Vatican Diary / the Strange Case of the New Prelate of the Ior

By Sandro Magister
The Chiesa
July 30, 2012

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350298?eng=y


His name has not been made known. He has not entered into service. But he was appointed eight months ago. The news is in the report by Moneyval. Together with dozens of other disclosures. Here is an anthology of them

VATICAN CITY, July 30, 2012 – There is one post, that of prelate of the Institute for Works of Religion, the Vatican "bank," that has been vacant since, in 2010, the occupant at the time, Monsignor Piero Pioppo, former secretary of Cardinal Angelo Sodano, was made archbishop and sent as a nuncio to Africa, in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.

But now we know that on December 1 of 2011, the commission of cardinals that oversees the IOR, headed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, appointed the new prelate. The appointee, whose name has not been made known, has not yet begun his service.

We know this not because yet another confidential paper has escaped from the Vatican, but because the news is written in black and white in paragraph 76 of the voluminous report drafted by the inspectors of Moneyval and published last July 4.

Most of the observers have limited themselves to skimming the ten or so pages of the executive summary. But it is in the 241 pages of the full report, and in the 290 pages of annexes that one can find extensive information about the various organs of the Holy See, as yet little known if not entirely unknown.

Beyond the precise number of the citizens of Vatican City-State, abbreviated SCV – 595, of whom 247 are residents within the walls and 348 not, including 109 nuncios in service abroad – the report furnishes interesting news about the Vatican system of justice, the Gendarmeria, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the APSA, and above all about the IOR itself.

Here is a partial and summary selection.

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The Moneyval report offers (par. 48) an overview of judicial activity in SCV, highlighting how 80 percent of the cases concern thefts, mostly committed in the Vatican Museums and in the Basilica of Saint Peter, more than 90 percent of which involve tourists and visitors rather than citizens or employees of the Vatican. Also pointed out, however, is a case of drug possession and trafficking in 2007.

In the adjoining table it is then noted that the tribunal of SCV, which deals with the more serious crimes, in effect sees rather modest activity: in 2007, 7 trials and 4 sentences; in 2008, 4 trials and 1 sentence; in 2009, 3 trials and 2 sentences; in 2010, 4 trials and 2 sentences; in 2011, 1 trial and no sentence.

As for the less serious crimes, it is reported that the sole presiding judge issued 2 sentences in 2007, none in 2008, 3 in 2009, 4 in 2010 and in 2011.

The report also presents (par. 358) the total financial losses taken by SCV on the basis of reported crimes. In this case as well the figures are trivial: 4,900 euro in 2009, 8,600 in 2010, and 5,200 in 2011.

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With regard to the Gendarmeria, the report states (par. 350f) that this body, in addition to the commander, Domenico Giani, numbers 16 superintendents, 68 inspectors, and 49 gendarmes. So there are 137 members in all, while the personnel charts provide for 197, leaving 60 positions to be filled.

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Naturally, Moneyval concentrates on the two main Vatican financial entities, the APSA and the IOR.

Concerning the former, the report states (par. 124) that in November of 2011 the APSA, in its extraordinary section with 13 employees, had deposits of 680.7 million euro.

And it reveals that in addition to the juridical personalities of the Holy See that have institutional ties with the APSA, there are also 23 natural persons who keep deposits there: 15 churchmen, for a total of 7.2 million euro, and 8 laypeople, for a total of 2.8 million.

With regard to these 23 persons, it says (par. 118f) that the officials of the APSA explained to the Moneyval inspectors that the accounts belonging to the clerics collect money given for charitable motivations on behalf of themselves, of the Roman curia, or of their dioceses: accounts that for reasons of delicacy – it is said – it would be difficult to close.

While concerning the laypeople, these are persons who have given real estate or other assets to the Holy See, receiving in exchange an annuity that is deposited in an account with the APSA. In this case, the APSA has given assurances that three of these accounts have already been closed, two others are in the process of being closed, and the remaining three will revert to the APSA at the death of the beneficiaries. In any case, the APSA has said it has not accepted any further contributions to these 23 accounts since 2001.

The APSA, the report furthermore states (par. 113), has accounts and deposits of its own in central banks all over the world: the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Banca d'Italia, the Bank for International Settlements, "and others."

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And now the IOR. Its "assets," also in November of 2011, total 6.3 billion euro (par. 124). 104 persons work there. And the clients are 20,772.

75 percent of the account holders are natural persons, and of these 68 percent are clerics and 32 percent laypeople (employees, retirees, diplomats). Among the clerics (par. 96 amd 97) there are 236 cardinals (more than those living at the time the figures were collected, 213) and 1,604 bishops (out of more than 4900 present in the world. The clients also include 37 members of the "pontifical family" and 995 juridical persons devoid of canonical recognition: 51 of their accounts are dormant, meaning that they have not registered any transactions for more than five years and it has not been possible to contact their owners.

Overall the dormant accounts at the IOR number 4,494 (par. 465ff) and represent 18 percent of the accounts, with 30.8 million euro deposited. Most of these accounts are held under the names of congregations, priests, religious, seminaries, bishops, and foundations devoid of canonical recognition. Nonetheless, for these kinds of accounts as well, in ways judged suitable by Moneyval (par. 477), the IOR is conducting a verification of the information that will be concluded in 2012 (par. 465).

Outside of Vatican City-State, the IOR can operate only through foreign banks, and the report quantifies more than 40 of these "correspondent" banks in Europe, the United States, Australia, and Japan (par. 84). It does not hold equity stakes of more than 1 percent in other banks or financial institutions (par. 89).

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Finally, the foundations registered in SCV. Those identified by Moneyval are more than the ones found listed in the Annuario Pontificio.

The two most recent by date of creation (nos. 34 and 43 of Annex XXXVI) are the San Michele Arcangelo and the Cardinale Salvatore De Giorgi.

The Fondazione San Michele Arcangelo was created on November 29, 2010 with the purpose of researching new sources of financing to cover the costs relative to the specific demands of civil protection and security in Vatican City-State.

The Fondazione Cardinale Salvatore De Giorgi was created on June 3, 2011 to provide pastoral service for vocations and for works of culture and charity in some parishes of Puglia, the region of origin of the cardinal after whom the foundation is named, the archbishop of Palermo and a member of the commission of cardinals instituted by Benedict XVI to investigate the leaking of documents from offices of the Holy See.