The
Institute for Works of Religion ( –
IOR), commonly known as the
Vatican Bank, is a privately held institute located inside
Vatican CityVatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
run by a professional bank CEO who reports directly to a committee of
cardinalsA cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
, and ultimately to the
PopeThe Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
(or the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church during a
sede vacanteSede vacante is an expression, used in the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, that refers to the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church...
). Since its assets are not considered property of the
Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, it is not overseen by the
Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy SeeThe Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See is an office of the Roman Curia, erected on 15 August 1967, and entrusted with overseeing all the offices of the Holy See that manage finances, regardless of their degree of autonomy....
, and it is listed in the
Annuario PontificioThe Annuario Pontificio is the annual directory of the Holy See. It lists all the popes to date and all officials of the Holy See's departments...
together with foundations such as the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel, which provides funds for training people to fight drought and desertification in nine African countries. The current President is Ettore Gotti Tedeschi.
The Institute was involved in a major political and financial scandal in the 1980s, concerning the 1982 $3.5 billion collapse of
Banco AmbrosianoBanco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982. At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman, Roberto Calvi and his membership in the illegal Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due...
, of which it was a major shareholder. The head of IOR from 1971 to 1989, Archbishop
Paul MarcinkusPaul Casimir Marcinkus was an American archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He was best known for his tenure as President of the Vatican Bank from 1971 through 1989.-Early life:...
, was under consideration for indictment in 1982 in Italy as an accessory of the
bankruptcyBankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
; however, he was never brought to trial due to the Italian courts' ruling that the priest, being a high-ranking prelate of the Vatican, had diplomatic immunity from prosecution.
The Bank Identifier Code of the Institute for Works of Religion is IOPRVAVX.
Origin
The
Istituto per le Opere di Religione was founded on 27 June 1942 by
Pope Pius XIIThe Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
. It absorbed the
Amministrazione delle Opere di Religione (Administration of the Works of Religion), which had originated in the Commission for Works of Charity (
Commissione ad pias causas) established by
Pope Leo XIIIPope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
on 11 February 1887.
It has always been distinct from what has become the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, which instead of administering funds destined for works of charity, manages the funds remaining at the disposal of the Pope after the complete loss of the
Papal StatesThe Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
in 1870 and those that were part of the settlement of the
Roman Questionthumb|300px|The breach of [[Porta Pia]], on the right, in a contemporaneous photograph.The Roman Question was a political dispute between the Italian Government and the Papacy from 1861 to 1929....
by the Lateran Pacts of 1929.
The purpose of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione is "to provide for the safekeeping and administration of movable and immovable property transferred or entrusted to it by physical or juridical persons and intended for works of religion or charity".
It is thus not a department of the
Roman CuriaThe Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
, and is therefore not among the departments of this central administrative structure of the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
Nor is it a
central bankA central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a public institution that usually issues the currency, regulates the money supply, and controls the interest rates in a country. Central banks often also oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries...
responsible for a country's monetary policy and for maintaining the stability of a currency and money supply. This function is regulated by the
Monetary Agreement between the European Union and the Vatican City State, authorizing the use of the
euroThe euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
as the official currency of Vatican City, and implementation of the agreement within the state is overseen by the
Financial Information AuthorityThe Financial Information Authority is an institution connected to the Holy See and a canonical and Vatican civil juridic person established by Pope Benedict XVI on 30 December 2010....
established on 30 December 2010.
Unlike in banking for profit, the surplus is used for religious and charitable purposes.
Organisation
According to the norms of its present statutes, which came into effect in 1990, the IOR is directed by a supervisory council and by an oversight commission of cardinals.
As of 23 September 2009 the supervisory council is composed of:
- President: Ettore Gotti Tedeschi
- Vice president: Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz
- Carl A. Anderson
Carl Albert Anderson, KSG is the thirteenth and current Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus. Anderson is vice president of the Washington session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family....
- Giovanni De Censi
- Manuel Soto Serrano
Controversy
The Institute is a successful and profitable bank. By the 1990s, the IOR had invested over US$10 billion in foreign companies. In 1968 Vatican authorities hired
Michele SindonaMichele Sindona was an Italian banker and convicted felon. Known in banking circles as "The Shark", Sindona was a member of Propaganda Due , a secret lodge of Italian Freemasonry, and had clear connections to the Mafia...
as a financial advisor, despite Sindona's questionable past. It was Sindona who was chiefly responsible for the massive influx of money when he began laundering the
Gambino crime familyThe Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
's
heroin money (taking a 50% cut) through a shell corporation "Mabusi". This laundering was accomplished with the help of another banker,
Roberto CalviRoberto Calvi was an Italian banker dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. A native of Milan, Calvi was Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of modern Italy's biggest political scandals...
, who managed the Banco Ambrosiano. Both Calvi and Sindona were members of the
P2 LodgePropaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
.
When
Pope John Paul IJohn Paul I , born Albino Luciani, , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and as Sovereign of Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes...
became Pope in 1978 he was informed of allegations of wrongdoing at the Institute for Works of Religion, and instructed Jean-Marie Villot, Cardinal Secretary of State and head of the papal Curia, to investigate the matter thoroughly. John Paul died after only 33 days in office, raising suspicion that he had been murdered after discovering a scandal. It is generally accepted that the pope died of natural causes, although some medical experts suspect a
pulmonary embolismPulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
or an adverse reaction to medication he was taking, rather than the heart attack reported in original press accounts of his death.
Banco Ambrosiano scandal
The Institute for Works of Religion was Banco Ambrosiano's main share-holder. Archbishop
Paul MarcinkusPaul Casimir Marcinkus was an American archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He was best known for his tenure as President of the Vatican Bank from 1971 through 1989.-Early life:...
, head of the IOR from 1971 to 1989, was indicted in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1982 as an accessory in the $3.5 billion collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, one of the major post-war financial scandals. Banco Ambrosiano was accused of
launderingMoney laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
drug money for the Sicilian Mafia, led by Filippo Barbagli, which used
Propaganda DuePropaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
("P2"), a mobbed up
MasonicFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
lodgeThis article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
, as an intermediary. P2 and its Worshipful Master,
Licio GelliLicio Gelli is an Italian financier, chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the clandestine Masonic lodge Propaganda Due...
, were also involved in financing right wing terror groups during the 1970s. As for Archbishop Marcinkus, he would never come to trial in Italy, where courts ruled that he possessed
diplomatic immunityDiplomatic immunity is a form of legal immunity and a policy held between governments that ensures that diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not susceptible to lawsuit or prosecution under the host country's laws...
. He lived in retirement in
Sun City, ArizonaSun City is a census-designated place and unincorporated town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 38,309 at the 2000 census...
(US) until his death on February 21, 2006.
The Institute for Works of Religion has denied having legal responsibility for the Ambrosiano's downfall but did acknowledge "moral involvement", and paid $241m (£169m) to creditors. As of 2006, investigations are continuing concerning the murder of Ambrosiano's chairman,
Roberto CalviRoberto Calvi was an Italian banker dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. A native of Milan, Calvi was Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of modern Italy's biggest political scandals...
, which, according to Ernest Backes, former #3 of
ClearstreamClearstream Banking S.A. is the clearing and settlement division of Deutsche Börse, based in Luxembourg and Frankfurt. Clearstream was created in January 2000 through the merger of Cedel International and Deutsche Börse Clearing...
, may have been linked to the death of Gérard Soisson, who used to work for Clearstream, a "bank of banks" which practices
financial clearingIn banking and finance, clearing denotes all activities from the time a commitment is made for a transaction until it is settled. Clearing is necessary because the speed of trades is much faster than the cycle time for completing the underlying transaction....
. According to recent wiretap information, however, Calvi's death was almost certainly decreed by the
CupolaThe Sicilian Mafia Commission, known as Commissione or Cupola, is a body of leading Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra...
, the ruling council of the Sicilian Mafia, which had come to view Calvi as a liability since the bank's collapse.
Other allegations
Several sensationalist and anti-Catholic books published during the 1980s and 1990s, such as
Unholy Trinity: How the Vatican's Nazi Networks Betrayed Western Intelligence to the Soviets,
Genocide in Satellite Croatia 1941–1945 and
The Vatican's Holocaust, were highly critical of the Institute for Works of Religion's historical relations with anti-communist
governmentGovernment refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
s and especially with the
Independent State of CroatiaThe Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
during World War II. Sources such as these engendered initial defensive hostility and controversy, which centers on conclusions drawn from the documentation rather than the documents themselves.
According to a 1998 report issued by the
US State DepartmentThe United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
, the
Independent State of CroatiaThe Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
treasuryA treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....
was illicitly transferred to the Vatican Bank and other banks after the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. For its part, the Vatican has repeatedly denied any participation in
UstashiThe Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
crimes or the disappearance of the Croatian Treasury, yet has refused to open its wartime records to substantiate its denial.
On October 21, 1946, a Top Secret report from
US TreasuryThe Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
Agent Emerson Bigelow (called "
The Bigelow Report"), which was declassified in 1997, quoted a "reliable source in Italy" (who corroborated evidence already obtained by
CICUnited States Army Criminal Investigation Command investigates felony crimes and serious violations of military law within the United States Army...
intelligence officials of the
ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
), who alerted his superior that Croatian officials had sent 350 million confiscated
Swiss francThe franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...
s (CHF) to the Vatican Bank "for safekeeping", a sum largely in the form of gold coins. On the way some CHF150 million were allegedly seized by
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
authorities at the border between
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and
SwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, which brought the secret transfer into the open. "There is no basis in reality to the report", said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, as reported in
Time MagazineTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
.
The Institute for Works of Religion has been often accused of funding the Solidarity Polish trade-union as well as the Contras, managing US covert funds.
Dismissed Jewish court case
Institute for Works of Religion and Franciscan Order were accused of financing the alleged
ratlineRatlines were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe at the end of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile. Other destinations included the United States and perhaps...
s and
ODESSAThe ODESSA, from the German Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, meaning “Organization of Former SS Members,” is believed to have been an international Nazi network set up toward the end of World War II by a group of SS officers...
and laundering Croatian concentration camp loot. A class action suit,
Emil Alperin et al. v. Vatican Bank et al.Alperin v. Vatican Bank is a class action suit by Holocaust survivors against the Vatican Bank and Franciscan Order filed in San Francisco, California on November 15, 1999...
, was filed in the United States district court in San Francisco on November 15, 1999. The plaintiffs are concentration camp survivors of
SerbSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Jewish, and
UkrainianUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
background and their relatives as well as organizations representing over 300,000 Holocaust victims.
John LoftusJohn Joseph Loftus is an American author, former US government prosecutor and former Army intelligence officer. He is a president of The Intelligence Summit and, although he is not Jewish, a president of the Florida Holocaust Museum. Loftus also serves on the Board of Advisers to Public...
, co-author of
Unholy Trinity, served as an
expert witnessAn expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
in this case. The case was dismissed based on a 1976 law guaranteeing immunity to foreign states and entities, in this case the Holy See.
Another suit,
Levy v. CIA, filed under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, sought the release of U.S.
intelligence agencyAn intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
files regarding Fr.
Krunoslav DraganovićKrunoslav Stjepan Draganović was a Croatian Roman Catholic priest and historian who is accused as being one of the main organisers of the ratlines which aided the escape of Nazi war criminals from Europe after World War II.-Biography:Draganović was from Travnik...
. New records on Draganović were released as a result of that lawsuit in 2001.
2009–2010 Vatican money laundering investigation
In 2009, the
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
magazine
Panorama reported that Vatican Bank was being investigated by Italian authorities from the Financial Intelligence Unit of the
Banca d'ItaliaBanca d'Italia is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, Roma, via Nazionale...
and the
Guardia di FinanzaThe Guardia di Finanza is a Italian law enforcement agency under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance. Like the Carabinieri, it is part of the Italian Armed Forces. The Guard is essentially responsible for dealing with financial crime and smuggling; it has also evolved into Italy's...
over
money launderingMoney laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
transactions worth €180 million (
US$The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
218 million) through a branch of
UniCreditUniCredit SpA is an Italy-based, pan-European banking organization, with aprox 40 million customers and operations in 22 countries.- Geography :...
located at
Via della ConciliazioneVia della Conciliazione is a street in the Rione of Borgo within Rome, Italy. Roughly 500 m in length, it connects Saint Peter's Square to the Castel Sant'Angelo on the western bank of the Tiber River. The road was constructed between 1936 and 1950, and it is the primary access route to the...
across from
St. Peter's BasilicaThe Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
. The bank handles accounts of the religious orders and other Catholic associations using the "offshore" (i.e., foreign) status of the
Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
.
On 21 September 2010, Italian police declared that Gotti Tedeschi and another IOR manager were under investigation for money laundering charges. €23 million were seized as a precaution. Police began an investigation regarding Tedeschi around a week before the news was made public after a division of the
Bank of ItalyBank of Italy may refer to either :*Banca d'Italia is the central bank of Italy.*Bank of Italy was a bank established in San Francisco, California and the forerunner of Bank of America....
alerted police to two transactions involving the Vatican Bank that were deemed suspicious. The money seized was bound from an Italian bank, Credito Artigianato, to JP Morgan Chase and another Italian bank, Banca del Fucino. Both the origin and destination of the funds were accounts under the control of the Vatican Bank. The Vatican Bank had allegedly failed to disclose the origin of the money, a violation of Italian law.
In a statement regarding the investigation, the Vatican said that it was "...perplexed and astonished by the initiatives of the Rome prosecutors, considering the data necessary is already available at the Bank of Italy." According to the police, the presence of the investigation did not mean either of the officials involved had been charged with a crime, and a judicial ruling would be necessary to continue the investigation.
On Thursday, December 30, 2010, the
Catholic News ServiceCatholic News Service is an American news agency covering the Roman Catholic Church. CNS was established in 1920 and is a leading source of news for Catholic print and broadcast media throughout the world....
homepage reported that
Pope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
had issued an Apostolic Letter that established the
Financial Information AuthorityThe Financial Information Authority is an institution connected to the Holy See and a canonical and Vatican civil juridic person established by Pope Benedict XVI on 30 December 2010....
as an independent agency to oversee the monetary and commercial activities of all Vatican-related institutions, including the Vatican bank. It will monitor all Vatican financial operations and make sure they meet international norms against money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.
On May 31, 2011, Rome's attorney general released the 23 million Euros in assets which had been seized in September, apparently in acknowledgment of the steps taken in the following months to conform the Institute to international standards.
In popular culture
The 1990 film
The Godfather, Part III featured machinations in the Vatican Bank based on the Banco Ambrosiano scandal as a central element in one of its more conspiracy-oriented plotlines.
External links
Criticism