VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
The President of the IOR has resigned from his post in light of the tensions over the Saint Rafael case and the Vatican transparency law. He will be succeeded by Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz
ANDREA TORNIELLI
Vatican City
Ettore Gotti Tedeschi has resigned from his post as President of the IOR, the Institute for the Works of Religion. He did so during a meeting of the Supervisory Council, the Vatican bank’s administrative council for the laity, before a no-confidence vote was passed. He is to be succeeded by Vice President Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz. The reason behind the Italian banker and economist’s decision seem to be the internal tensions that have been growing over the past months over the new transparency law which was supposed to get the Holy See onto the white-list of financially virtuous countries.
Gotti Tedeschi was appointed as President of the Vatican bank in 2009, to advance financial transparency work, as Benedict XVI had requested. A few months after his arrival, the IOR became involved in an inquiry carried out by the Roman magistrate into some money transfers: Gotti Tedeschi had decided to collaborate with the judges, agreeing to answer all questions without the need for any international letters of request.
A communiqué issued by the Holy See Press Office says that “after deliberation, the Board decided unanimously on a no- confidence vote against the President, on the grounds that he failed to carry out functions that were of primary importance to his office.”
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