VATICAN CITY
International Business Times
By Kay Aviles on April 07 2015
Pope Francis is sweeping off clean the Vatican bank, which for many years has been cloaked with controversy for allegedly providing a safe haven to Italian individuals who laundered money and evaded taxes. On Wednesday, the Holy See’s signed tax treaty with the government of Italy — which obliges parties to share financial and tax information — seeks to regulate Vatican bank’s banking secrecy.
The Institute for Works of Religion, or IOR, Vatican bank’s official designation, began its operations as a safe place to store Catholic Church’s vast fortune. In fact, it has been dubbed as the world’s most secret bank. IOR has been a subject of criticism for its violations of its mission when the bank permitted illegitimate accounts enabling illicit transactions across Europe.
In 2010, reforms were already introduced to make the bank compliant with the international standards on financial transparency and on money laundering. Moreover, in 2013, in an effort to enforce transparency and carry out the bank’s reform process, around 3,000 bank accounts were blocked and 400 accounts were closed. Pope Francis, according to Voice of America, believed that in order for the church to have credibility, the Vatican finances should be transparent and reforms must continue.
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