VATICAN CITY
The Voice of Russia
An ad-hock investigation commission is due to report to Pope Francis I later this month on its probe into financial irregularities at the Vatican Bank. The Pontiff decided to put an end to fraud at the Institute for the Works of Religion, which is the official name of the Roman Curia’s financial centre, right on his election in spring this year. The decision was prompted by advice from Italy’s Finance Guard, which has been conducting its own probe into the Vatican Bank fraud since early this year. The investigation caused “voluntary resignations” in summer of the Vatican Bank Director Paolo Cipriani, Deputy Director Massimo Tulli, as well as about a dozen of lower-rank officials.
The Vicar of Christ said during his Sunday Mass that it would be good to “tie corrupt officials to a rock and throw them in the sea”, which is a quote from St. Luke the Evangelist. It is the first time that the Pontiff has made such a peremptory statement, which is evidence of his irritation at the fact that corruption and profit have taken root in the Catholic Church, and is also an admission that graft has reached epidemic proportions that call for interventions and drastic moves by secular and clerical authorities.
Alas, it is human to be greedy, and man gives in to temptation, that is why Pope Francis called attention to that deadly sin, the general director of the Russian Political Information Centre, Alexei Mukhin, has told the Voice of Russia. Experience has shown that neither the super-hard measures, like shooting bribe-takers in China, nor attempted persuasion have proved helpful in extirpating that ugly phenomenon, he added.
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