VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
The reckless operations of Monsignor: isolated case or general mechanism that does not work? Why was it not stopped sooner?
ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY
If the investigative elements that emerge from eavesdropping an investigation for corruption and fraud that led to the imprisonment of Monsignor Nuncio Scarano are confirmed, this time it will not be easy for the authorities of Oltretevere to argue that we are faced with the classic “rotten apple.”
From inside the Vatican, someone who obviously still does not realize what has happened, filters out this observation: “The errors of the individual do not question the institution. If anything they can question the way in which the institution takes on staff.” In other words: the system works, but we need to be more careful about who we hire … An applicable reference to the same Monsignor Scarano, as well as to the managers of the IOR who authorized his reckless transactions just as the Vatican undertook the process to comply with money laundering regulations.
The Holy See has assured full cooperation with the Italian judiciary, and therefore the bank accounts of the former robed banker one can probably figure out who has authorized the movement of large sums and why, which were used – according to the accusation – to do favours (reciprocated) for businessmen friends. A movement that, even without waiting for the entry into force of special anti-money laundering rules, should worry about the leadership of the bank. Instead this has not happened. No one noticed anything. No one seems to have worried. Thus, Scarano has been suspended as a precaution after the news of the investigation on him by the Italian judiciary, and not before. Perhaps it is not correct to speak of “system”, but of “cultural habit” yes. Something evidently rooted in time.
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