False names on bank accounts, hidden funds transfers, ties to Mafia moneymen and flagrant violations of international banking laws. No, this isn’t the plot to some John Grisham novel, this is business as usual in Vatican City.
About two months ago Italian authorities seized about 30 million dollars in Vatican funds, citing violation of anti-money laundering laws. It came out a day or two ago that these seizures, which the Vatican had characterized as misunderstandings, are most likely going to lead to charges of money laundering. This comes at the same time that Sicilian authorities have stated that one of the Vatican banks has been involved in at least one case of washing money for the Mafia.
It would be nice to say that this was a shock, but it is hardly a new phenomenon for the Roman Catholic Church to be involved in banking scandals.
Paul 'The Gorilla' Marcinkus
Have you ever heard the name Paul “The Gorilla” Marcinkus? No, he isn’t a professional wrestler. Paul Marcinkus was a Catholic priest. Born in Cicero, Illinois, Marcinkus would parlay his humble beginnings into a life of impressive political power. He became a priest in Illinois, but went on to study canon law at Gregorian University in Vatican City. From here be began his rise to power, befriending several popes years before they were elected. Marcinkus gained a reputation as a staunch supporter of papal authority and, even after being appoint an archbishop, was the unofficial bodyguard of the pope. The Gorilla nickname came from the fact that Marcinkus was a very large and intimidating figure. He even saved Pope John Paul II from an assassination attempt.
12 Comments
You took us on a long walk in order to mention child rape.
I thought maybe someone would be mentioning today is the day that obama care may be found to be unconstitutional.
Meaning tax payer money in the near future would not fund abortion or euthansia.
Or baby murder or whacking grampa.
I merely mean to point out that it is ironic that people who protect serial rapists are expected to do their banking in a legal manner. Don’t you find that odd, too?
As for the challenge to Obama’s healthcare initiative, it is a little early to say it will be declared unconstitutional. It has several more challenges in court, and really no major decision on the matter will be eminent until the Supreme Court says they will hear the case.
Maybe if people, like yourself, were a little more concerned about the status of a sovereign country that defends child rapists something might be done about it. Or you could just keep going to church and giving them money.
well the banking of the vatican is about as much business of ours as i dont know the finances of any of the sovereign native american casinos throughout America?
what entity exactly would have jurisdiction of investigate the banking of the vatican?
you wrote an article so you could mention horrible injustices done to children – why not just make that the point of the article? ill have to check back but i dont remember you writing this way in the past.
there are a billion catholics on this planet – and we are deeply hurt and offended by the actions of few who committed these atrocities on children.
what would you have us do abandon our religion?
I’m sorry, but are you comparing the plight of Native Americans, people European colonists utterly decimated and forced on to barren chunks of land, who run private businesses for profit that ARE regulated by U.S. Federal law and MEET the requirements of those laws, to Vatican City, a sovereign nation that runs a state-sponsored religion which accepts (actually requires – a little thing called tithing) members’ money and apparently has no financial oversight?
Aside from that bizarre absurdity, I must once again point out two things. First off, the Vatican has repeatedly violated INTERNATIONAL LAW with their banking practices. Banco Ambrosiano was based in Italy. The money laundering charges involve Sicilian and Italian banks. The counterfeit U.S. Bonds obviously involves The United States.
Second, you (if you are Catholic, as it appears you are from your previous response) CONTRIBUTE to this entity, the Roman Catholic Church, which is perpetrating these outrages. I would hope that you would be very, very concerned with the actions of the leaders of an entity that you both spiritually believe in and financially contribute to! Hell, if you were invested in Enron, I think you would have been very concerned with the conduct of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, if only because of your financial investment and your potential to reap benefits with the group. In the case of the Catholic Church, your stakes in the matter should be much higher, as you believe this is your path towards truth and salvation.
I have addressed the molestation issue before. http://americannewspost.com/?p=843 You’ll note I don’t bother coddling these people. I don’t think coddling child molesters is an acceptable way of dealing with them, and I doubt you do as well. My mention of the child rapists in this piece about banking misconduct was to point out the insanity of expecting an institution that protects molesters to have any qualms about ‘white collar’ crimes like money laundering. It is like being shocked that Al Capone, a serial murder and leader of a band of killers and extortionists, also failed to file his taxes.
You don’t have to leave your faith ‘Without’, but you need to accept that the leaders of your religion have (and apparently still are – http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BA13U20101211) protecting child molesters from legal justice. What you should do is demand these criminals cease and desist running your religion.
first off the indians screwed us when we had to buy manhatten twice – one tribe sold us it when another tribe actually owned it so we paid twice –
so yes indians claimed land as theirs meaning they fought with and cheated other tribes. so they arent angels and to group differing tribes together in saying the us screwed over native Americans is silly.
and if we hadnt expanded our nation the western US would be either french, spanish, or mexican etc – take your pick.
i am glad it is all the United States.
brought that up because the last time i was at an indian casino – which pay no taxes whatsoever allowing them to expand build gas stations, golf courses etc – there was a very prominent sign stating you are no longer on US property this is the sovereign land of the ojibwa tribe and are now subject to their laws / regs etc.
so as a sovereign entity i thought the vatican would have limited interference from any one country.
no i am not familiar with international banking laws – who enforces them the UN? -a joke of an organization.
interesting i compare two sovereign entities indian land and the vatican and you compare enron with the church and i am bizzare?
as for the Church i too am not thrilled with some in leadership – however the majority that i have met have been outstanding people and i cannot allow the few to corrupt my belief in God and the goodness of the billion catholics on this planet.
if you offered a solution in which the greatness of the Catholic church, its several hundred non for profit hospitals and social services would not be lumped together with a few sick individuals and the few that have protected them i bet many of us would listen willingly with open ears and hearts.
You say:
And I said in the post previous:
How is that confusing? You want a solution to you problem, first recognize there is a problem. Second, demand that those who protect child molesters and launder money in your religious institution are removed.
And lastly, you might want to read the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. I never mention that Native Americans pay taxes to the federal government, but they do have certain responsibilities to the United States
“The money laundering charges involve Sicilian and Italian banks. The counterfeit U.S. Bonds obviously involves The United States.”
sorry i missed the $14.5 m of counterfeit bonds form the article.
to me international law seems like the wild west with no one entity have any real authority or any resolutions having little teeth or traction.
thats why we should keep our military strong.
You say:
And I said in the post previous:
How is that confusing? You want a solution to you problem, first recognize there is a problem. Second, demand that those who protect child molesters and launder money in your religious institution are removed. Bingo! A solution. Voice of the Faithful (http://www.votf.org/) is a Catholic organization you might want to look into if you’re honestly interested in reforming your church.
And lastly, you might want to read the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. I never mention that Native Americans pay taxes to the federal government – merely that they are beholden to it. It is true, though, that every Native American in the United States pays Federal Income Tax. If Native American governments were truly sovereign then they would work with the United States through the Secretary of State and not the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They have to petition the Federal government for their federal tax money back in order to build infrastructure like schools. They don’t even own their land. It is being held ‘in trust’ for them by the U.S. government.
As far as being ‘screwed’ by Native Americans over the purchase of Manhattan, unless your last name is Minuet or your Dutch family came here in the 1600s, you didn’t get screwed out of anything. I find Rush Limbaugh as amusing as the next guy, but it isn’t the best source for historical data. The British Empire, from which the United States is descended through the American Revolution, acquired Manhattan (part of the New Amsterdam settlement at the time) in the Treaty of Westminster at the end of the Third Dutch-Anglo War in 1674. So Britain got New Amsterdam from the Dutch via treaty, and we got New York from the British via the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
Its hard to take you seriously on the Church I mean given this article “the 9/11 hijackers were not muslims” (http://americannewspost.com/?p=1339)
Shouldnt this article be titled “the Vatican bank fraudsters and abusive priests were not Catholics?”
I dont have extensive knowledge of tribal – US relations – but I think that 1975 act is outdated. I can only confirm that while at this casino (as well as other casinos in Michigan and Wisconsin) it was made very clear via well posted signage that patrons of the “said tribe” casino were NO longer under the jurisdiction of the US Federal Government or the State of Michigan/Wisconsin and WERE under the jurisdiction of tribal laws and regulations.
To me as an American citizen that is a sovereign entity.
The point of the manhatten story is that the indians were traders, barters and all tribes were not the same meaning some were honest to deal with while others cheated – (again they werent all angels or all victims) sort of like the rest of human kind.
Who was screwed is of little matter as we didnt declare independence until 1776 – and obviously NY was and had been under colonial control for a number of years at that point. So the first significant/relevant purchase of prime land for trading or shipping in what would become America was paid for twice.
And FYI columbus may have brought small pox over (which europe got from the arabs) indians gave us syphillis which orginated in south america. The misconception that humans could inhabit an entire continent without significant disease is as silly as the naming an article “the 9/11 hijackers…”
“In a stunning ten-page declaration recently submitted to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, veteran attorney Donald H. Steier stated that his investigations into claims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have uncovered vast fraud and that his probes have revealed that many accusations are completely false.
Counselor Steier has played a role in over one hundred investigations involving Catholic clergy in Los Angeles.In his missive Mr. Steier relayed, “One retired F.B.I. agent who worked with me to investigate many claims in the Clergy Cases told me, in his opinion, about ONE-HALF of the claims made in the Clergy Cases were either entirely false or so greatly exaggerated that the truth would not have supported a prosecutable claim for childhood sexual abuse” (capital letters are his).
Mr. Steier also added, “In several cases my investigation has provided objective information that could not be reconciled with the truthfulness of the subjective allegations. In other words, in many cases objective facts showed that accusations were false.”
Mr. Steier’s declaration is a stunner. He is as experienced as anyone in studying the claims of abuse against Catholic clergy in the Los Angeles area. Also among Steier’s eye-opening statements:
•”I have had accused priest clients take polygraph examinations performed by very experienced former law enforcement experts, including from L.A.P.D., the Sheriff Department, and F.B.I. In many cases the examinations showed my clients’ denial of wrongdoing was ‘truthful,’ and in those cases I offered in writing to the accuser to undergo a similar polygraph examination at my expense. In every case the accuser refused to have his veracity tested by that investigative tool, which is routinely used by intelligence agencies.”
•”I am aware of several plaintiffs who testified that they realized that they had been abused only after learning that some other person – sometimes a relative – had received a financial settlement from the Archdiocese or another Catholic institution.”
•”In my investigation of many cases, I have seen the stories of some accusers change significantly over time, sometimes altering years, locations, and what activity was alleged – in every case, the changes seemed to have enabled or enhanced claims against my clients, or drastically increased alleged damages.”
•”I am aware that false memories can also be planted or created by various psychological processes, including by therapists who might be characterized as ‘sexual victim advocates,’ if not outright charlatans.”
•”Most of the approximately seven hundred psychiatric ‘Certificates of Merit’ filed in these Clergy Cases, as required by [California] Code of Civil Procedure § 340.1, were signed by the same therapist.” (!) (Note: A “Certificate of Merit” from “a licensed mental health practitioner” is required in California before filing an abuse lawsuit.)
Steier signed and submitted the declaration “under penalty of perjury” November 30, 2010. Los Angeles County Superior Court officially filed it at 11 a.m. on December 15, 2010. (Images of Steier’s declaration: pages 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10.)
Steier also took aim at the outspoken advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests):
They maintain an interactive Internet website with a user ‘Forum’ and ‘Message Board,’ among other features, where people can share detailed information between alleged victims pertaining to identity of specific alleged perpetrators, their alleged ‘modus operandi,’ and other details of alleged molestation. In effect, a person who wanted to make a false claim of sexual abuse by a priest could go to that website and find a ‘blueprint’ of factual allegations to make that would coincide with allegations made by other people. Law enforcement also uses the S.N.A.P. website to attempt to locate new victims and allegations against Catholic priests.”
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/dave-pierre/2011/01/02/wheres-media-la-atty-declares-many-abuse-accusations-against-catholic-p
Well, When it comes to false accusations and potential extortion for money, you are correct. I also have read that many of the accusations against some of the priests were false and/or purposely way exaggerated and twisted into someting sinister for extortion purposes. In the same way, if you talk to any detectives or law enforcement people, the general opinion is that about 50% of domestic violence accusations, rape accusations, and requests for restraining orders are either false, way exaggerated into non reality to ‘ Get even with someone, ‘ or unnecessay. Take your pick. Unfortunately, most of these false or highly exaggerated claims are against men (some are against women) and undermine the other many claims made by women (some by men) that are true.
The posting above is in agreement and response to the posting by Turner right below.