Vatican Bank: Ernst von Freyberg’s Parting Statements on Resignation

(Vatican) In the long and detailed farewell statement by the former President of the Vatican Bank IOR, Ernst von Freyberg, which was released on July 8 in advance of the expected change in leadership at the bank top, "not a few curiosities” were found, said the Vatican expert Sandro Magister.

The most striking thing is the "meager net profit" in the annual balance sheet of 2013.  Only  2.9 million euro instead of the 86.6 million last year.  As a reason for the slump, there are among others the decline of the gold reserves of the IOR (minus 11.5 million euros) and  the poor performance of investment funds (minus 28.5 million). Ernst von Freyberg had also hinted what appear to be “favors” that the Vatican Bank has yet to answer for.

8.3 million for Consulting Firm Promontory

But then there are the costs for the staff of Promontory, the international financial consulting firm, which was established to review the banking institution, which could increase the expenditure side by 33 percent. In other words, the Promontory consultancy cost the Vatican Bank 8.3 million euros. The new Director General Roberto Marranci also comes from Promontory (November 2013). The eldest son of the new IOR-President, Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu works for Promontory. One could almost say Promontory advised and has “taken over” the Vatican bank.

Loan for Bishop of the Community of Sant'Egidio

In the statement by Ernst von Freyberg one also reads that 3.2 million euros were paid in  “financial assistance to the Diocese of Terni". The payment is related to the financial collapse of the Umbrian diocese where Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia was as bishop there. Paglia, a leading representative of the Community of Sant'Egidio, is now President of the Pontifical Council for the Family. The diocese had to be managed by a commissar and the Vatican Bank had to take over half of the more than 20 million euro debt.

Given Away 15 Million Shares to Film Production Company

"When would this not be enough," said Magister, appearing under the loss of the Vatican Bank and the free "transfer" of shares worth 15.1 million euros to a "Foundation of the Holy See". It is a stake of 17 percent of the film production company Lux Vide by Ettore Bernabei and Sons who were  acquired by the IOR at a high price, but was then given away to a unspecified "foundation" of the Holy See.  According to media reports, that are not denied, this is the foundation Scienza e Fede (science and faith), which is connected to the Papal Cultural Council, which is headed by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi.

In winter 2011/2012, the then President of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, rejected the application for financial assistance from the Lux Vide. After his opaque resignation in autumn 2012, however, the application was approved.

The Minus of the Holy See

While the Vatican Bank is almost in the black, the Holy See ran in 2013 into the red. Although the Vatican Bank contributed 150 million euros to the Holy See, the first year of the pontificate of Pope Francis ended with a loss of 24.5 million euros.

This included the Peter's Pence for the 2013 of $ 78 million in donations for the Holy See, while  last year with Pope Benedict XVI. it was only 65.9 million. The best result has been achieved in 2009 with 82.5 million. This was according to a statement by Archbishop Angelo Becciu, substitute of the Cardinal Secretary of State on 28 June in an interview for the newspaper Avvenire.

Text: Settimo Cielo / Giuseppe Nardi
image: Settimo Cielo

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches…

AMGD

The Pope's Statement on Msgr. Ricca: Magister Vindicated

Edit: the following is from the English version of Sandro Magister's page. His analysis explores the Pope's interesting comments about lobbies within the Vatican, and their destructive ability and how the Pope has essentially vindicated him. We should not assume that because the Holy Father is willing to be magnanimous toward Msgr. Ricca, that he continues to have trust in him, nor that he is no still concerned and about to do something regarding the "homosexual lobbies" in the Church.

ON THE RICCA CASE AND THE "GAY LOBBIES"

Another set of answers concerned the “gay bobbies” at the Vatican and the case of Monsignor Battista Ricca, appointed by the pope prelate of the IOR before his scandalous past came to light.

No prejudice against homosexuals, but the lobbies no, they're not okay. This is the gist of what Francis said to the journalists.

In general, about the gays and the lobbies pope expressed himself as follows:

"So much is written about the gay lobby. So far I have not found anyone at the Vatican who has written 'gay' on his identity card. A distinction must be made between being gay, having this tendency, and being in a lobby. The lobbies, all lobbies, are not good. If a person is gay and is seeking the Lord with good will, who am I to judge him? The catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that gay persons must not be discriminated against, but must be welcomed. The problem is not having this tendency, the problem is being in a lobby, and this applies here just as it does to business lobbies, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies.”

While on the specific case of Ricca he said:

"In the case of monsignor Ricca I have done what canon law says to do: an initial investigation. There has been found nothing of that of which he has been accused. We have not found anything. Many times in the Church the sins of youth are sought out and then publicized. We are not talking about offenses, about crimes, like the abuse of minors which is a completely different thing, but about sins. But if a layperson or a priest or a sister has committed a sin and has converted and confessed, the Lord forgives, he forgets. And we do not have the right not to forget, because otherwise we risk that the Lord may not forget our sins. So many times I think of Saint Peter who committed the gravest sin, he denied Christ. And yet they made him pope. But I repeat, about Monsignor Ricca we have not found anything.”

Francis did not add anything else. He did not say that the facts alleged against Monsignor Ricca are false. He simply said that about these facts “nothing has been found” in the documentation submitted to him at the Vatican.

But since - as the pope now well knows - everything about these events is found in the documentation of the pontifical nunciature in Montevideo and at the time the documentation was sent to Rome as well, the deduction is obvious: at the Vatican a lobby worked to cover the tracks.

The pope also did not confirm his trust in Monsignor Ricca and declare the matter closed. Anything but. The “sins of youth” can be forgiven, he said. But only to those who sincerely confess and repent of them, as did Saint Peter. Not to those who have done and are doing all they can to conceal them, disguise them, get rid of them, with the help of a powerful lobby that is still not admitting defeat. One of those lobbies, the adjective does not matter, which Pope Francis has once again said he wants to uproot from the Vatican curia.

In the latest issue of L'Espresso, the magazine that broke the case, nothing other than this was written:

“Against homosexuals who live in chastity, including priests, bishops, cardinals, there is no preconceived hostility whatsoever in the Church, so much so that, in tranquility, a number of them have occupied and still occupy important positions. What the Church does not accept is that consecrated persons, who have made a public commitment of celibacy and chastity 'for the Kingdom of Heaven,' should betray their promise. When the betrayal is public, it becomes scandal. And to heal it the Church requires a penitential journey that begins with repentance, not with falsification, concealment, deception, worse still if carried out with the complicity of others, in a 'lobby' of intersecting interests, licit and illicit”.