Vatican City, Nov 5, 2019 / 11:12 am (CNA).- A 50 million euro loan request to secure the purchase of a bankrupt hospital was vetoed by Cardinal George Pell and financial authorities at the Institute for Works of Religion, commonly called the Vatican Bank, before it was approved by the Holy See’s central bank, APSA, where the loan breached international regulatory agreements.
According to several Vatican officials, in late 2014 two cardinals requested that the IOR, the Vatican’s commercial bank, grant a 50 million euro loan to a for-profit partnership between the Holy See’s Secretariat of State and a religious order, which intended to purchase a bankrupt Italian hospital, then in government-administered bankruptcy.
The hospital, the Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata (IDI), had been owned by the religious order, the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception, which had formed a new organization with the Vatican Secretariat as its partner, in its complicated plan to unburden itself from the hospital’s massive debts.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, then an archbishop, and Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi were both involved in the plan, and requested the loan from the IOR, several Vatican officials told CNA.
Their loan proposal was rejected in 2015, when the IOR board determined that the IDI would never be able to repay the loan, senior sources at two Vatican financial agencies told CNA.
Officials at APSA and the Prefecture for the Economy told CNA that Pell was vocally opposed to the loan proposal. The cardinal was at that time charged by Pope Francis with reforming Vatican finances.
It was clear the proposal would have “been a case of throwing good money after bad. There was no question of a return to stability, let alone profit,” one official told CNA.
After the proposal was rejected at the IOR, a request for a 50 million euro loan was made at APSA, the Vatican’s central bank. The loan likely violated APSA’s international regulatory agreements.
“They were desperate,” a senior source at the Prefecture for the Economy told CNA. “There was simply no other way to make it work.”
While the IDI loan was being considered at APSA, Pell’s office, which had been given oversight of the central bank’s portfolio, refused to sign off on the transaction, Vatican sources told CNA.
But Pell’s resistance was apparently not enough to stop the loan.
A senior source at APSA told CNA that “there was no taking ‘no’ for an answer,” and that the deal was “passionately” insisted on by Versaldi and Becciu. “It was never not going to happen,” the source told CNA, “the prefecture tried to block the agreement but it went ahead anyway.”
Vatican officials told CNA that Becciu, and Cardinal Versaldi, went to APSA for the loan because the central bank had already shown itself resistant to financial reforms at the Vatican. The Secretariat of State, where Becciu was the second-ranking official, was also reportedly resistant to Pell’s efforts at financial transparency and reform.
“The was a basic, point blank, refusal to share information, to collaborate, or to open the books to the Prefecture and the Council for the Economy,” one senior source at the Prefecture for the Economy told CNA. “This has been a consistent attitude from both State and APSA.”
After conflict over the loan, Pope Francis withdrew oversight authority over APSA’s investment decisions from Pell’s office. Multiple Vatican sources told CNA that decision was strongly influenced by lobbying from Becciu.
Cardinal Becciu was also responsible for the cancellation of a proposed external audit by PricewaterhouseCooper of all Vatican finances, and opposed to Cardinal Pell’s intention to end the practice of keeping some Holy See assets and funds “off books.”
Becciu and other officials at the Secretariat of State have explained that they objected to the external audit because of the confidentiality required to conduct their work. Recent reporting has also revealed that the Secretariat was then making unauthorized real estate investments with money borrowed from Swiss banks; a fact likely to have been revealed during an external audit.
Senior sources at the Prefecture for the Economy and APSA told CNA that the cancellation of the audit was also explained, in part, by promises that an independent audit of APSA was already planned.
But sources at both APSA and the Prefecture for the Economy said that no external or independent audit of APSA has actually been conducted, and that there has instead been a “good faith undertaking” between APSA and the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF).
Senior sources at the Prefecture for the Economy and APSA also told CNA that efforts to enforce transparency at the Vatican’s central bank and Secretariat of State played a decisive part in the ouster of the first Auditor General, Libero Milone, in 2017.
Milone has stated that he was forced to resign under threat of prosecution because he was pressing for information about the hundreds of millions of euros held off-books by curial bodies.
“Some people got worried that I was about to uncover something I shouldn’t see,” Milone told the Financial Times on November 2. “We were getting too close to information that they wanted to be secret, and they fabricated a situation for me to be thrown out.”
At the time of Milone’s forced departure, Cardinal Becciu defended his role in removing the auditor, saying that he had exceeded his mandate.
“He went against all the rules and was spying on the private lives of his superiors and staff, including me,” Becciu said in 2017. “If he had not agreed to resign, we would have prosecuted him.”
CNA asked Cardinal Becciu for comment on his role in seeking an IOR loan for the purchase of the IDI. The cardinal declined to comment.
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Most of them are heterodox leftists more interested in turning the Church into a secular NGO. Pathetic.
True.
Francis visits one more assault on the People of God. As if they need one more reason to turn from him and turn to Him. No matter how much more Francis justifies himself, many more will refuse to listen. We simply won’t hear any more. If he’s thinking of pulling out his megaphone, we suggest he fugghitaboutit. We’ve already tuned to the gospel channel which isn’t his.
Agreed
McElroy, the man best known for kicking sand on doctrines that offend modern sensibilities (and pelvises!), is now a cardinal. It’s been fairly clear for the past six years or so that Bergoglio is stacking the next conclave with men of this caliber. No surprises here, sadly.
Say Rich: Yeah, I agree. If the next Pope is like Bergoglio, I very much believe there will be a Schism
Yes, and very repulsive.
Um, McElroy? Right… Typical..a great archbishop in LA & other good, faithful candidates… But this guy… Really?
a great archbishop in LA
If Gomez is “great” then the bar is set awfully low.
Wishing the 21 new cardinals to be, God’s blessings.
Amen to that.
The homosexualization of the church proceeds apace.
Is that so? Can you tell me why you consider Card Roche to be pro-homosexual? Or the Indians, South Americans and Africans in the list to be what you label them to be?
Roche and McElroy.
Sure looks like he is “stacking the deck”. Church will have a hard time recovering from this blatant power grab.
It is difficult to say who is the worst pick in this rogue’s gallery of dissidents, leftists, and homophile protectors of pederasts. But my money is on McElroy as absolutely the WORST American prelate whose name is not Cupich.
Precisely.
Typical Francis.
Ignore San Francisco and the orthodox. Promote the heterodox.
McElroy…really?
How much longer, Lord?
Outrageous that he names the most pro-choice bishop in the US a cardinal.
What a slap in the face for faithful Catholics.
McElroy and Roche? That’s the best Francis can do?
Lord, help us.
It says something that such milquetoast liberal prelates like Gomez and Dolan, let alone Chaput and Cordileone, are unacceptable to Francis. Ted McCarrick remains the most influential and powerful Catholic in America.
Looks like a crop of good shepherds and bishops to the College. Well done, San Diego.
The train wreck continues.
My money is on Cardinal Cupich as the likely next pope (not that I like the idea one bit!)
From the Papacy of Paul VI, the steady and faithful helmsman of the Barque of Saint Peter, to the election and brief papacy of the “smiling” John Paul I; from the astounding, dramatic and world altering papal period of the orthodox, secure and crystal clear, faithful teacher of the faith, John Paul II (the Great); from the timid, but courageous yet unjustly maligned, theological guru and faithful papal teacher Pope Benedict XVI (future Doctor of the Church) to the present state of utter papal and eclesial confusion…. HOW IN GOD’S NAME DID WE GET HERE??????
I believe that the confusion is concocted. The Holy Spirit, I believe, is always in charge of our Lord’s Church. Jesus assured us of that, and I do trust him.
You might want to rethink that. The confusion is not concocted, you are simply trying to defend the indefensible. Although it’s a sweeping generalization, it’s safe to say that the Holy Spirit is probably not involved in appointing progressives to positions of authority in the church.
Mal is right. If the confusion isn’t self-inflicted, it can be a stubborn unwillingness to read Pope Francis and other church documents and think for oneself. The Holy Spirit is always with the Body. One ideology or another has nothing to do with it
The Catholic Church in America that McCarrick helped build with its support of active homosexuality is still with us. The Spirit of McCarrick alive!
I was astonished to see McElroy’s elevation but shouldn’t have been. Proof that it really does pay to be a worthless servile flatterer. So glad that for logistical reasons (new installation, Covid) neither of my children had their Confirmation from him. I’m not sure it would even be valid.
Diluting the teachings of the Catholic Church certainly seems to be Francis’ goal. He has been preparing worldwide Catholics for this since his election, and making cardinals of like-minded men instead of those who would stand firm on the foundation of Christ is the means to that end. It’s too bad that he didn’t make good on his promise of a short pontificate. He has created a crisis for the Catholic Church on his own, and seems hell-bent on undermining Her. He tests the Holy Spirit.
If this is true that the Pope passed over Bishop Cordileone over his suspension of Holy Eucharist for Pelosi and chose a Bishop who supports Pro-Abortion “catholics” receiving of the Eucharist then what as the faithful are we to believe any longer? Truth is truth, Belief in the tenets of our faith are Truth, there is no grey area, there is no “walking a fine line”. Sin is sin, we are all sinners but if I have mortal sin on my soul I cannot and should not receive the Eucharist and if I pronounce my Mortal Sin, support it in word and/or action publicly I should not receive and be suspended from receiving. Where are our Cardinals our Bishops our Priests that took vows to shepherd the flock and teach them Truth. Sadly there is schism coming to our Church, it is from those who are not faithful to Church teaching and instead is simply secular, political and evil. What are we to do? Where are we to go if the successor to Peter plays games and favors that which is not good but supports evil?
It’s seriously doubtful that San Francisco excommunication had any influence at all on naming this batch of cardinals, which was probably in the works for weeks, if not months. American politics is interesting to some Americans. Likely not to the Holy Father or most any others in Rome.
I also don’t understand the bellyaching about Pope Francis “packing” the College of Cardinals. Nobody seemed to complain about it heading into the 1990s. It’s a feature of the office. There are no Republican Senators in Rome to clog the drain of moving governance along. Thank goodness.
So what if it has been going ‘along for months’?
The difference in the ‘90’s was not having a Pope who refuses to clarify his own encyclicals and exhortations.
As a Democrat, you have a constant data stream – including a three year corrupt and fraudulent effort to bring down a sitting president from the top politicians in your Party – with your Democrats ‘clogging the drain of moving governance along’.
fake news, sir. I am a political independent and always have been. I can also read Vatican documents and find nothing “confusing” in the Holy Father’s writings. As for so-what, it kind of torpedoes the notion that naming one guy to the College is somehow an insult to other bishops, be they two, four-thousand, or some number in between.
There are books written years ago that have suggested this would happen in the Church, from Clowns of God to the Final Conclave. All along with the heresy taking place in the Church in Germany, in places of So. America and certainly in the USA with Cardinals and Bishops like Cupich, Gregory, McElroy and others and then we have those prelates in power like Dolan who prefer to smile and “brush off” his brethren’s wrong teaching. Wonder why the Church is losing faithful, look no further than those who prefer to teach wrongly; wonder why some diocese and parishes are thriving look no further than their Holy Bishops and Priests who follow Christ!
David, if this is the long predicted turning point of loss of faith, apostasy we know Christ remains with us, within the faithful of the Mystical Body, as you’re aware. Were that worse case scenario to occur we’ll be strengthened by Our Lord to endure. A moment to come ever closer to Christ and to give him greater glory by our steadfast witness.
As it seems now with the Synod on Synodality, its leadership, these questionable appointments et al we’re not, at least those who are swept along – headed for a good place. Except those of us blessed with a living faith. We should, as our mission offer prayer, what we can for the many who are beguiled.
Rod Dreher sums up the 2013 fraud:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds. –St. John Eudes