If you marry, one of you must volunteer to leave the Vatican's employ altogether (going to another department isn't acceptable). If you don't leave of your own accord, you'll both get sacked.

That's just what happened to two Vatican bank employees last week. They were both sacked because their recent wedding violates the newly-introduced ban and neither wanted to volunteer to lose their job.

The Vatican bank said in a statement on Wednesday that it had reached the "difficult decision" to end the couple's employment contracts.

The "formation of a married couple among employees is, in fact, blatantly contradictory to the current regulations within the institute" the Vatican says.

Times are a-changing

The couple - nicknamed "Romeo and Juliet" by the Italian media - met some years ago at the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the IOR or Vatican Bank, while working in different departments.

Three children later, they decided to marry. Their attorney Laura Sgro says they informed the bank of their plans in February.

Although the Vatican was aware the couple have three children and were planning to marry, it pressed ahead with its new personnel regulation barring workplace marriages.

The couple appealed to Pope Francis, seeking a dispensation in the enforcement of the new regulation, as it had gone into effect once wedding plans were already underway and the official Catholic announcement made.

They received no reply.

The ban went into effect in May. The couple married in August.

The IOR defends the dismissal

The bank said it in no way meant to question the right of employees to get married - a sacrament Francis frequently urges young couples to undertake in the face of dwindling numbers of Catholic weddings.

The couple's dismissal was dictated by the need to preserve transparency and impartiality in the institute's activities, and in no way intended to question the right of two people to be united in marriage" the IOR says.

The IOR says the marriage ban's primary objective is to avoid the reputational risk of accusations of nepotism and "avoid the possible emergence of situations of conflicts of interest in the institute's operations, in order to protect its integrity and service to its clients".

Civil court case pending

In a letter to the IOR bank chiefs, Sgro has challenged the couple's dismissal.. She will be taking the case to the Vatican civil court within 30 days, she says.

In her view, the IOR's notification of dismissal was "null, illegitimate and gravely harmful of the fundamental rights of people and employees, and therefore devoid of any effect".

Source

• Crux
• The Guardian
• AP News
• News Channel 12-3-11

The 2022 annual report traces the activities carried out by the ASIF over the past twelve months, and notes the contributions made "internally" and "externally", as well as the participation "without interruption or hesitation" in the programs of international fora such as Egmont and MONEYVAL.

The report opens with a letter from ASIF President Carmelo Barbagallo, who dwells on the "long and difficult" interlude of the pandemic.

"Many hoped that 2022 would be a breakthrough year," he said, "with decisive progress in limiting the spread of the virus and a strong recovery in the global economy."

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Compared to a net profit of 38 million euros ($46 million) the previous year, "this is a very significant result" considering the low yields and high volatility of financial markets triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, wrote Cardinal Santos Abril Castelló, president of the Commission of Cardinals supervising the bank.

It is also significant given that the Holy See "lost much of its income from its most substantial contributor, namely the Vatican Museums, which were closed for a large part of the year due to the pandemic," he wrote.

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Maltese judge, Mr Justice Wenzu Mintoff, will preside over the case. His role will include deciding the bank's total losses.

The Vatican statement says the losses are "significant."

It also said the bank is taking the action against "the persons" in Malta to show its commitment to "any appropriate action to protect its financial and reputational interests".

While the Vatican statement is guarded with names and details, various wildly different figures have emerged in the media.

The Daily Mail UK says according to a source close to the matter, the bank invested tens of millions of euros in funds in Malta and other countries in 2012 and 2013 when the bank was without a president.

(In May, 2012, the board of the bank ousted Italian Ettore Gotti Tedeschi by a no-confidence vote. It was not until February 2013 that German Ernst von Freyberg was appointed.)

A Vatican spokesman told the Times of Malta the issue dates back to the beginning of 2013 for investments initially worth €17 million.

The Malta Independent newspaper says Italian news reports state that the total losses suffered by the bank came to upwards of 230 million euros.

The Malta Independent also cites Italian news reports as identifying the investment vehicles as the "Ad Maiora" fund, where money was reportedly invested through Malta-based Futura Funds as well as two companies registered in Luxembourg and two "foreigners".

Magistrates had already found the bank had been embroiled in many Italian financial and international scandals in previous decades, as it was used by outsiders in both Italy and the Vatican either to launder money or evade taxes.

The court case does not yet have a sitting date assigned to it.

Pope Francis, who has said he wants the Roman Catholic Church to be a model of austerity and honesty, has made financial reform a central plank of his papacy.

Source

• The Malta Independent
• Daily Mail
• Times of Malta
• Image: The Malta Independent

The profits, which are up €20 million from the €16.1 million in the 2015 year, are "being distributed in aid of the Holy See's mission".

More properly called the Institute for the Works of Religion, the Vatican bank's report also records billions in deposits and investments and a decrease in expenses.

The bank says the €4 million reduction in expenses is a result of them "rationalising" outside contractors.

The strong end-of-year results offer a positive view of Pope Francis's Vatican financial reforms.

Australian Cardinal George Pell leads these reforms as the Vatican's Prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy.

Soon after his appointment in 2014, Pell announced a new management of the bank, appointing billionaire hedge fund guru Michael Hintze to its board.

Pell's role also included ridding the bank of illegal practices such as money laundering.

The bank's latest report says these practices have more than halved thanks to the strongly vigilant regime Pell introduced.

Thousands of accounts have been closed and strict new rules introduced in regards to who can hold an account with the bank.

Although the bank provides a deposit account and manages €5.7 billion worth of assets, it does not issue loans.

The financial statements were audited by Deloitte & Touche and reviewed by the Commission of Cardinals that oversees the Vatican bank's work before the report was released.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• The Tablet
• Image: The Australian

The proposal had the approval of the Institute for the Works of Religion's board and was put forward by its president.

Having this type of investment fund would have helped IOR managers manage a portion of the Institute's deposits.

Pope Francis's Council of Cardinals referred to the proposal to the pontiff for a decision.

But setting up an investment fund in Luxembourg may have made the controls and checks process for the IOR more complex.

Francis has, since the start of his pontificate, opposed suggestions the IOR behave like an investment bank.

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Some 3000 accounts have been also purged from the bank in the last year, with almost 400 not meeting stricter client criteria, requiring a close link with the Church.

French financier Jean-Baptiste de Franssau has been appointed by Pope Francis to head the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), otherwise known as the Vatican bank.

He replaces German Ernst Von Freyburg, who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI.

Von Freyburg stepped down as he did not want to be in a full-time role and felt he did not have sufficient experience of asset management.

Both are required as the Vatican bank moves to its next stage of reforms, he said.

Under Von Freyburg, the IOR reviewed client accounts and implemented new procedures designed to prevent scandals and money-laundering.

Secretariat of the Economy prefect Cardinal George Pell introduced the new president and announced other Vatican financial reforms on July 9.

"Our ambition is to become something of a model of financial management rather than a cause for occasional scandal," Cardinal Pell said.

A truly independent auditor-general is being planned for, who can go "anywhere and everywhere" in the Vatican to ensure the entire financial system is operating correctly, Cardinal Pell said.

He also announced some new members of the IOR's board, including Mary Ann Glendon, a former US ambassador to the Holy See.

The IOR's net profit for 2013 was 2.2 million euros, down from 86.6 million euros in 2012.

Extraordinary expenses, losses related to investments in externally managed investment funds and the fluctuation in the value of its gold reserves were cited as reasons.

The IOR also took a 14.4 million-euro hit when it donated securities "with a book value of 15.1 million euros" to "a foundation of the Holy See", according to a press release.

This is thought to refer to an investment in an Italian religious film production company authorised by retired Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, when he was president of a commission overseeing the IOR.

In May, Pope Francis said the matter was being studied.

As of June 30, the IOR had 15,495 clients with assets of 6 billion euros invested.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Catholic News Service
• National Catholic Reporter
• New York Post
• Image: Sydney Morning Herald