By: Palak Gupta
As the veil of the Papal state gradually lifts up, the sheen and moral superiority of Christianity to paganism wanes away.
Vatican City is governed as an absolute monarchy with the pope as its head, who is protected by the mighty Swiss Guard.
The city-state with population of mere 801 (as of July 2020), based on projections of the latest United Nations data, exerts immense influence in the world of 7.8 Billion.
The Catholic Church is easily both a political institution and a corporate body in itself with little regard to the laws-based international order.
In addition to the infamous Italian mafia and the Mexican drug cartels, the Catholic Church would also make an excellent case study for the chapters on the organized crimes for the agencies all over the world.
Founded in the region of Calabria, the Italian ’Ndrangheta is among the most powerful organized crime syndicates in the world, which is thought to rule Europe’s cocaine trade. According to Italian prosecutors Ndrangheta’s tentacles allegedly extend into local churches. Camorra, and Cosa Nostra, operating in as far as Germany, were also birthed on Italian turf. In 2017, however, the Vatican considered excommunicating the mafia.
Pseudo-religious rituals rich are witness to the Cartel’s influence in the church which was condemned by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 shortly after he began his papacy.
It is the first and the only religion to have its own bank called “Institute for Religious Works” (IOR) which is also the most secretive beating the prominent tax havens – Swiss Bank and Cayman Islands hands down. It is run by an advisory board that reports to a committee of cardinals and the pope himself, and currently oversees over USD5.5 billion.
It operates an open border and uses the euro as its sole currency, but is not part of the customs union or VAT area.
In addition to this, the state enjoys a number of special provisions from the EU in recognition of its unique status, which includes exemptions from duties and taxes on imports and exports.
Despite solely existing to provide financial services to the Catholic Church, the IOR does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Holy See.
The headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church has two budgets.
One is that of Holy See, the government of the Catholic Church which is recognized as a sovereign entity in international law. It includes the central administration and embassies that keep up diplomatic relations with more than 180 countries.
The other budget is for Vatican City, a 108-acre city-state surrounded by Rome. It includes the vital income from the Vatican Museums and it traditionally runs a surplus. In the past, the Vatican received a substantial church tax, from Hitler’s Reich every year, amounting to $1.7bn (ˆ1.94bn) in today’s money in 1943 alone. This as the church evaded wartime financial restrictions.
The Bank of Italy launched an investigation into the Vatican’s finances in 2010 and found that the city-state was moving billions of euros between global commercial banks every year.
The Vatican Bank does not issue check books. The money trail is untraceable. All deposits and transfers are in cash or in gold bullion.
For those unversed, bullion is gold, silver, or other precious metals in the form of bars, ingots, or specialized coins and is therefore kept as a form of emergency currency both by the governments and private folks alike.
The Vatican mints its own Euros, prints its own stamps, issues passports and license plates, operates media outlets and has its own flag and anthem.
The IoR, mired in several controversies, is a troubled institution which in 2013 was seeking to close 900 suspicious accounts, out of which, according to Corriere della Sera newspaper, four of the suspect accounts have been linked to the Vatican embassies of Indonesia, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The Vatican Bank is also embroiled in a court saga with the companies from Luxembourg and Malta a southern island country in Europe.
The Maltese companies Futura Funds and Futura Investment Management, jointly with Luxembourg-based company Cougar Real Estate, instituted court proceedings before Malta’s Civil Courts against the IOR.
IOR allegedly blocked the sale of shares which Futura Funds SICAV holds in Cougar, as well as the sale of shares which the latter holds in the Hungarian company, Tozsdepalota, the owner of the iconic historical building, Budapest Stock Exchange Palace.
It is pertinent to mention that the relationship between EU and the Vatican remains complex.
The Vatican Observatory, which is located 15 miles from the city at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, owns a second research center in Tucson, Arizona.
In one of the reports, Vice-editorial director of Vatican media Alessandro Gisotti is quoted as saying, “A total of six events were broadcast and distributed free-of-charge, thanks to funding from the Knights of Columbus, to television outlets and networks around the world.”
One of the programs of Knights of Columbus is the Christian Refugee Relief, which is said to help “persecuted and at-risk Christians” facing genocide all over the world, particularly in the Middle East.
It says it provides humanitarian assistance, primarily in Iraq, Syria and the surrounding region. But, per a report, persecution of Christians is ‘coming close to genocide’ in Middle East.
In the Middle East and North Africa, the UK Commissioned report says, “forms of persecution ranging from routine discrimination in education, employment and social life up to genocidal attacks against Christian communities have led to a significant exodus of Christian believers from this region since the turn of the century.
“In countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia the situation of Christians and other minorities has reached an alarming stage. In Saudi Arabia there are strict limitations on all forms of expression of Christianity including public acts of worship. There have been regular crackdowns on private Christian services. The Arab-Israeli conflict has caused the majority of Palestinian Christians to leave their homeland. The population of Palestinian Christians has dropped from 15% to 2%,” the same report added.
So, the question is where does the collected money go?
Militarily, the Knights of Columbus also sponsors veterans’ visit to Lourdes pilgrimage for a “period of prayer and spiritual guidance.”
“We accompany and support our warriors and their families throughout the course of the pilgrimage which occurs during the annual International Military Pilgrimage (PMI) in Lourdes, France,” it said. Every $2,600 raised sends a warrior to Lourdes in France.
Here is also an excerpt from a speech given 50 years ago in Australia by Roman Catholic Archbishop Gilroy: “Care must be taken that no suspicion may be raised when Roman Catholics are secretly given more govt jobs than Protestants, Jews, and other heretics.”
One could argue what “Kafirs” is to Islam, “Heretics” is to Catholics. Will the other religions such as Jews, Hindus, Buddhists be meeting the same fate as that once met by Central Asian’s Tengrianism.
Defectors from the Vatican have stated that 68 per cent of its clergy is guilty of homosexuality, lesbianism and fornication.
Many prominent folks have also branded it as “sewer of corruption.”
The Vatican’s treasure of solid gold has been estimated by the United Nations World Magazine to amount to several billion dollars. The main depository for the Vatican’s gold is the US Federal Reserve.
For a real Jesuit who closely identifies with a vow of poverty, that is a lot of money indeed.
A large bulk of this is stored in gold ingots with the US Federal Reserve Bank, while banks in England and Switzerland hold the rest. London and Washington DC are linked to the Vatican and it is believed their charters are held there.
The Vatican also has billions of shares in international corporations such as Gulf Oil, Shell, General Motors, Bethlehem Steel, General Electric, International Business Machines. The Vatican also has big investments in banking, insurance, chemicals, steel, construction, real estate.
The Peter’s Pence fund, which brings in an estimated $50-65 million yearly, aims at supporting church’s charitable projects in the world’s neediest areas. But according to a report, for more than 30 years the Holy See has been forced to tap into it to keep regular operations going and to plug the Holy See’s administrative budget deficit. The last year for which the Vatican has published full budget figures was 2015, when the Holy See had a deficit of $13.1 million.
There are also two Vatican departments that manage real estate holdings in Italy. It is safe to assess and question: Heathens are not recognized by the Vatican but what about their own blood of god? With this amount of money, assets and tax exemption, why has the Church not risen to its call of duty and helped the people of its own faith especially after the Covid-19 left the economy bleeding? Admittedly, the Vatican has no obligation to fix the disputes and crisis of the resistant belt also known as (10/40 window) or the world’s evangelized countries which includes majority of Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists. Joshua Project, how many of your own felt safe and secured within 10/40 window during the ongoing pandemic crisis?
“Do this kind of revenue and investment fit in with the vow of poverty,” questioned somebody on the condition of anonymity. Is the reeling economy now not against the Catholic social preaching of just economic activities?
