VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud
Vatican City, February 18 – Pope Francis and his eight most senior cardinals were given an update Tuesday by an internal commission examining the troubled Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) – informally known as the Vatican bank. The eight-member College of Cardinals is examining the troubled bank with an eye to its future, and met “in an atmosphere of considerable interest from the cardinals,” who asked “probing questions, to understand the subject well,” said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi. The cardinals, sitting as an advisory board, are considering the future direction of the Vatican bank, which has faced decades of allegations of wrongdoing, including money laundering. Lombardi said the “mission” of the bank is also being reviewed in the context of “the problems that there may have been in the past…(and seeking) some possible guidelines for the renewal” of the bank. No decisions have been made, but the report was “ample and detailed” and touched on its financial and economic performance as well as its social functions in the world, added Lombardi. Pope Francis, who set up the special investigative pontifical commission last June to review the Vatican bank, has not expressed any opinion on its future, said Lombardi.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.