The Institute for the Works of Religion, often referred to as the Vatican Bank, made a net profit of 29.6 million euros (about $A47.5 million) in 2022, a 63 per cent increase from the profit reported in the previous year (18.1 million euros), according to its annual report. Source: NCR Online.
In the report, which was released by the Vatican on June 6, Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, president of the bank’s board of supervisors, said among the important achievements the past year was the recovery of 17.2 million euros ($A27.6 million) “which had been stolen from the institute before 2014” and returned “after a lengthy legal process”.
“Further successes are expected in 2023 in the fight against past abuses,” he added.
While the report did not specify what funds it had recovered, a former president of the Vatican bank and his lawyer had been found guilty by a Vatican tribunal in 2021 of money laundering and embezzling millions of euros from the sale of Vatican-owned buildings.
Angelo Caloia, who served as president of the Institute for the Works of Religion from 1999 to 2009, his lawyer, Gabriele Liuzzo, and Liuzzo’s son, Lamberto Liuzzo, were all sentenced and fined for their involvement in skimming profits from the sale of Vatican properties. They were ordered to return to the Vatican bank a total of about 17 million euros ($A27.3 million) frozen in their Vatican bank accounts at the beginning of the investigation.
“The appropriate culture and level of competence, which had lacked so often in the past, were introduced and developed” at the bank,” Mr De Franssu said. “Ethics has now become a constant focus, be it in the way assets are managed or the institute is run.”
The bank held assets worth 5.2 billion euros ($A8.3 billion) at year’s end, which included deposits and investments from more than 12,700 clients – mostly Catholic religious orders around the world, Vatican offices and employees and Catholic clergy.
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Vatican bank reports increased profit in 2022, recovery of stolen funds (By Carol Glatz, CNS via NCR Online)
