Vatican again issues statement rejecting charges of financial mismanagement

February 09, 2012

For the 3rd time in the past 10 days, the press office of the Holy See has issued a new public defense against charges of corruption in Vatican financial affairs.

In a February 9 statement, the Vatican rejected the charges put forward in an article that appeared in the left-wing newspaper L’Unita. The statement charged that the article, which claimed that the Vatican had covered up evidence of money-laundering by four Italian priests, betrayed “a considerable lack of serious research by the author.”

L’Unita charged that the Vatican bank, the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), had failed to provide Italian authorities with details about suspicious financial transfers. The Vatican flatly denies that charge, saying that the IOR has cooperated with Italian investigators. The newspaper charges are “recycled” complaints that have already been answered, the Vatican says.

Last year, with the creation of a new Financial Information Authority (AIF), the Vatican tightened controls on all financial transactions, the press office notes. The statement says that the AIF has responded in detail to requests from Italian officials.

The press office says that L’Unita’s coverage is “sadly defamatory” in that it says that Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the president of the IOR has been “incriminated” along with Paolo Cipriani, another Vatican bank official. “Neither of them has ever been incriminated, but merely investigated,” the statement says.

 

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Further information:

• Holy See Press Office Rejects Unfounded Claims About the IOR and the AIF (VIS)
• Vatican rebuts new charge of financial mismanagement (CWN, 1/31)
• Vatican issues another defense against financial corruption charges (CWN 2/6)