A fund in which the Vatican’s Secretariat of State has invested tens of millions of euros has links to two Swiss banks investigated or implicated in bribery and money laundering scandals involving more than one billion dollars. The fund is under investigation by Vatican authorities.
The fund, Centurion Global Fund, made headlines this week that it used the Vatican assets under its management to invest in Hollywood films, real estate, and utilities, including investments in movies like Men in Black International and the Elton John biopic Rocketman.
Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra reported that the Centurion Global Fund has raised around 70 million euro in cash, and that the Holy See’s Secretariat of State is the source of at least two-thirds of the fund’s assets. The Vatican’s investment is reported to include funds from the Peter’s Pence collection, intended to support charitable works and the ministry of the Vatican Curia.
Centurion registered a loss of some 4.6% in 2018, while at the same time incurring management fees of roughly 2 million euros, raising questions about the prudential use of Vatican resources.
But beyond losses, a CNA investigation has found that Centurion Global Fund is connected to several institutions linked to allegations of money laundering.
Fund prospectus documents state that all Centurion investment funds are held by Lugano-based Banca Zarattini, a small Swiss bank providing private banking, asset management, and fixed income trading services.
Swiss and U.S. media outlets in 2018 reported that Zarattini was named in indictments filed by U.S. prosecutors in a $1 billion money laundering case, involving the Venezuelan national oil company PDVSA and Venezuela’s president Nicholas Maduro.
The above comes from a Dec. 7 story on the site of Catholic News Agency.
What is the matter with you, Dear Catholic Readers? Do not ever give money to Peter’s Pence, at least not while the vile men presently with access to it are in power. These men have no Catholic shame, no Catholic fear, and no Catholic Faith. Focus on giving to local parish projects, if you must, but re-direct your funds to Traditional Catholic orders, of which there are many (yes, you can do this and not give to the SSPX if you are squeamish this way).
These men need to go.
I vote for christiansatrisk.org from the Knights of Columbus to the poor, or even the church in need. I also did not give to Peter’s Pence this year. I give to the local church and to some diocese projects but would like someone to explain how so many diocese and even priests seem to have hundreds of thousands of dollars saved. I thought they took vows of poverty, and that is why we had retirement funds for religious. I want to give to the church but am still confused about some of this other funding. Can some reporter or fellow Catholic explain? I do not want us to bankrupt the Church. I do not want her to sell our art treasures.
Even more terrible news from the National Catholic Register article on this:
“In his new book, Giudizio Universale (Last Judgement), Italian investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi writes that, according to Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former deputy of the Secretariat of State, only 10%-15% of Peter’s Pence goes to charity. The rest, he said, is used to fund the maintenance of Church structures. Nuzzi’s book reveals that much is opaque, assets are mismanaged, and the annual contribution by the faithful to Peter’s Pence is declining.
In October, the Vatican denied claims Nuzzi makes in his book that the Holy See risks default over its structural deficit. The Vatican hasn’t published a budget since 2015 and has been without an in-house auditor since the previous one, Libero Milone, was ousted in 2017.”
How can the Vatican not have a budget?! Or, if it has one, why is it secret?!
Vatican finances — and much Catholic Church finances — have been goofed up and secretive for a long time. The Securities and Exchange Commission would not permit such financial reporting for a public traded company. Why should we accept this from the Church?
Sadly, not surprising considering how rife with homosexuals the Vatican is.