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Vatican Diary / Even the Foundations Are Being Put through the Wringer

The Chiesa
August 30, 2013

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350584?eng=y

Among the organizations with offices inside the Leonine Walls, only the Foundations escaped the controls of the Financial Information Authority and the Vatican magistracy. Not any more. Moneyval has requested it, and the Holy See has obeyed. Here they are, one by one

VATICAN CITY, August 30, 2013 – If from announcements one moves on to accomplishments, it must be said that the first steps taken by Pope Francis are firmly set in the path opened by his predecessor Benedict XVI.

The motu proprio of last August 8 for the prevention of and fight against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in fact, does nothing other than comply with what was established by Benedict XVI on December 30, 2010, with a previous motu proprio that instituted, for the first time in the Vatican, a Financial Information Authority, AIF, a decisive step toward harmonizing the activities of the Holy See with the international norms against illegal activities in the financial and monetary field.

Among the normative developments of the new pontifical document there is one of particular interest, which very few have noted.

The motu proprio of Benedict XVI established that the new Vatican legislation for fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorism were binding not only for Vatican City-State, but also for the dicasteries of the Roman curia and for all the organisms and institutions belonging to the Holy See, including the controversial Institute for Works of Religion, IOR.

It was only over these organisms, therefore, that the AIF exercised its powers of supervision. And it was also and only over these organisms that the judicial authorities of Vatican City-State had criminal jurisdiction.

The motu proprio of Pope Francis of last August 8 specifies instead that the anti-laundering legislation - and therefore also the controls of the AIF and the jurisdiction of the Vatican magistracy - concern not only the dicasteries of the Roman curia and the organisms and institutions belonging to the Holy See, but also - and this is the new development - the nonprofit organizations with juridical canonical personality and offices in Vatican City-State.

Well then, these latter organizations include the foundations registered in Vatican City-State, which collect and administer real estate and other assets with the aim of supporting the most varied initiatives of the Holy See.

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Some of these foundations are listed in the final section of the Annuario Pontificio, the massive volume of almost 2500 pages bound in red cloth that year after year records in detail the organizational chart of the Roman curia and of the entire institutional structure of the Catholic Church.

A partial list of these foundations was analyzed more than a year ago in this article from www.chiesa:

> Vatican Diary / Thirteen sisters and two stepsisters, each with her dowry

Most of these foundations are affiliated with Vatican organisms and have among their leadership churchmen of various ranks. But some are organized and directed by more or less illustrious laymen.

In the 2013 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, in addition to the IOR which is included in the same section, there is only one foundation that was created before 1978, the "Pio XII per l’apostolato dei laici,” created by pope Eugenio Pacelli in 1953 and reformed by Paul VI in 1972 and 1976 to “support and promote the Catholic works of the apostolate of the laity, especially those of an international character,” connected to the secretariat of state.

Other foundations recorded in the Annuario are the "Fundacja Jana Pawla II," created in 1981 to promote and accomplish “initiatives of sa cientific, religious, and charitable character” connected with the pontificate of the first Polish pope. Since 2007 its president has been Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, head of the pontifical council for the laity, while until 2004 its pro-president was Stanislaw Dziwisz, the storied secretary of John Paul II.

Then there is the Foundation “Giovanni Paolo II per il Sahel," founded in 1984 and entrusted to the pontifical council Cor Unum, to support efforts against drought in nine countries of sub-Saharan Africa. While the Foundation “Nostra Aetate" of 1990 is connected to the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue and is called to help the “scholarly believers of other religions who desire to deepen their understanding of Christianity in Rome” in view of “a future teaching of Christianity in their countries.”

The Foundation “Gioventu Chiesa Speranza" was created in 1991 and in 2007 changed its name to the Foundation “Giovanni Paolo II per la Gioventu," which has among its main responsibilities that of “collaborating in the organization and execution of World Youth Day.” From the beginning, the president of this foundation has been the layman Marcello Bedeschi, originally from the Marche.

Dating back to 1992, for the commemoration of the fifth centenary of the beginning of the evangelization of Latin America, is the foundation “Populorum Progressio," also connected to Cor Unum, providing financial aid for “the overall promotion of the poorest rural communities.”

The foundation "Centesimus Annus - Pro Pontifice” was set up in 1993 and had its statutes renewed in 2004, and "proposes to collaborate in the study and spread of Christian social doctrine, as presented in particular in the encyclical by John Paul II 'Centesimus Annus,'" as well as to “promote the raising of funds to support the activity of the Holy See.” Its administrative board is made up of nine laymen, one of whom is designated by the administration of the patrimony of the apostolic see, seven called by cooptation, and one chosen by the assembly of members.

Currently this foundation is headed by the Spaniard Domingo Sugranyes Bickel, and its administrative board includes high-sounding names like Grazia Rizzo Bottiglieri, leader of the shipping firm of the same name, Princess Camilla Borghese Khevenhuller, steel magnate Federico Falck, Prince Alois zu Lowenstein, Count Lorenzo Rossi di Montelera, a former president of the same foundation, and Joseph Zahra of Malta, recently appointed by Pope Francis as head of the commission reporting on the Vatican's finances. The college of auditors includes Cavaliere Piero Melazzini, president of the Banca Popolare di Sondrio.

Dating back to 2004 are the foundation “Il Buon Samaritano," connected to the pontifical council for the pastoral care of health care workers, with the purpose of “supporting financially the neediest of the infirm, in particular those sick with AIDS,” and "Per i beni e le attivita artistiche della Chiesa," now connected to the pontifical council for culture, whose activity “is embodied above all in the organization of artistic and cultural events, as an example of the utilization in an ecclesial sense of the historical and artistic patrimony.

Currently the administrative board of this last foundation is headed by Cavaliere Emilio Acerna (of the Italian state-run company Fintecna), while the vice-president is Renato Poletti (director general of the ministry of infrastructure and transportation). Other members are Count Aldo Brachetti Peretti, an oilman, and Luigi Roth, president of the Italian electricity company Terna. The college of auditors includes former auditor general of the Italian state Andrea Monorchio.

In 2007 the Foundation “San Matteo" was created in memory of Vietnamese Cardinal Francois-Xavier Van Thuan, closely connected to the pontifical council for justice and peace of which Van Thuan was president. Its aims include that of fostering “the spread of the social doctrine of the Church according to the guidelines expressed in the 'Compendium of social doctrine.'" Its administrative board includes Prince Prospero Colonna, Ettore Quadrani (of Fidimpresa Lazio), Carl Albert Anderson of the Knights of Columbus, Mauro Miccio (board member of the electricity company ENEL and member of "Regnum Christi"), and Polish television producer Jan Przemyslaw Hauser.

In 2010 the Foundation “Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI” was set up to promote the understanding and study of theology including with the annual awarding of the Ratzinger Prize. The president of its administrative board is Monsignor Giuseppe Antonio Scotti, adjunct secretary of the pontifical council for social communications, the vice-president is Paolo Cipriani, who recently resigned as director general of the IOR.

Ihe last foundation listed in the Annuario is that of "Scienza e Fede - STOQ" - set up on January 10, 2012 at the proposal of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the pontifical council for culture. The acronym STOQ stands for “Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest,” a program aimed at dialogue among science, philosophy, and theology, carried out by a few of the pontifical universities in Rome with the patronage of the Vatican and support from the Templeton Foundation. Its president is the previously mentioned Renato Poletti, while the board of directors includes Gianfranco Zoppas, of the homonymous dynasty of Venetian industrialists.

In perusing the Annuario Pontificio one discovers that, in addition to the foundations present in the final section of the volume, there are two others connected to the pontifical academies. Since the Annuario of 1994, in fact, there has appeared the Foundation for the Academy of Social Sciences and since that of 1995 the Foundation "Vitae Mysterium" for the Academy for Life.

Not added to the Annuario, however, is the Foundation “Aiuto alla Chiesa che soffre,” created in 2011 and connected to the congregation for the clergy. Its executive president is the German Johannes Heereman von Zuydtwyck, a former president of the Knights of Malta in Germany and the father of the current vicar general of the Legionaries of Christ, Sylvester Heereman.

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But this last foundation is not the only one among those registered at the Vatican, even though it is not cited in the Annuario.

A complete list of them, updated to the end of 2011, was made known in the annexes to the voluminous report drawn up by the inspectors of Moneyval and published in July of 2012.

Annex no. 36 of the Moneyval report lists 48 organizations with juridical personality inscribed in the records of the Governorate of Vatican City-State.

On this list are the IOR, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican health care fund, the pension fund, the Luigi Gedda Institute of Genetic Medicine, the Vatican film archive, the international pontifical Marian academy, the pontifical academy of theology, the Saint Peter Society and the Saints Peter and Paul Association.

But as for the foundations, in addition to those present in the Annuario Pontificio, in the Moneyval report there are others placed under the supervision of the secretariat of state.

These are "Pro Africa," "Papa Giovanni XXIII Premio internazionale per la pace," "Mondo Unito," "Notre Dame de la Paix di Yamoussoukro" in Ivory Coast, "San Tommaso," "Giovanni XXIII per i preti anziani," "Villa Nazareth," "Spes Viva," this last one called until 2008 “Maruzza Lefebvre d’Ovidio.”

The secretariat of state is also responsible for the supervision of the three foundations that oversee the three Vatican residences for priests: the famous "Domus Sanctae Marthae," where the pope now resides, the “Domus Internationalis Paolo VI" on Via della Scrofa, where Jorge Mario Bergoglio stayed as a cardinal during his visits to Rome, and the "Domus Romana sacerdotalis" on Via Traspontina. The director of all three is Monsignor Battista Ricca, appointed by the pope last June 15 as prelate of the IOR, who as director of Santa Marta is also a legal representative of the Foundation "Casa San Benedetto" that manages the residences for former nuncios in the Palazzo dei Convertendi on Via dell’Erba.

The secretariat of state also has supervision over the autonomous Foundation "Bambino Gesu," which raises funds for the famous children's hospital of the same name, owned by the Vatican, over the Foundation "Paolo VI per la cultura cattolica in Italia" set up by pope Giovanni Battista Montini in 1974 in support of the newly created national Catholic newspaper “Avvenire," of the Foundation "Santa Giuseppina Bakhita," of the Foundation "Benedetto XVI per il matrimonio e la famiglia," in support of the homonymous pontifical institute, and of the Fondazione dell’Azione Cattolica Italiana in support of the causes of beatification of its members.

The Pontifical Lateran University also has two foundations: the "Associazione internazionale Lateranense" and the "Civitas Lateranensis".

The congregation "de Propaganda Fide," for its part, has supervision over two foundations that support the two priestly residences that accommodate clerics from mission territories who are studying in Rome: the "Domus missionalis" and the "Domus urbaniana".

Reporting directly to the Governorate of Vatican City-State are the Foundation "Arte e cultura," involved in raising funds for projects of the Vatican museums, the Foundation “San Michele Arcangelo," which has the aim of raising financing to compensate for the costs of civil and security protection in Vatican City-State, and the Foundation “Cardinale Salvatore De Giorgi," created to provide pastoral care for vocations and for the cultural and charitable works of some of the parishes of Puglia, the birthplace of the cardinal who gives his name to the same foundation, archbishop emeritus of Palermo and a member of the commission of cardinals instituted by Benedict XVI to investigate the leaking of confidential news from the offices of the Holy See.

The list published by Moneyval also included the foundation “Latinitas," which was suppressed afterward in favor of the pontifical academy of the same name.

In its report, Moneyval revealed that in the IOR there were 50 account holders identifiable in canonical foundations and asked that the foundations be explicitly placed under the supervision of the Financial Information Authority, on a par with the IOR and the APSA.

Specifically, paragraph 326 of the report states:

"As these foundations play a significant role in the financing of Vatican City-State activities and the social and religious works of the Holy See, and as such must be above all suspicion, the FIA should, as a matter of principle and out of effectiveness considerations, have undisputable access to all relevant information held by these foundations."

This request, then, is also part of the explanation of the motu proprio of Pope Francis of last August 8.

In order to avoid any doubt that behind the foundations, not few in number, that have arisen in the shadow of the dome of St. Peter's there could also be even one in danger of being used not for its declared charitable ends but for other uncommendable financial operations.

 

 

 

 

 




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