Merchants in the Temple (29 page)

Authors: Gianluigi Nuzzi

BOOK: Merchants in the Temple

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10
âThe Rules and Regulations of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See dictate the following: “Art. 10. The Prefecture shall be headed by a Cardinal President, who is assisted by a specific number of cardinals, with the aid of the Secretariat, which is normally one prelate, and by a General Accountant, with the consultancy of the Advisorsâ¦; Art. 20. The Prefecture shall make use of the collaboration of Advisors, Experts, and International Auditors. They shall be selected according to the criteria of competency and universality, and shall lend their efforts free of charge; Art. 23. The International Auditors, numbering five, are professionals who are particularly skilled in auditing accounts and analyzing financial statements. They are appointed by the Supreme Pontiff for a three-year period. The post can be renewed for a maximum of up to three terms.”

11
âThe discrepancy between estimated and actual costs is huge. At the meeting Salvatore Colitta, an auditor from RB Audit Italia, gave a few examples. “There are weaknesses in the formulation of the budget”âaccording to the minutesâ“that show discrepancies, in the planning stage, of up to 100 percent. I would recommend a revision of the budget at least every six months. The procurement process has not yet been completed. There are no referenced suppliers; there are no agreements with the senior officialsÂ â¦ the management of real estate has unbelievable levels of arrears, which often exceed the credits. There is something wrong with the system. There are also anomalies that need to be understood by conducting an investigation tenant by tenant. With regard to laid-off personnel, we should increase the number of units in the legal and real estate offices.”

12
âThe losses from the Banca Popolare di Sondrio can be blamed on the decisions of a single cardinal. General Accountant Fralleoni explains it clearly as the auditors' minutes show: “The year in which the Governorate purchased these shares, Cardinal Szoka [Edmund Casimir Szoka, 1927â2014, President of the Governorate from 2001 to 2006] wanted to centralize some activities of the Governorate through this bank. He thought that the stocks would guarantee benefits, but the relationship with the bank did not turn out as expected, so in those years there were cumulative losses that led to an overall devaluation of the original investment equivalent to 1,929,000 euros.” The minutes of the meeting convey the drama that surrounded each thorny question, such as that concerning the American Patrons of the Arts in Vatican Museums (formed shortly after the American tour of the traveling exhibition
The Vatican Collection
, to support and finance the restoration of various pieces in the Vatican collection). “Cullell,” the minutes record, “raised the problem of the American Patrons who help the museums with their projects. The fund for the collection is in dollars. How is this income recorded in the account books? Is it divided up by year? Fralleoni explains that these funds were used to pay temporary personnel working at the museums. This is one of the reasons why these funds were kept in cash and not invested in other activities. According to him, they should be recorded in the books not as income but as capital that gradually decreases.” But Cullell would hear nothing of it: “If the donations of the Patrons are not recorded as a single entry, our general financial statement will have been falsified.”

14
âIn March 2013, the Cardinal discovered and reported to the newly elected Pope Francis that something was wrong with the budget for the basilica. He set his sights on Monsignor BronisÅaw Morawiec, the basilica's
camerlengo
. An investigation by the Vatican's chief prosecutor, Gian Piero Milano, found that Morawiec had withdrawn 210,000 euros from an IOR account held by the basilica, claiming that he had to pay for real estate brokerage services provided by “Integrate Trade Consulting SA,” a Swiss company that proved to be nonexistent. “There emerged in an incontrovertible way,” Milano wrote, “serious bookkeeping irregularities, false accounting transactions, and the total lack of a protocol for registering incoming and outgoing correspondence.” Morawiec was sentenced to three years of imprisonment on the charge of embezzlement and forgery. The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the richest, with holdings of thousands of apartments, lands, and other properties. The disappearance of 210,000 euros is not the only crime he was suspected of. The prelate was reported for publishing an illustrated volume at a cost to the basilica of almost 1 million euros.

2. The Saints' Factory

ââ
6
âBorn in 1954, George Yeo was active in the People's Action Party of Singapore, a local center-right political formation. From 1991 to 2011, he was the Minister for Information and the Arts (1991â1999), Minister of Health (1994â1997), Minister of Trade and Industry (1999â2004), and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2004â2011). In 2011, when the Center Left came to power, he withdrew from politics. He was a former senior officer of the air force, and former Chief of the General Staff between 1985 and 1986, as well as the director of Joint Operations and Planning of the Ministry of Defense from 1986 to 1988. Of Catholic background and education, he received his degree in Engineering from Christ's College of Cambridge. He was the man who pushed forcefully to computerize his country, although he was in favor of censoring the web. For Yeo censorship was little more than an “anti-pollution measure for cyberspace.” In 2000 he stated to the
Wall Street Journal
, “Censorship is part of educationÂ â¦ Through symbolic censorship, he put into the heads of the youngest minds that some right and wrong standards of taste exist.” (Source: affariitaliani.it.)

ââ
8
âAccording to the biography that appeared when he came to the Vatican, he was “the President of Incipit, a consultancy company, and the former CEO of Invesco Europa, a member of the management committee for the whole Invesco world. Before entering Invesco, he was the director of the French Groupe Caisse de DÃ©pots et Consignations. He received his degree from the ESC Business School of Reims, took a BA in European Business Administration from Middlesex University in the United Kingdom, and a post-graduate degree in Actuarial Studies from the University Pierre and Marie Curie of Paris. He is a former vice-president and president of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) and non-executive director of Tages Llip and Carmignac Gestion. He is also a member of the board of various charitable organizations in Europe and the United States.” Since July 2014 he has been the leader of the IOR.

19
âRolando Marranci was appointed shortly after, on November 30, 2013, and with some opposition, Director General of the IOR. The new post was announced by Father Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Holy See, as follows: “The appointment of Marranci brings to an end the interim of President Ernst von Freyberg after the resignations of Director General [Paolo] Cipriani and his deputy [Massimo] Tulli.” Cipriani and Tulli had resigned in July 2013. Both had been implicated in a judicial inquiry by the Rome prosecutor's office for violations, on the part of IOR, of anti-money-laundering laws. The accusations regard the transfer of 23 million euros from the Credito Artigiano to JPMorgan Frankfurt (20 million) and to the Banca del Fucino (3 million). The trial is still underway as of September 2015.

3. The Secrets of the Peter's Pence

ââ
6
âThere was an endless list of entities, foundations, and companies who had still not sent in the requested documentation. In the letter to Monsignor Parolin, the following requests were made:

“The financial statements (or similar) and by-laws of the following entities:

â¢ The Baby Jesus Pediatric Hospital

â¢ The Home for the Relief of Suffering Foundation

â¢ The Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls

â¢ The Basilica of St. Peter's / Fabbrica of St. Peter's (we do not have the
regolamento
)

Other entities for which financial/bookkeeping information was not found are:

â¢ The Pontifical Missionary Works (all we have available is the book published on revenues)

â¢ Funds of the Postulators of Causes of Saints (detailed IOR accounts/individual balances)

â¢ Complete 2012 financial report of Pia Opera (an entity that reports to Propaganda Fideâwe have only received specific financial information)

â¢ Pontifical Parish of Castel Gandolfo

â¢ Pontifical Parish of St. Anne in Vatican

â¢ The Lateran Penitentiaries

â¢ The [Liberian] Penitentiaries

â¢ The Vatican Penitentiaries

â¢ The Pontifical Seminary Romano Minor

â¢ The Benedict XVI Foundation for Marriage and Family

â¢ The John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel

â¢ The John Paul II Foundation for Youth

â¢ The St. Matthew Foundation in member of Cardinal Van Thuan

â¢ The Santa Marta Independent Pediatric Dispensary Foundation

â¢ The Pius XII Foundation for the Lay Apostolate

â¢ The Foundation for the Assets and the Artistic Activities of the Church

â¢ The St. Josephine Bakhita Foundation

â¢ The St. Michael the Archangel Foundation

â¢ The Cardinal Salvatore de Giorgi Foundation

â¢ The Science and Faith Foundation

â¢ The Ennio Francia Financial Fund”

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