UNITED STATES
Fund for Investigative Journalism

Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church, by Jason Berry, has won the prestigious IRE Book Award for 2011. Berry wrote the book with a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. The judges of the annual awards contest sponsored by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) praised the book with these comments: “Author Jason Berry delves deeply into a topic few have examined – the secretive finances of the Roman Catholic Church. Using voluminous background research that takes the reader back centuries, Berry uncovers abuses of the trust of church members by influential bishops who diverted funds intended for philanthropic purposes into accounts used for plugging Vatican operating deficits or defending priests accused of pedophilia. Berry details how the modern church is systematically closing churches in poorer parishes while at the same time opening churches in affluent suburbs…