Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, R.I.P.
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | May 25, 2012
I admit it. I liked Ettore Tedeschi. He was a breath of fresh air when it came to the comments of Vatican officials on the economy. But now Tedeschi, the head of the Vatican Bank, has been fired.
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Still, consider these 2011 stories:
- Vatican bank’s president criticizes America’s Keynesian economic policies (1/14/2011)
- Western world faces economic decline, says head of Vatican bank (6/21/2011)
- Vatican Bank president analyzes raising of US national debt ceiling (8/4/2011)
- Vatican bank president: Larger families are solution to economic crisis (7/21/2011)
- Vatican Bank president: More government debt not the answer to economic crisis (8/9/2011)
- Vatican banker sees flaws in Western economies (8/17/2011)
- Vatican Bank president warns against higher taxes (8/29/2011)
- Savings crucial to economic recovery, says Vatican bank president (9/15/2011)
- And this written by Tedeschi, from our library: Faced with Deflationary Prospects, A New Model of Leadership (11/4/2011)
There were other stories, too, of course. During roughly the same period, the Vatican Bank came under the scrutiny of the European Union because its internal financial controls did not adhere to new EU standards, and because some transactions seemed to admit of the possibility of money laundering. On such matters Tedeschi was firm:
- Vatican bank head attributes money-laundering complaint to 'procedural error' (9/22/2010)
- Vatican bank chairman says charges are part of campaign against Church (10/25/2010)
Such problems are widespread, of course, in the United States and elsewhere, but apparently nobody on the Vatican Bank’s board of directors thought Tedeschi had done enough to improve the Bank’s reputation since he took over there in 2009.
One can also imagine that Tedeschi’s frequent comments on world economic affairs rubbed many others in the Vatican the wrong way, perhaps particularly those at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. I have no evidence for this. But there would be two good reasons for it. First, Tedeschi clearly understands how economies work, which seems to be a deep weakness of Catholic social thinkers who theorize about what should be done without reflecting on what can be done or what actually works.
Second, it simply wasn’t Tedeschi’s job to instruct the universe. His job was to fix the Vatican Bank.
But, oh, what a sound bite he could make!
Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Dec. 12, 2018 4:42 PM ET USA
The Sullins/Ruth Institute report demonstrates an ongoing crisis. Figures 2 and 3 in this report show a percentage decrease in total number of allegations for the decade 2000-2009, but an increase from 2010-2018. Fig. 4 and 5 show a numeric increase in alleged incidents from the 2005-2009 to the 2010-2014 interval. Fig. 6 and 7 show an increase in reported incidents between the same intervals. Sullins: "child...abuse by Catholic priests...not...a transient problem that has largely disappeared."
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Posted by: feedback -
Dec. 12, 2018 12:14 AM ET USA
If the recent Baltimore meeting can serve as an indication of what to expect, it becomes apparent that the February meeting is most likely going to be another smoke screen to protect gays in the hierarchy and the ongoing admission of new gays into the seminaries. And at the same time it will be a major waste of the bishops' time and of the people's money, not to mention the carbon footprint from all the jet fuel spent on flying everybody back and forth across the globe.
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Posted by: Montserrat -
Dec. 11, 2018 8:17 PM ET USA
Give'em hell Phil. I'm with you! The aware, faithful laity are in the mode of Peter Finch in Network: mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. As you advocate: sincere, heartfelt prayer is step #1. Step #2 - Instead of leaving the Church, support traditional Catholic teaching & worship to the fullest extent possible. Step #3, target Church giving with a restricted check so that it won't go to the corrupt network causes. Step #4, continue to give 'em hell and don't let up.
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Posted by: MatJohn -
Dec. 11, 2018 7:52 PM ET USA
Phil, this guy is quite late for the party. You have long since been saying the sand thing.
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Posted by: dover beachcomber -
Dec. 11, 2018 1:44 PM ET USA
Brilliant next-to-last paragraph, with its litany of past opportunities for the hierarchy to take action. But instead of action, we’ve been fobbed off with words, words, words. Someone should tell Pope Francis that here in the U.S., we have a saying: talk is cheap. And we can probably have that translated into Italian for him by February.
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Posted by: MWCooney -
Dec. 11, 2018 12:06 PM ET USA
What I fear is that there *will* be something accomplished during the "kangaroo" meeting, and that it will be a further descent into and solidifying of the rot and stench already dominant. We already know that what should be done is (barring divine intervention) not in the cards, but we need to prepare ourselves for the next satanic maneuver being planned by his minions.
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Posted by: thomas28899 -
Dec. 11, 2018 9:36 AM ET USA
What a sad waste of time and money for nothing to be accomplished.... if that's what happens. Wouldn't it be refreshing if the Pope said something like... "We probably won't accomplish anything, in this meeting so we're going to follow the suggestion of John the Baptist and donate to the poor and equal amount to what it cost to assemble it"
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Posted by: dfp3234574 -
Dec. 10, 2018 8:16 PM ET USA
"A large number of the participating bishops are still not convinced that this really is a crisis." And that large number is correct. Almost *all* of the alleged wrongdoings took place *many decades ago*. There is no crisis. The Church has made monumental efforts at restitution for nearly a quarter century. Enough already. Catholic media & the laity are failing the Church by not fighting back against this clear Satanic attack on the Church by the m-media, lawyers, and so-called 'victims' groups.
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Posted by: shrink -
Dec. 10, 2018 7:47 PM ET USA
Since Vatican 2, the uptick in the percentage of homosexual clergy has reached well into episcopacy, and perhaps even to the papacy itself. If any pope were to really address the problem of pederasty, it would inevitably result in a purge of the gay priests, and all the way back to Paul VI, each pope knew that there are simply too many gays in high positions, with too much money for that to happen. So, let's just keep on talkin.
