Vatican Bank 'allowed clergy to act as front for Mafia'

Source: The Independent

The Vatican Bank is under new scrutiny in a case involving money-laundering allegations that led police to seize €23m (£19.25m) in September.

The Vatican calls the seizure of assets a "misunderstanding" and expresses optimism it will be quickly cleared up. But fresh court documents show that prosecutors say the Vatican Bank deliberately flouted anti-laundering laws "with the aim of hiding the ownership, destination and origin of the capital". The documents also reveal investigators' suspicions that clergy may have acted as fronts for corrupt businessmen and Mafia.

The documents pinpoint two transactions that have not been reported: one in 2009 involving the use of a false name, and another in 2010 in which the Vatican Bank withdrew €650,000 from an Italian bank account but ignored bank requests to disclose where the money was headed.

The new allegations of financial impropriety could not come at a worse time for the Vatican, already hit by revelations that it sheltered paedophile priests. The corruption probe has given new hope to Holocaust survivors who tried unsuccessfully to sue in the United States, alleging that Nazi loot was stored in the Vatican Bank.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vatican-bank-allowed-clergy-to-act-as-front-for-mafia-2158692.html

...centuries will it take?

:sarcasm:

this is one of the main reasons my Sisilian grandparents left Italy.

Either you got shaked down by the mafia or you got shaked down by the vadican.

One wears a dark suit and glassed, the other wears a white gown and a funny hat.

didn't even wiggle.

on this and a mixed bag of all their other nefarious activities/violations.

the catholic church ain't the only one consorting with the mafia.

Ptooooey.

it`s the oldest criminal organization in history

The Vatican did something despicable? Quick, someone alert the media.

I believe that film was referring to Pope John Paul I, who only lasted 33 days. I guess he had some issues with the Vatican Bank's business practices.

Just another conspiracy theory. Blah blah blah.