Fr. Raymond de Souza: The truth and fiction about Vatican wealth Michelangelo’s Pieta at St. Peter’s Basilica. Photo from Wikipedia Fr. Raymond de Souza: The truth and fiction about Vatican wealth By Fr. Raymond J. de Souza February 10, 2021
It was, evident to everyone who knows anything about Vatican finances, a monstrous lie from the beginning. Or at least a monstrous mistake. But that it was believed by many is an indication that what a great number think they know about the Vatican is not true.
The story was eye-catching. In December 2020, the Australian financial crime agency AUSTRAC (Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre) reported that between 2014 and 2020, $2.3 billion (AU) had been transferred from the Vatican to Australia in some 40,000 transactions.
Casino giant Crown Resorts faces an independent review of its operations in Melbourne, while Western Australia’s gaming regulator will examine the damning NSW report.
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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican and the Australian Catholic Church have both denied knowledge of transfers worth US$1.8 billion which Australia’s financial watchdog says have been sent from Rome to Australia in the past seven years.
FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis delivers his traditional Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi speech to the city and the world virtually from inside the Hall of Blessings at the Vatican, December 25, 2020. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
“That amount of money and that number of transfers did not leave the Vatican City,” a senior Vatican official with knowledge of the city-state’s finances said on Wednesday.
Cardinal Pell: Vatican financial reform making ‘massive’ progress
Australian Cardinal George Pell is pictured in a screen grab addressing a Zoom webinar on transparency in the Catholic Church Jan. 14, 2020. Cardinal Pell said recent measures to centralize the church’s checks and balances represent “massive progress” in Pope Francis’ financial reform efforts. (CNS screen grab/Zoom)
By Junno Arocho Esteves • Catholic News Service • Posted January 20, 2021
ROME (CNS) While questions remain about dubious financial dealings in the past and about future uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vatican’s steady move toward financial transparency is on the right track, said Cardinal George Pell, former prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy.