The Vatican has confirmed that the Vatican Bank, the Institute for Religious Works, will start publishing its balance sheets online by the end of 2013. The news was announced by the bank’s new president, Ernst von Freyberg, in a meeting with bank staff. He said that other documents would also be made public on a Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Vatican bank’
Future of Vatican Bank is in question 
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Tuesday, March 26th, 2013
A question mark hangs over the future of the Vatican Bank as Pope Francis is reported to be considering suggestions from two cardinals that it be closed. Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, tipped as a possible Vatican Secretary of State, told The Sunday Times that Francis would consider appeals made by Cardinals Christoph Schönborn of Vienna Read more
Interview with Vatican Financial Oversight Director Comments 0
Tuesday, March 26th, 2013
René Brülhart, 40, has been the director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (FIA) for nearly half a year. The Swiss lawyer and former head of Liechtenstein’s financial intelligence unit is on a mission to clear the Vatican Bank of all suspicions of money laundering and other illegal financial transactions. SPIEGEL: Mr. Brülhart, are you partly Read more
Cardinals clash over Vatican Bank management Comments 0
Friday, March 15th, 2013
Sparks flew over the Vatican Bank when cardinals met on the eve of the conclave that elected Pope Francis, according to Vatican watcher Andrea Tornielli. The journalist said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, administrator of the Holy See until the new pope was elected, criticised Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz for previously complaining about the management Read more
German lawyer headhunted to lead Vatican Bank Comments 0
Tuesday, February 19th, 2013
After a long recruitment search, a German lawyer has been headhunted to become president of the Vatican Bank, an institution troubled in the past by scandal and more recently by complaints about inadequate safeguards against money-laundering. Ernst von Freyberg is currently chairman of the Blohm+Voss Group, a Hamburg-based company that builds and repairs yachts and Read more
Can the Vatican survive the age of digital media? Comments 0
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012
Some institutions may not adapt to 21st-century radical transparency. The papacy’s turn to inflammatory rhetoric while hit by a series of damaging leaks suggests that it’s struggling. Strange things have been happening at the Vatican this year. Beginning in January, documents written by high-level figures in the Catholic Church began finding their way into the Read more
Vatican hires Swiss anti-money-laundering expert to boost efforts to fight financial crimes Comments 0
Friday, September 14th, 2012
The Vatican has hired a Swiss anti-money-laundering expert to advise it as it moves into a new phase of trying to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The announcement Tuesday came two months after the Holy See passed a key European financial transparency test, but received failing grades for its financial watchdog agency and its Read more
Taking its medicine does the Vatican some good Comments 0
Tuesday, August 28th, 2012
“Be careful what you wish for,” as the saying goes, “because you will surely get it.” In light of a couple of recent Vatican stories, the corollary also seems to apply: Be careful what you try to avoid, because it might actually be good for you. A stringent European money laundering exam in July and Read more
The truth about the Vatican’s money Comments 0
Friday, August 17th, 2012
I’ve lost track of the number of times people have told me about the ‘enormous wealth of the Vatican’. Some are confused: they think the Vatican owns all the Church’s worldwide real estate, lock, stock and barrel. Others think that all that art could be sold for the poor without adverting to the difficulty of Read more
Holy See passes financial transparency audit, but could do better Comments 0
Friday, July 20th, 2012
After passing a financial transparency audit by European bank inspectors, the Holy See says it is still working towards a robust and sustainable system to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The audit by Moneyval, a department of the Council of Europe, followed a request by the Holy See last year for an Read more
