RT.com, January
16, 2014
Headquarters of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) the Vatican's bank (AFP Photo / Gabriel Bouys) |
In a move
to restore the reputation of the Vatican Bank, Pope Francis has reshuffled most
of the cardinals from the oversight body of the institution, replacing all but
one of predecessor Pope Benedict XVI's appointments.
Pope
Francis appointed four cardinals to give new blood to the five member body
tasked with overseeing the reform inside the very secretive institution. The
new members of the consortium are the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro
Parolin and Francis’s close friend Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello. The other
new members are Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna and
Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto. The one holdover was French
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran.
On February
16, 2013, a few days before announcing his resignation, Pope Benedict XVI had
confirmed the members of the supervisory board of the bank for five years. Among
them was the assistant secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who has
been widely accused by many for the administrative failures of the Vatican
under the rule of Pope Benedict.
The
cardinals’ commission is tasked with approval of the overall strategy of the
institution including charity work as well as reviewing accounts. It is a de
facto link between the Pope and the board of superintendence, consisting of
five lay men from around the world. Last February, Ernst Von Freyberg was
appointed as the new president of the bank.
Pope Francis has practically canceled the decree of Benedict, replacing Bertone and other members of the committee in charge of reforming the bank formerly known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR). In the middle of 2013, Pope Francis appointed a trusted friend, Monsignor Battista Ricca, to occupy the post of supervisor and appointed an independent commission of inquiry to examine the activities of the bank and its legal status.
AFP Photo / Osseervatore RomanoAFP Photo / Osseervatore Romano |
Pope Francis has practically canceled the decree of Benedict, replacing Bertone and other members of the committee in charge of reforming the bank formerly known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR). In the middle of 2013, Pope Francis appointed a trusted friend, Monsignor Battista Ricca, to occupy the post of supervisor and appointed an independent commission of inquiry to examine the activities of the bank and its legal status.
His team
shut down many of the suspicious accounts held in the bank and asked the
Promontory Financial Group to audit the institution and bring it up to
international standards.
Pope
Francis has vowed to reform the bank or close it down completely after a series
of scandals that tainted the reputation of the Holy Sea and the institution
responsible for its charity around the globe.
Last July,
IOR director Paolo Cipriani and deputy-director Massimo Tulli resigned, three
days after the arrest of Vatican accountant Monsignor Nunzio Scarano on charges
of plotting to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from
Switzerland.
Dubbed
"Monsignor 500", the man is currently on trial in Rome on the
smuggling charge and is also under investigation for money-laundering Vatican
accounts.
In a 2010
scandal, Italian police seized 23 million euros from an IOR account. At the
same time authorities launched an investigation against IOR's then-president,
Gotti Tedeschi and director Paolo Cipriani for alleged money laundering from a
Vatican account at an Italian bank. The money was later unfrozen and Gotti
Tedeschi was exonerated as a suspect, while Cipriani hasn't been charged.
In 2012,
JPMorgan, an American financial giant closed its IOR accounts while Deutsche
Bank Italia stopped its 15-year term providing electronic payment services to
the Vatican.
In October
2013, for the first time in its 125-year history, the Vatican bank disclosed
its annual financial report to the public, showing a total of 4.98 billion
euros in assets and 769 million euros in equity funds.
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