VATICAN CITY
ABC News
David Wright
ROME — Today it was more than just a routine personnel matter for Pope Benedict XVI to name a new president of the Vatican Bank: German lawyer Ernst von Freyberg. The appointment may well be the last of the pope’s papacy, filling a vacancy created a year ago in the midst of a money laundering investigation.
The job of “God’s Banker” has long been a tricky one. Conspiracy theorists have always been fond of the Vatican Bank. And with good reason.
The Institute for Works of Religion (as it’s officially called) has been linked to plenty of bad guys over the years, including mobsters, Nazis and Freedom Fighters.
“God’s Bank” (as it’s long been known) has been so fraught with scandal that last month, citing concerns about possible money laundering, Italy’s Central Bank stopped all bankcard payments at the Vatican.
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