Vatican Property Empire in London “uncovered”

By Andrea Tornielli
Vatican Insider
January 22, 2013

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/vaticano-vatican-vaticano-21576/

British daily newspaper The Guardian published an article today on the list of prestigious Vatican properties in London. From the Bulgari store on New Bond Street to a building on the corner of St. James’ Square and Pall Mall. The real owners of these extremely valuable London properties are not easy to trace as the individuals identified as reference points for getting information on the identity of the buildings’ owners hid behind the right to keep this information confidential when the newspaper asked questions. The Guardian article goes on list a number of similar properties in Paris, suggesting that this real estate empire was built using millions of lira (the equivalent of 65 million Euros in today’s money) “originally handed over by Mussolini in return for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929,” as compensation for the properties the Italian State confiscated from the Pope 59 years prior to this. Thanks to this money which was invested by those in charge of the Vatican’s finances at the time, the Vatican now finds itself in possession of 500 million pounds sterling, according to The Guardian’s estimates.

The director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, had the following comment to make in response to the newspaper’s claims: “I am astonished by the article published in The Guardian; it seems the person who wrote it is living in the clouds. This information has been public knowledge for 80 years now. The newspaper has revealed nothing that was not already known.” Lombardi advised people to read a booklet written by the dean of Italian Vatican correspondents, Benny Lai (the only one who has an accreditation card in the Vatican Press Office signed by the then Substitute to the Secretary of State, Giovanni Battista Montini, who later became Pope Paul VI). Last year, Lai, who has written a number of books on the subject, published a small volume entitled “Vatican Finances”. The volume which was available for the public to read, was in Lombardi’s hand as he commented on The Guardian’s article to journalists.

The spokesman concluded : “The extraordinary section of the Administration of the Property of the Holy See (APSA), appears in the Vatican phone book.” This is the section that manages Vatican properties, allowing the Holy See to maintain its organisations and offices.