican’s tightly knit workforce. Many have followed in the footsteps of fathers and grandfathers, cousins and uncles, as Vatican employees. Take the papal nuncio in Britain, Archbishop Antonio Mennini. His late father was the IOR’s long-time managing director. And his brother Paolo is currently in charge of the Apsa wing where Mgr Scarano has been working for many years. These types of intertwining relationships are typical of the complicated culture of the Vatican, and which can cause people to be resistant to reform.
So what is likely to happen? Most people believe Pope Francis will move like a good Jesuit superior. He will listen to the suggestions from his cardinal-advisers, as well as the commission of inquiry and other officials at the IOR. Then he will make up his own mind. Among his options might be to restructure the IOR into a sort of credit union, perhaps with more international and less Italian oversight. Another possibility is that he could choose to divest the Holy See of its entire interest in the institute’s ownership or management. In this case, perhaps he could even allow some Catholic group with a proven track record in financial operations (like the Knights of Columbus) to take control of the IOR. Of course, the most radical action that Papa Francesco could take would be to close the IOR all together and leave its clients to deposit their assets in regular banks.
Various cardinals and Vatican officials have said with assurance that closure is not an option. But they are the same people who think that the Pope will eventually move into the Apostolic Palace.
===========================
Update news for July 11, 2013
Friends of disgraced Vatican prelate deny involvement
ROMEGazzetta del Sud
Rome, July 3 - Two men being probed together with disgraced Vatican prelate Msgr Nunzio Scarano denied Wednesday that 20 million euros in cash seized by police belonged to them. "Those 20 million euros are not ours," Paolo and Cesare D'Amico, whose family was friendly with Scarano, told prosecutors. Their version of events does not correspond to what Scarano, who until recently led a key Vatican accounting unit, told prosecutors under continued questioning. Scarano has denied charges that he conspired with a former Italian spy and a financial broker to try to secretly repatriate 20 million euros of laundered money from Switzerland to Italy. Scarano, who is from the port city of Salerno near Naples, was suspended a month ago from his job as head of analytic accounts at the Holy See's asset-management agency APSA when police started sifting through his assets because of his suspiciously large financial holdings and artistic trove.
Scarano questioned in 20 million corruption plot at Holy See
ROMEGazzetta del Sud
Rome, July 1 - Italian magistrates questioned Msgr Nunzio Scarano Monday in a 20-million-euro corruption plot involving the Holy See's asset-management agency APSA. Scarano, who was arrested last Friday on suspicion of corruption and fraud, said he was not comfortable in Rome's Regina Coeli prison and requested house arrest, prosecutors said. Scarano was questioned for about three hours by investigating magistrate Barbara Callari, who will decide the next step in the process. Scarano was arrested along with Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent in Italy's domestic intelligence agency, and Rome broker Giovanni Carenzio. It's alleged the trio were involved in a failed attempt to fly 20 million euros of alleged tax-evasion proceeds from Switzerland back to Italy.
Italy shipping family: no role in Vatican scandal
ROMEBloomberg Businessweek
July 03, 2013
ROME (AP) — An Italian shipping family denies any role in an alleged money-smuggling plot involving a Vatican accountant. The d'Amico family says the priest who was jailed in the affair, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, was their "spiritual" adviser.
A family lawyer, Vincenzo Cupri, spoke to reporters Wednesday as he left offices of Rome prosecutors who are investigating the alleged plot to spirit 20 million euros ($26 million) from Switzerland into Italy.
Scarano has been suspended by the Vatican from his accountant post. Prosecutors say they suspect the money belongs to the d'Amico family and was deposited in Switzerland to avoid Italian taxes.
Vatican cleric was 'front for bank transfers'
ROMEFox News
ROME, Italy (AFP) – A senior cleric arrested last week is suspected of acting as a front for suspicious payments made through the Vatican bank from Monaco, Italian newspapers reported on Wednesday, citing leaked documents.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano "is a real screen in front of the actual economic beneficiary of the operation and he interrupts the traceability of the money," said one financial police document, quoted by the Corriere della Sera daily.
The investigators allege that Scarano had used Vatican bank accounts to make transfers on behalf of his friends, including an attempt to move 20 million euros ($26 million) on behalf of a Neapolitan shipowning family.
Scarano's lawyers have rejected the charges.
God's bankers no strangers to scandal through the decades
VATICAN CITYIrish Independent
SARAH MCCABE – 10 JULY 2013
THE Vatican Bank is one of Europe's best known but least understood financial institutions, and it is no stranger to scandal.
This week Italian prosecutors decided to drop a negligence inquiry into the bank's former president, but investigations roll on; two of his juniors are now implicated in a money-laundering scandal.
Under the microscope are the bank's director general Paolo Cipriani and its deputy director Massimo Tulli, who both resigned last week. The allegations cast yet more global scrutiny on the secretive 70-year-old institution.
The Vatican Bank is known formally as the Institute for the Works of Religion and was established in 1942 by Pope Pius XII. It is used by Vatican agencies, church organisations, bishops and religious orders around the world.
It has an investment portfolio and offers currency exchange services and savings accounts to its members.
Senior Vatican cleric arrested for fraud denies charges
ROMEAFP
ROME — A senior Catholic cleric arrested as part of a sweeping probe of the scandal-plagued Vatican bank rejected accusations of money-laundering and corruption on Monday, Italian media reported.
Nunzio Scarano, 61, who was arrested Friday along with a former Italian spy and a financer for allegedly plotting to smuggle millions of euros into Italy, "strongly reaffirms his morality," his lawyers were reported as saying.
"He has defended himself and we have requested he be moved to house arrest somewhere where he can celebrate mass," media quoted lawyers Francesco Caroleo Grimaldi, Silverio Sica and Luca Paternostro as saying, following a three-hour meeting with their client and judge Barbara Callari in Rome.
Scarano "is not well, he is very tried and is not sleeping well," they said.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:17
PM
Code words and safe phones: anatomy of a money smuggling plot
ROMEReuters
By Philip Pullella
ROME | Mon Jul 1, 2013
(Reuters) - To most people, a book is a book. But to Monsignor Nunizio Scarano, a Vatican official arrested on charges of money smuggling, a "book" was a code word for one million euros in cash, a report by the judge on the case said.
"Encyclopaedia," and "bookmarks" were among other code words that Scarano, who had close connections to the Vatican bank, used in phone conversations with secret service agent Giovanni Zito and broker Giovanni Carenzio, it said.
The three were arrested on Friday for allegedly attempting to smuggle 20 million euros in cash from Switzerland a year ago for Scarano's rich shipping industry friends in their home town of Salerno in southern Italy.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 1:15
PM
Vatican priest dubbed 'Don 500' allegedly plotted to smuggle £17million to 'help out friends'
ROMEDaily Mail (UK)
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 11:37 EST, 1 July 2013
A Vatican priest arrested in a £17million smuggling plot has admitted he behaved wrongly but said he was only trying to help out friends.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, dubbed 'Don 500' because the 500 euro note is his favourite banknote, was questioned for three hours by Judge Barbara Callari.
His lawyer Silverio Sica said that Scarano is not well in prison and had asked for house arrest to await a decision on his fate, expected in a day or two.
Scarano was arrested on Friday with two others accused of plotting to smuggle 20million euros from a Swiss bank account into Italy by private jet without reporting it to customs.
Lawyers seeks house arrest for Vatican monsignor
ROMEChicago Tribune
Reuters
July 1, 2013
ROME (Reuters) - Magistrates on Monday questioned Nunzio Scarano, the Vatican prelate detained on suspicion of trying to smuggle tens of millions of euros into Italy, and lawyers asked that he be released into house arrest.
"He explained everything he could. He cooperated in an extremely loyal and honest way. He said he was in good faith and at the disposal of the magistrates whenever they needed," lawyer Francesco Grimaldi told reporters outside Rome's Queen of Heaven jail after the three-hour interrogation.
Scarano, who had close connections to the Vatican bank, was arrested on Friday along with Giovanni Zito, a secret services agent, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio.
They have been accused of plotting to bring 20 million euros ($26.00 million)in cash to Italy from Switzerland for Scarano's rich shipping industry friends in the southern city of Salerno. Scarano is under a separate investigation there on suspicion of money laundering.
IOR-Directorate offers resignations
VATICAN CITYVatican Insider
President Ernst von Freyberg to assume General Director duties ad interim
VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
VATICAN CITY
IOR-Director Comm. Paolo Cipriani and Deputy Director Dott. Massimo Tulli have offered their resignations from their current positions. After many years of service both have decided that this decision would be in the best interest of the Institute and the Holy See. The Oversight Council and the Commission of Cardinals have accepted their resignations and asked President Ernst von Freyberg to assume the functions of the General Director ad interim with immediate effect. The Vatican regulator AIF has been informed accordingly. The Special Commission appointed on June 26 2013 has acknowledged the decision.
Ernst von Freyberg will be supported by Rolando Marranci as acting Deputy Director and Antonio Montaresi in the newly created position as acting Chief Risk Officer with the remit of overseeing compliance and special projects. Previously Rolando Marranci served as Chief Operating Officer at a leading Italian bank in London. Antonio Montaresi has served as Chief Risk and Chief Compliance Officer with various banks in the US.
“In the name of the Oversight Council I thank Mr. Cipriani and Mr. Tulli for their personal dedication over the past years,” said President Ernst von Freyberg. “I welcome Rolando Marranci and Antonio Montaresi as outstanding professionals,” he said. “Since 2010 the IOR and its management have been working hard to bring structures and processes in line with international standards for anti-money laundering. While we are grateful for what has been achieved, it is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process. Our progress is in no small measure due to the continued support from the governing bodies of the Institute and its personnel.”
DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE IOR RESIGN
VATICAN CITYVatican Information Service
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Vatican City, 2 July 2013 (VIS) – A communique was issued in English by the Holy See Press Office late yesterday afternoon, the full text of which is given below:
“IOR-Director Comm. Paolo Cipriani and Deputy Director Dott. Massimo Tulli have offered their resignations from their current positions. After many years of service both have decided that this decision would be in the best interest of the Institute and the Holy See. The Oversight Council and the Commission of Cardinals have accepted their resignations and asked President Ernst von Freyberg to assume the functions of the General Director ad interim with immediate effect. The Vatican regulator AIF has been informed accordingly. The Special Commission appointed on June 26 2013 has acknowledged the decision.
“Ernst von Freyberg will be supported by Rolando Marranci as acting Deputy Director and Antonio Montaresi in the newly created position as acting Chief Risk Officer with the remit of overseeing compliance and special projects. Previously Rolando Marranci served as Chief Operating Officer at a leading Italian bank in London. Antonio Montaresi has served as Chief Risk and Chief Compliance Officer with various banks in the US.
“'In the name of the Oversight Council I thank Mr. Cipriani and Mr. Tulli for their personal dedication over the past years,' said President Ernst von Freyberg. 'I welcome Rolando Marranci and Antonio Montaresi as outstanding professionals,' he said. 'Since 2010 the IOR and its management have been working hard to bring structures and processes in line with international standards for anti-money laundering. While we are grateful for what has been achieved, it is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process. Our progress is in no small measure due to the continued support from the governing bodies of the Institute and its personnel.'
Double Storm for the IOR
VATICAN CITYChiesa
Not only the resignation of its highest-ranking operational directors, but also the revelations about the new "prelate" appointed by Francis. Having been made aware of them, the pope could revoke his appointment soon
by Sandro Magister
ROME, July 3, 2013 – Since the first of this month, the Institute for Works of Religion, IOR, has been at the center of a twofold storm.
Twofold because it is made up not only of the sensational resignations of the director general and of the vice-director of the controversial Vatican “bank,” Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli, but also of another scandal near the point of exploding, concerning the “prelate” of the IOR, Monsignor Battista Ricca, just appointed by Pope Francis.
As for the resignation of the two highest-ranking operational directors of the IOR, the statement that gave the news on the evening of Monday, July 1 says that “after many years of service both have decided that this action would be in the best interests of the Institute itself and of the Holy See."
Muck in the Tiber
VATICAN CITYThe Economist
Pope Francis grapples with his bank—the first of many problems
Jul 6th 2013 | VATICAN CITY |From the print edition
IT IS in the Vatican, but neither an institution of the city-state, nor part of the Roman Curia, the Catholic church’s central administration. It is only half a bank (it takes deposits, but does not give loans). Yet the blandly named Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) has caused endless discomfort to recent popes.
The problems go back to at least 1982 when the IOR was involved in the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano. In June of that year the Italian bank’s chairman, Roberto Calvi, was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in London. The latest scandal is less grisly, but equally bizarre. On July 1st the IOR’s director, Paolo Cipriani, and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, resigned three days after the Italian authorities arrested and jailed a Vatican cleric, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano. He is accused of bribery as part of a plot to smuggle €20m ($26m) in cash into Italy from Switzerland on a private jet. He was claimed to have paid €400,000 to an alleged fellow-conspirator, a non-commissioned officer in the Carabinieri (the Italian gendarmerie) working with the domestic spy agency.
The intelligence officer and the other alleged member of the plot, a financial broker, were said to have met through a Catholic order of chivalry. Documents presented to a judge suggest Mr Tulli and Mr Cipriani helped clear transactions involved in the case. It is hard to imagine a story more likely to reinforce the sinister, esoteric image of the Vatican propagated by authors such as Dan Brown in “The Da Vinci Code”.
According to Italian prosecutors, the intelligence officer got to Switzerland, but returned empty-handed when the broker failed to deliver the cash, allegedly entrusted to him by a Neapolitan shipping family (which denies any suggestion of tax-dodging). Monsignor Scarano, a banker who came unusually late in life to holy orders, was already a suspect in a separate money-laundering investigation involving rich friends from his home town of Salerno. He has denied wrongdoing in that case, but his lawyer said he did not dispute the facts of the bribery investigation. He would, however, contest the prosecutors’ accusations on a point of law. The monsignor had been merely trying “to help out his friends”, he said.
2 Vatican bank officials resign amid scandal
VATICAN CITYBoston Globe
By Nicole Winfield | ASSOCIATED PRESS JULY 02, 2013
ROME — The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy resigned Monday, the latest heads to roll in a broadening finance scandal that has landed one Vatican monsignor in prison and added urgency to Pope Francis’s reform efforts.
The Vatican said Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, stepped down ‘‘in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See.’’ The speed with which they resigned, however, indicated the decision was not entirely theirs.
Cipriani, along with the bank’s then-president, was placed under investigation by Rome prosecutors in 2010 for alleged violations of Italy’s antimoney laundering rules after financial police seized $30 million from a Vatican account at a Rome bank. Neither has been charged and the money was eventually ordered released.
But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, has remained in the news amid fresh concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.
Vatican bank director and deputy resign amid scandal
VATICAN CITYBBC News
The director and deputy director of the Vatican bank have resigned following the arrest of a senior Italian cleric over corruption and fraud allegations.
Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli offered to step down on Monday "in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See'', the Vatican says.
It comes three days after the arrest of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano.
The 61-year-old and two others are suspected of trying to move 20m euros ($26m; £17m) illegally.
Monsignor Scarano, a priest from southern Italy, worked for years as a senior accountant for a Vatican department known as Apsa (the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See).
Management Shake-Up Hits Vatican Bank
VATICAN CITYWall Street Journal
By STACY MEICHTRY And GIADA ZAMPANO
VATICAN CITY—Two top managers at the Vatican bank resigned on Monday, in the latest shake-up at the scandal-plagued institution, the Holy See said.
Paolo Cipriani—managing director of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione, or IOR, as the Vatican bank is known—stepped down along with his deputy, Massimo Tulli.
As the highest-ranking administrators at the bank reporting, Messrs. Cipriani and Tulli spearheaded efforts under former Pope Benedict XVI to clean up the Vatican bank and make it more accountable to outside regulators.
"While we are grateful for what has been achieved, it is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process," Vatican bank Chairman Ernest von Freyberg said.
UPDATE 1-Top Vatican bank managers resign after monsignor's arrest
VATICAN CITYReuters
Mon Jul 1, 2013
(Adds detail, background)
(Reuters) - The director and deputy director of the Vatican bank resigned on Monday, following the arrest of a senior cleric with close connections to the bank who is accused of plotting to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland.
A statement from the Vatican said Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli had handed in their resignations, three days after the arrest of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, an accountant in a Vatican department who is the subject of two separate investigations by Italian magistrates.
Ernst von Freyberg, the bank's president will take over as interim director general and a new position of chief risk officer will also be created to improve compliance with financial regulations.
In the latest of a series of blows to the Vatican's scandal-plagued bank, Scarano, 61, was arrested on Friday along with Giovanni Zito, a secret services agent, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio.
Vatican bank directors step down
VATICAN CITYDeutsche Welle
The director and the deputy director of the Vatican Bank have resigned. This comes three days after a Vatican official was arrested in a financial scandal as the pope seeks to clean up the bank.
The Vatican announced on Monday that Paolo Cipriani, director of the Vatican bank, and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, had stepped down "in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See."
The bank has come under increased scrutiny since Pope Francis assumed the papacy, and has long been of interest to Italian authorities who suspect it is used as a tax haven.
Last week, a Vatican accountant was placed under arrest as part of an investigation by authorities in Rome into the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), as the bank is officially called.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is suspected of taking part in a plot to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland. He and two other accomplices are thought to have planned to give the money to Scarano's friends in the shipping industry in the southern city of Salerno. Scarano is being investigated in Salerno on separate charges of money laundering.
Vatican bank director, deputy resign amid scandal
VATICAN CITYBoston.com
By NICOLE WINFIELD / Associated Press / July 1, 2013
ROME (AP) — The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy resigned Monday following the latest developments in a broadening finance scandal that has already landed one Vatican monsignor in prison and added urgency to Pope Francis’ reform efforts.
The Vatican said in a statement that Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, stepped down ‘‘in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See.’’
Cipriani, along with the bank’s then-president, was placed under investigation by Rome prosecutors in 2010 for alleged violations of Italy’s anti-money-laundering norms after financial police seized 23 million euro ($30 million) from a Vatican account at a Rome bank. Neither has been charged and the money was eventually ordered released.
But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, has remained under the glare of prosecutors and now Francis amid fresh concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.
Last week, a Vatican accountant was arrested as part of Rome prosecutors’ broadening investigation into the IOR. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is accused of corruption and slander in connection with a plot to smuggle 20 million euro ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland without reporting it to customs officials.
Vatican Bank Managers Resign Amid Broadening Financial Scandal
VATICAN CITYBloomberg Businessweek
By Alessandra Migliaccio
July 02, 2013
The director and deputy director of the Vatican bank resigned yesterday as a series of investigations lead to a renewal of the Church’s financial structures.
Paolo Cipriani and his deputy Massimo Tulli stepped down “in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See,” the Vatican said in a statement late yesterday. Ernst von Freyberg, the bank’s president appointed last February, will take over as interim director general and a new position of chief risk officer will be created. “It is clear today that we need new leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process,” von Freyberg said in the statement.
The resignations come three days after senior Vatican cleric Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was arrested by Italian authorities along with an Italian secret service agent and a financial broker as part of a corruption investigation. The three are accused of plotting to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland in a private jet, according Rome prosecutor Nello Rossi. Scarano has denied the accusations.
The Vatican bank, known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, or IOR, is increasingly in the spotlight of investigations as Pope Francis works to bring it in line with international standards. Last week, the pope named a commission to oversee the operations of the Vatican bank after Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s monitoring body for money laundering and terrorism financing, called for independent supervision of the bank.
Pope steps up Vatican bank clean-up
VATICAN CITYAFP
By Francoise Kadri (AFP)
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis's bid to take the scandal-dogged Vatican bank in hand has stepped up a gear, experts said Tuesday, with the ousting of top management from the institution following the launch of a special papal probe.
Officially, Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli, director and deputy director of the bank, handed in their resignations on Monday "in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See".
The bank's president, Ernst von Freyberg, put their decision down to a need for "new leadership to increase the pace" of bringing the institution "in line with international standards against money laundering."
Religious and judicial specialists on Tuesday said the Vatican had forcibly shed two long-serving chiefs who survived the unceremonious eviction in May 2012 of the former head, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, purportedly for poor management but amid reports of money-laundering.
Their expulsion was deemed opportune by the Vatican, according to Fiorenza Sarzanini in the Corriere della Sera daily, because Cipriani and Tulli are of interest in an inquiry launched by Rome prosecutors in 2010 into money-laundering.
Muck in the Tiber
VATICAN CITYThe Economist
Pope Francis grapples with his bank—the first of many problems
Jul 6th 2013 | VATICAN CITY |From the print edition
IT IS in the Vatican, but neither an institution of the city-state, nor part of the Roman Curia, the Catholic church’s central administration. It is only half a bank (it takes deposits, but does not give loans). Yet the blandly named Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) has caused endless discomfort to recent popes.
The problems go back to at least 1982 when the IOR was involved in the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano. In June of that year the Italian bank’s chairman, Roberto Calvi, was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in London. The latest scandal is less grisly, but equally bizarre. On July 1st the IOR’s director, Paolo Cipriani, and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, resigned three days after the Italian authorities arrested and jailed a Vatican cleric, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano. He is accused of bribery as part of a plot to smuggle €20m ($26m) in cash into Italy from Switzerland on a private jet. He was claimed to have paid €400,000 to an alleged fellow-conspirator, a non-commissioned officer in the Carabinieri (the Italian gendarmerie) working with the domestic spy agency.
The intelligence officer and the other alleged member of the plot, a financial broker, were said to have met through a Catholic order of chivalry. Documents presented to a judge suggest Mr Tulli and Mr Cipriani helped clear transactions involved in the case. It is hard to imagine a story more likely to reinforce the sinister, esoteric image of the Vatican propagated by authors such as Dan Brown in “The Da Vinci Code”.
According to Italian prosecutors, the intelligence officer got to Switzerland, but returned empty-handed when the broker failed to deliver the cash, allegedly entrusted to him by a Neapolitan shipping family (which denies any suggestion of tax-dodging). Monsignor Scarano, a banker who came unusually late in life to holy orders, was already a suspect in a separate money-laundering investigation involving rich friends from his home town of Salerno. He has denied wrongdoing in that case, but his lawyer said he did not dispute the facts of the bribery investigation. He would, however, contest the prosecutors’ accusations on a point of law. The monsignor had been merely trying “to help out his friends”, he said.
Director of Vatican bank resigns amid fears it was used as an offshore tax haven
VATICAN CITYDaily Mail (UK)
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 06:30 EST, 2 July 2013
The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy have resigned over a financial scandal which has already landed one monsignor in prison.
Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, stepped down 'in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See', The Vatican has said.
The speed with which they resigned, however, indicated that the decision was not entirely theirs.
But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, has remained under the watchful eye of prosecutors amid fresh concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.
It was the latest turmoil to hit the IOR, which has long been the source of scandal for the Holy See.
Last year, the bank's board ousted its then-president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, for incompetence and erratic behavior.
Yesterday's resignations and nominations of interim administrators represented a final overthrow of the bank's old guard management and coincided with its efforts to comply with international regulations to fight money-laundering and terror financing.
The following are VATICAN DECEITS PLOY articles
Vatican back in black but cardinals told to trim costs
VATICAN CITYInquirer
AFP
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Thursday said it had a budget surplus of 2.2 million euros ($2.8 million) last year compared to a deficit of 14.9 million euros in 2011 but said cardinals should still cut costs.
The committee that approved the accounts said the biggest expenses were salaries for the Vatican’s 2,823 employees and the payment of a new property tax introduced by the Italian government.
Donations to the Vatican fell to $65.9 million from $69.7 million in 2011 and contributions from Catholic
Vatican Posts 2.2 Million-Euro Profit While Contributions Fall
VATICAN CITYBloomberg
By Lorenzo Totaro - Jul 4, 2013
The Holy See, the Vatican’s central administration, generated a profit of 2.19 million euros ($2.83 million) last year even as donations from Catholics throughout the world declined.
Last year’s earnings compare with a 14.9 million-euro deficit in 2011, the Holy See said today in a statement. Contributions from Catholic individuals, institutes and foundations fell 7.5 percent.
The Catholic Church, which tries to supplement donations by investing in traded securities, benefited in the 1990s from booming stock markets, before plunging into the red for the first time in 2003. Last year, “the good performance in financial management” more than offset the costs of staff and taxes such as a new Italian property levy, according to the statement.
The Vatican, led by Pope Francis, is located in central Rome near the Tiber River. The Vatican Governorate, the institution that runs Vatican City and its support offices, had a surplus of 23.1 million euros last year, according to the statement.
Vatican posts surplus but donations drop
VATICAN CITYNewsday
NICOLE WINFIELD (Associated Press)
VATICAN CITY - (AP) -- The Vatican posted a 2.2 million euro ($2.85 million) budget surplus for 2012, an improvement from the previous year and some good news as it struggles to cope with a scandal involving its embattled bank.
In its annual financial statement Thursday, the Holy See said better management had helped it recover from one of its worst deficits a year earlier, when it booked a 14.9 million euro shortfall.
A 12 percent drop in donations from ordinary faithful, a 5 percent drop in offerings from religious orders and 5 million euros in new property taxes in 2012 prevented an even better result. Most of its expenses were for its 2,823 staff and the steep costs of running the Holy See's global radio programming.
The Vatican City State, which runs the profit-making Vatican Museums, post office and supermarket, has a separate budget. Its profits were 23.08 million euros, up from 21.8 million euros in 2011. Fifty more people came to work in this branch of the Vatican in 2012, bringing its staffing up to 1,936.
The annual report, which was approved by a group of cardinals on Wednesday, followed one of the most convulsive weeks in the Vatican's recent financial history: Last week, Pope Francis created a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank, long the source of scandal for the Holy See. Two days later, a Vatican accountant was arrested in an elaborate 20 million euro smuggling plot. And on Monday, the Vatican bank's two top managers resigned, apparently because they weren't embracing the Holy See's new push for financial transparency sufficiently.
HOLY SEE AND VATICAN CITY STATE GOVERNORATE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: PROFITS FOR 2012
VATICAN CITYVatican Information Service
Vatican City, 4 July 2013 (VIS) - On Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 July, a meeting was held of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See, presided over by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. Particularly noteworthy was the visit on Wednesday 3 by the Holy Father Francesco, who addressed the speakers and engaged in a brief dialogue, reiterating the aims and purpose of the Council and inviting the continuation of periodical meetings.
Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, presented before the Council first the report on the consolidated financial statement of the Holy See for the year 2012 and subsequently that of the Governorate of Vatican City State.
The consolidated financial statement for the Holy See for the year 2012 closes with a profit of € 2,185,622, due mainly to good performance in financial management.
The most significant categories of expenditure are those regarding the cost of personnel,(2,823 persons), means of social communication considered in their entirety, and the new property taxes (IMU) which resulted in an increase in expenditure of € 5,000,000 compared to the previous year's figures.
Vatican posts small 2012 surplus but donations fall
VATICAN CITYGMA News
July 4, 2013
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican, embroiled in scandal involving its bank, released a rare bit of good news on its finances on Thursday, announcing that it had posted a $2.2 million budget surplus in 2012.
However, figures released showed donations to a fund for use by the pope dropped by nearly 12 percent in 2012.
The fall coincided with the year the Vatican was hit by a leaks scandal and the arrest of former Pope Benedict's butler.
The Vatican bank, which has been the subject of scandals for decades, is currently under investigation by Italian magistrates for money laundering. The bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), denies the accusations.
A Vatican spokesman said he believed the worldwide economic crisis was responsible for a drop to $56.9 million from $69.7 million the year before in Peter's Pence, a special collection taken up each year for use by the pope.
Vatican says zero tolerance on bank wrongdoing
VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud
(By Denis Greenan). Vatican City, July 12 - The Vatican on Friday said it would from now on show "zero tolerance" to illicit dealings at its troubled bank, whether committed by clerics or people outside the Church. "The Vatican is determined to pursue a zero-tolerance policy on possible financial irregularities, whether by clerics or lay persons," Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said, citing a recent statement from the new head of the Vatican Bank, Ernst von Freyberg. Lombardi was speaking shortly after a Vatican prosecutor froze two accounts held in the Vatican Bank by a top prelate and former accounting chief arrested in connection with a failed attempt to fly 20 million euros of laundered money back from Switzerland to Italy.
Gazzetta del Sud
(By Denis Greenan). Vatican City, July 12 - The Vatican on Friday said it would from now on show "zero tolerance" to illicit dealings at its troubled bank, whether committed by clerics or people outside the Church. "The Vatican is determined to pursue a zero-tolerance policy on possible financial irregularities, whether by clerics or lay persons," Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said, citing a recent statement from the new head of the Vatican Bank, Ernst von Freyberg. Lombardi was speaking shortly after a Vatican prosecutor froze two accounts held in the Vatican Bank by a top prelate and former accounting chief arrested in connection with a failed attempt to fly 20 million euros of laundered money back from Switzerland to Italy.
Vatican Bank continues its investigation on arrest of Msgr. Nunzio Scarano
VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports
[with video]
July 12, 2013 (Romereports.com) The Vatican has hired a consulting company, to investigate suspicious transactions reported under the Vatican's Financial Intelligence Unit, known as AIF.
In light of the recent arrest of former Vatican accountant, Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, the Vatican's Bank, or IOR, hired a team from the 'Promontory Financial Group.' The company was hired to carry out an objective review of suspicious transactions.
On June 28th, Scarano was arrested in Rome. Investigators claim he was secretly plotting to transport 20 million euros from a Swiss bank account to Italy. At the time of his arrest, Scarano had already been suspended from his post as a Vatican accountant.
About a week after his arrest, on July 9th, The Vatican Promoter of Justice, froze all assets connected to Scarano. According to a Vatican's press release, those suspicious transactions, could involve additional suspects.
Rome Reports
[with video]
July 12, 2013 (Romereports.com) The Vatican has hired a consulting company, to investigate suspicious transactions reported under the Vatican's Financial Intelligence Unit, known as AIF.
In light of the recent arrest of former Vatican accountant, Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, the Vatican's Bank, or IOR, hired a team from the 'Promontory Financial Group.' The company was hired to carry out an objective review of suspicious transactions.
On June 28th, Scarano was arrested in Rome. Investigators claim he was secretly plotting to transport 20 million euros from a Swiss bank account to Italy. At the time of his arrest, Scarano had already been suspended from his post as a Vatican accountant.
About a week after his arrest, on July 9th, The Vatican Promoter of Justice, froze all assets connected to Scarano. According to a Vatican's press release, those suspicious transactions, could involve additional suspects.
Vatican may widen bank corruption probe
VATICAN CITY
CNN Money
By Alanna Petroff @AlannaPetroff July 12, 2013
The Vatican has suffered another setback as it tries to shed a reputation for murky financial dealings.
Vatican officials said an investigation into suspicious transactions at the Vatican bank could be widened to include "additional individuals" after they froze the funds of a senior cleric arrested last month on suspicion of trying to smuggle cash.
Nunzio Scarano, a priest who worked as a financial analyst for the Vatican, was arrested along with a financial broker and a former secret service police officer. Rome's prosecutor says the trio had tried to smuggle tens of millions of euros across Europe using a private plane in July 2012.
Scarano has denied any wrongdoing.
Investigators are looking at transactions from two accounts Scarano held at the Vatican bank, one a personal account and the other used for donations.
CNN Money
By Alanna Petroff @AlannaPetroff July 12, 2013
The Vatican has suffered another setback as it tries to shed a reputation for murky financial dealings.
Vatican officials said an investigation into suspicious transactions at the Vatican bank could be widened to include "additional individuals" after they froze the funds of a senior cleric arrested last month on suspicion of trying to smuggle cash.
Nunzio Scarano, a priest who worked as a financial analyst for the Vatican, was arrested along with a financial broker and a former secret service police officer. Rome's prosecutor says the trio had tried to smuggle tens of millions of euros across Europe using a private plane in July 2012.
Scarano has denied any wrongdoing.
Investigators are looking at transactions from two accounts Scarano held at the Vatican bank, one a personal account and the other used for donations.
=============================
Theft of Expensive Paintings Alerts Probers on Possible Illegal Activities of Vatican Monsignor Involved in Euro Smuggling
Swiss money flight prelate ordered to stay in jail
ROMEGazzetta del Sud
Rome, July 5 - A judge in Rome rejected an appeal Friday from Msgr Nunzio Scarano to move him to house arrest after he was jailed on suspicion of planning to elude customs with 20 million euros in cash. The prelate had reportedly said he was not comfortable in Rome's Regina Coeli prison, and Scarano's lawyer said he would appeal the judge's decision. Scarano was arrested last week along with Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent in the AISI intelligence agency, and Rome broker Giovanni Carenzio. Police said Scarano and Zito got a private jet to fly back from Switzerland to Italy 20 million euros in cash for a family who were friends with Scarano. Zito is suspected of getting 400,000 euros for arranging cover for the flight.
Italy: Vatican cleric accused of cash-smuggling scam to stay in jail
ROMEadnkronos
Rome, 5 July (AKI) - A senior Catholic arrested last week on suspicion of trying to move 20 million euros illegally into Italy must stay in Rome's Regina Coeli prison, a judge ruled on Friday.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano's lawyer had asked for his client to be granted house arrest.
Scarono a Vatican accountant, was arrested last Friday together with Italian secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito, and a financial broker, Giovanni Carenzio.
All three suspects are accused off attempting to smuggle the cash to Italy from Switzerland on a private jet.
Scarano allegedly paid a 400,000 euro bribe in the cash-smuggling case. His lawyer said he did not dispute the facts of the bribery investigation but claimed he was merely "trying to help out some friends".
Scarono has also been targeted by a separate probe investigating a series of suspicious transactions involving the recycling of cheques described as church donations through the Vatican Bank - a lender long-tainted by accusations of money-laundering.
Vatican prelate accused of smuggling cash denied house arrest
ROMEReuters
ROME, July 5 | Fri Jul 5, 2013
(Reuters) - A Vatican prelate detained on suspicion of trying to smuggle tens of millions of euros into Italy will remain in jail after an Italian judge on Friday rejected his request to be released into house arrest, judicial sources said.
The judge decided there was still a need to keep Monsignor Nunzio Scarano in prison due to concerns that he could tamper with evidence or try to escape if released, the sources said.
Scarano, who had close connections to the Vatican bank, was arrested last week along with Giovanni Zito, a secret services agent, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio.
They have been accused of plotting to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into Italy from Switzerland for Scarano's rich shipping industry friends in the southern city of Salerno. Scarano is under a separate investigation there on suspicion of money laundering.
The IOR and the case of Scarano
VATICAN CITYVatican Insider
The reckless operations of Monsignor: isolated case or general mechanism that does not work? Why was it not stopped sooner?
ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY
If the investigative elements that emerge from eavesdropping an investigation for corruption and fraud that led to the imprisonment of Monsignor Nuncio Scarano are confirmed, this time it will not be easy for the authorities of Oltretevere to argue that we are faced with the classic "rotten apple."
From inside the Vatican, someone who obviously still does not realize what has happened, filters out this observation: "The errors of the individual do not question the institution. If anything they can question the way in which the institution takes on staff." In other words: the system works, but we need to be more careful about who we hire ... An applicable reference to the same Monsignor Scarano, as well as to the managers of the IOR who authorized his reckless transactions just as the Vatican undertook the process to comply with money laundering regulations.
The Holy See has assured full cooperation with the Italian judiciary, and therefore the bank accounts of the former robed banker one can probably figure out who has authorized the movement of large sums and why, which were used - according to the accusation - to do favours (reciprocated) for businessmen friends. A movement that, even without waiting for the entry into force of special anti-money laundering rules, should worry about the leadership of the bank. Instead this has not happened. No one noticed anything. No one seems to have worried. Thus, Scarano has been suspended as a precaution after the news of the investigation on him by the Italian judiciary, and not before. Perhaps it is not correct to speak of "system", but of "cultural habit" yes. Something evidently rooted in time.
More of the same in Milwaukee . . .
MILWAUKEE (WI)U.S. Catholic
By Bryan Cones
The much-anticipated release of documents related to sex abuse has revealed--exactly what we have come to expect from the this whole sorry affair. The most sensational news will surely be that current New York Archbishop and Cardinal Timothy Dolan moved some $57 million from diocesan accounts to cemetary trust funds to protect them from lawsuits. (Dolan has disputed the purpose of the transfer, but his request to the Vatican to transfer the funds stated that the purpose of the transfer was to protect them from legal liability.) Coverage also notes $20,000 payments to priests who were convinced to resign their orders voluntarily.
An NCR story quotes former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland describing his dilemma regarding whether or when to make public allegations against priests: "There are a lot of things that when you make an assignment you don't disclose," he said, noting other problems such as alcohol abuse and financial troubles as other problems for some priests. Weakland also admitted treating priests accused of abuse differently from, say, a teacher: "There was a certain obligation that I had toward the priests that went beyond what I might have toward anyone else."
Pinoy priest unmasks 'cassocked hypocrites' in latest novel
PHILIPPINES
GMA News
GMA News
By Xianne Arcangel, GMA News
July 3, 2013
July 3, 2013
What can drive a revered man of cloth to turn away from his religious
beliefs and become a reviled “cassocked hypocrite?”
Readers might just find the answer in the latest novel released by a
Filipino author-- who also happens to be a priest.
Gilbert Luis Centina III's “Rubrics and Runes” tells the story of an
idealistic priest, Jose Moran, whose convictions are tested when he discovers
the double life being led by his “abominably corrupt religious superior.”
According to the book's description on Amazon.com, the novel unmasks
“cassocked hypocrites” who abuse their power by dipping their hands into their
parishes' pockets and engaging in other immoral activities.
Centina, who is described by literary critics as “a leading Christian voice
in contemporary literature,” entered the Augtinian monastery in 1964. He was
ordained as a priest by Jaime Cardinal Sin in 1975.
At last, the Vatican may be listening to us
IRELANDThe Tablet (UK)
Fr Tony Flannery
5 July 2013
There are so many interesting signals coming out of the Vatican since the election Pope Francis that most of us are beginning to hope for a brighter future. The signals have not as yet been followed by real changes in approach or structure, but it is probably too soon to realistically expect that. The latest statement the CDF Prefect that the solution to the ‘problem' of the priests' groups is to be found in the declarations of the Second Vatican Council is one such signal. If it is real, and if the bishops mean something the same as we do when they refer to the teachings of the Vatican Council, then it is great news.
Here in Ireland those of us who were part of the founding of the Association of Catholic Priests were inspired by our desire to see the renewal and reforms of the Council implemented in full. Central to this, as we understand it, are the ideas of shared decision-making and dialogue.
In our three years' existence we have found it very difficult to engage in
any real exchange of views with church authorities here in Ireland.
The bishops have largely kept us at a distance, even though we have a
membership of over 1,000 priests.
As regards the Vatican,
we have had no direct communication of any nature, and any indirect messages we
have got were not encouraging. We continue to emphasise that we are a group of
priests who have given our lives in service of Christ and his Church, and that
our concerns have grown out of our love for the Church.
============================
Read about the impotent Zeus statue of St. Joseph who overlooked 50 years of sodomy in College Notre Dame here, BOYCOTT Oratory of St.Joseph http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/boycott-oratory-of-saint-joseph-candles.html
The “Holy Father“ Pope and his copy-cat “holy fathers” Catholic priests cannot clone Dolly the sheep and therefore they cannot clone Christ either, read our related article, OC Diocese buys Crystal Cathedral as flesh-factory of Christ... for wealthy God-flesh-eating Catholics http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/11/oc-diocese-buys-crystal-cathedral-as.html
Well, the black magic holy words of a team of “holy priests” cannot clone Christ the Son God either, read about the Divine Trinity http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/12/gay-trinity-of-father-son-and-holy
Please take a look at the worse Roman Catholic Church pedophile priests attacks against more than 15,500 Americans … compared to the September 11, 2001 attacks against 3,000 Americans at the Twin Towers in New York
Victims in USA - Attackers - Responsible Leaders
Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto
WTC & 9/11 attacks - 3,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden
Priest pedophilia - 15,736 victims - 6,000 pedophile priests covered-up John Paul II, Benedict XVI Ratzinger, Opus Dei = Vatican Trinity (together with Cardinals, Bishops and Vicars worldwide)
Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto
WTC & 9/11 attacks - 3,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden
Priest pedophilia - 15,736 victims - 6,000 pedophile priests covered-up John Paul II, Benedict XVI Ratzinger, Opus Dei = Vatican Trinity (together with Cardinals, Bishops and Vicars worldwide)
9/11 victims 3,000. JP2 Army 100,000s. May Day: both Hitler and bin Laden Announced Dead on May 1 on John Paul II Beatification Day B-Day http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html.
Look deeply into this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe defending and protecting children from the Serpent ... compared to Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Cardinals, Bishops who coverd-up pedophile priests
http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2008/07/letter-to-opus-dei-pope-john-paul-ii.html The names of the transferring or covering up Bishops and Cardinals are: Roll Call Please!
Pope
The Hague: Full text Criminal Charges against Dr. Joseph Ratzinger, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/05/full-text-of-criminal-charges-against.html The black belt means she is pregnant
\.
The womb of the Immaculate Conception of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe carried Jesus this way
9-months gestation of Jesus the Son of God
READ more here about the pregnancy of Our Lady http://stella0maris.blogspot.ca/2010/01/magisterium-benedict-versus-holy-mary.html
DOLLY THE CLONED SHEEP
The cloning process that produced Dolly
http://www.youtube.com/embed/39BbcZVCx8I
BLACK MAGIC OF EUCHARIST
1-MINUTE black magic of the cloning of Christ by sinful Vatican pope and priests
http://www.youtube.com/embed/39BbcZVCx8I
BLACK MAGIC OF EUCHARIST
1-MINUTE black magic of the cloning of Christ by sinful Vatican pope and priests
Our comment: Transubstantiation or the Mass is a recent development . St. Peter and St. Paul and the Apostles never celebrated Mass and never “transubstantiation” the bread into the flesh of Christ, what they did was to preach about Christ. The Mass was a slow development from the 12th century through various liturgical reforms until the 20th century. It was only in 1215 at the Fourth Council of the Lateran that the Mass began to take form and in 1551 at the Council of Trent that transubstantiation became what it is today. The Vatican has come to use it as its main crux of power on earth deceiving Catholics and peoples of all faiths that only Popes and men-priests have the exclusive power to transubstantiate God’s flesh. Because of the Mass, the Vatican has gotten away with all kinds of heinous crimes, e.g. the Crusades, the Inquisition, the burning of women and witches http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/11/john-paul-ii-revived-inquisition.html “For the sake of the Eucharist” and because of the shortage of priests, John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, the Opus Dei who controls the Vatican, the Cardinals and Bishops shuffled pedophile priests from one parish to another. The rest is history: the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army committed Holy ES Eucharist-and-Sodomy of Biblical proportions see the John Paul II Millstone http://jp2m.blogspot.com/.
In the name of Hail Mary, we dare challenge and defy the Magisterium: No words pronounced by any finite-man can create an infinite-God! No words of the Pope and priests can re-create or re-incarnate Christ’s flesh. The words of sinful popes and priests are powerless and can never create God! Only Mary the Immaculate Conception deserved to bear God in her womb. No evil pope and evil priests is worthy to touch and hold God in their evil hands. The words of popes and Cardinals, Bishops and priests are mere clashing-cymbals of St. Paul see John Paul II the Great clashing cymbal of St. Paul http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2009/11/john-paul-ii-great-clashing-cymbal-of.html.
See Benedict XVI to beatify John Paul II is “brought to nothing” by St. Paul http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2009/11/benedict-xvi-to-beatify-john-paul-ii-is.html
See Benedict XVI to beatify John Paul II is “brought to nothing” by St. Paul http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2009/11/benedict-xvi-to-beatify-john-paul-ii-is.html
No matter how we look at it, finite-man cannot create an infinite-God. Man can never create God’s flesh. Not in in-vitro fertilization of the scientific laboratories. Not in the sacred altars of holy Roman Catholic churches which by the way were the same pedophile altars of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army See the John Paul II Millstone http://jp2m.blogspot.com/
Rome, call us heretics and we don’t care because in Boston and in America, we have freedom of speech. It was our freedom of speech that got rid of criminal-Cardinal Bernard Law and sent him packing out of our sight and out of our land. But only you, Rome, you the Roman Catholic Church a.k.a. Magisterium would glorify criminals like Cardinal Bernard Law and John Paul II. No other American state has been able to replicate our courage as Bostonians who got rid of the first Cardinal caught guilty of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in America. Yes, we caught the first SS officer of the Third Reich of the Roman Catholic Church … but he went into glorious exile in Rome because only in the Catholic Church are criminals glorified See The John Paul II Millstone John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army expands into Ireland &John Paul is elevated as "Venerable"... only in the Catholic Church are criminals glorified http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2009/12/john-paul-ii-pedophile-priests-army.html
Benedict XVI, from the Chair of Peter, thinks his papal letter will heal the victims and solve the problem of clergy abuse in Ireland. The fact is, Benedict XVI’s words are powerless. NO POPE has ever healed anyone. As this picture shows,
They came sick and they left sick.
There is NO "Apostolic" authority or succession here,
for NO Pope has EVER been able to heal like Peter or Paul did.
Opus Dei Goliath-bully Bill want to propagate Catholic Medieval Doctrine that all crimes of JP2 Army of pedophile priests are already forgiven and forgotten under the Sacrament of Confession that protects criminals and persecutes their victims, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/11/sacrament-of-confession-protects.html
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