UNITED STATES
Providence Journal
BY DONALD D. BREED
Special to The Journal
“GOD’S BANKERS: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican,” by Gerald Posner. Simon & Schuster. 728 pages. $30.
“Money is useful to carry out many things,” Pope Francis has said, “but when your heart is attached to it, it destroys you.” As the pope well knows, attachment to money has wreaked much destruction in his own Catholic Church. This is related in a stunning exposé by investigative reporter Gerald Posner.
As exciting as a mystery thriller, “God’s Bankers” starts with an unsolved murder in London and races from one financial scandal to another, explaining how monetary considerations led several popes to disgraceful moral transgressions. It’s long, but the history is so long and intricate that a reader will agree that none of it could be left out. And there’s more than one murder.
The church’s zeal in raising money goes back centuries, whether to finance the lavish lifestyles of some popes or to finance the Crusades. One of the schemes was selling indulgences, which riled Martin Luther and led to the Protestant Reformation.
In the 19th century, the unification of Italy caused the church to lose the Papal States and the income they had raised. But in 1929, after much negotiation, Pius XI concluded the Lateran Pacts with the Fascist government under Benito Mussolini, an avowed atheist. The cynical agreement defined the 108.7 acres in Rome as a sovereign state, and gave the Vatican a big chunk of cash as compensation for Papal States. In return, the pope endorsed the Fascist government.
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