Timeline: Tracing the Travails of the Vatican Bank

By Rachel Sanderson
Financial Times
July 7, 2014

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1887 Pope Leo XIII establishes the commission for Works of Charity (Commissione ad Pias Causas), the progenitor of the Vatican Bank.

1942 Pius XII (left) creates the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) by papal decree, absorbing the commission for Works of Charity.

1982 Banco Ambrosiano, in which the IOR is a shareholder, collapses. Italian court issues an arrest warrant for Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, IOR chairman, accusing him of being an accessory to fraudulent bankruptcy. On June 18, Banco Ambrosiano chairman Roberto Calvi (right) – known in the media as God’s Banker – is found dead hanging under Blackfriars bridge. Prosecutors allege mafia involvement.

Sept 2010 Italian magistrates seize ˆ20m from IOR amid allegations that anti-money laundering laws have been violated.

May 2012 Ettore Gotti Tedeschi (left), chairman of the OOR, or Vatican bank, is ousted by its board for “failure to fulfil primary functions of his office”. Sources say Mr Gotti Tedeschi clashed with some members of the Vatican administration over his push for greater transparency.

June 2013 Italian police arrest a top Vatican cleric Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, as well as a former secret service agent and local businessman, accusing them of involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle ˆ20m in cash into Italy from Switzerland.