VATICAN CITY
L’Espresso
Real estate, stock, gold and currency assets worth at least $ 10 billion. From APSA to IOR, an overview of all the businesses within the Pope’s holdings
DI EMILIANO FITTIPALDI
If money is the dung of the devil, the Vatican seems to observe the proverb “pecunia non olet”: Over the centuries, priests, bishops and cardinals piled up bullions and gold coins, banknotes of any currency and immense real estate assets. While it is almost impossible to quantify accurately a wealth that has taken on biblical proportions, L’Espresso managed to read a significant amount of top-secret documents, and can now, for the first time, shed light on a big part of God’s treasure.
Sifting through a secret report by Cosea, the reference Commission set up to assess the organization of the economic structure of the Vatican, one learns, for example, that “the many Vatican institutions manage proprietary assets and assets belonging to third parties worth a declared value of € 9-10 billion, 8 to 9 billion of which are invested in securities, and one in real estate. From the audit of the balance sheet APSA (the organization that manages the Apostolic estate) never disclosed, and of some confidential notes undersigned by the new president of IOR, Jean Baptist de Franssu, we derived that a bulk of the treasure is kept hidden by APSA itself, as unlike IOR, it has never released any information about its holdings.
The treasure hunt kicks off at Place Vendôme, in the very center of Paris. Just a few yards away from the Ritz Hotel, in rue de Rome, a French subsidiary of APSA holds some of the most prestigious properties in the area. Sopridex SA had many famous tenants (like François Mitterrand), and has currently assets recorded on its balance sheet topping € 46.8 million. Its staff includes “a director, three employees, cleaning staff,” and as many as “16 porters”.
APSA controls itself other ten Swiss companies (among which mysterious Diversa SA, Immobiliere Sur Collonge and l’Immobiliere Florimont), which, together with Profima SA, manage property and land in the Swiss confederation and all over Europe. Their assets sum up to € 18 million. “Bear in mind that historically APSA undervalues its assets in the balance sheet for tax purposes,” said a qualified source within the financial organization headquartered in Palazzo Apostolico. “Moreover, those are non consolidated Swiss companies, and could therefore hold assets for much higher amounts than those they report.”
If on the one hand, it is no secret that Profima was incorporated in Lausanne in 1926, and that it served Pope Pius XI after he decided to hide abroad part of the “compensation” paid out to the Catholic Church following the signing of the Lateran Treaty with the fascist regime, on the other, its holding company Diversa is virtually unknown. Incorporated in Lugano in August 1942, its chair is currently Gilles Crettol. The Swiss lawyer runs the Pope’s businesses on the Northern side of the Alps: his name pops in almost all of the other Swiss companies of the Pope’s estate.
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