‘We walk together’: U.S. bishops reflect on last global session of Synod on Synodality

Rome Newsroom, Oct 5, 2020 / 10:30 am (CNA).- Enrico Crasso, a longtime investment manager for the Vatican, has defended his stewardship of Church funds controlled by the Secretariat of State, saying investement he made were “no secret.” 

Crasso, who worked with the Vatican starting in 1993, was named in reports last month alleging that Cardinal Angelo Becciu used millions of euros of Vatican charity funds in speculative and risky investments, including “loans” for projects owned and operated by Becciu’s brothers. 

In an Oct. 4 interview with Corriere della Sera, Crasso denied managing “confidential” accounts for Becciu’s family.

On Sept. 24, Becciu was asked by Pope Francis to resign from his Vatican job and from the rights of cardinals following the report. In a press conference, the cardinal distanced himself from Crasso, saying he did not follow his actions “step by step.”

According to Becciu, Crasso would inform him of what investments he was making, “but it’s not that he was telling me the ramifications of all these investments.”

Crasso appeared to corroborate Becciu, saying they met only 5-6 times since 2012. He claimed that Becciu also never applied “pressure” about what investments to make.

Crasso is the manager of the Centurion Global Fund, in which the Holy See is the principal investor. The fund is connected to several institutions linked to allegations and investigations of money laundering, a CNA investigation found.

The fund also registered a loss of some 4.6% in 2018, while at the same time incurring management fees of roughly 2 million euros, raising questions about the prudential use of Vatican resources.

According to Crasso, “the Secretariat [of State] has always earned from our management.” 

The Centurion Global Fund first made headlines in December 2019 for its use of Vatican assets under its management to invest in Hollywood films, real estate, and utilities, including investments in movies like “Men in Black International” and the Elton John biopic “Rocketman.”

Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra reported that Centurion had raised around 70 million euro in cash, and that the Holy See’s Secretariat of State was the source of at least two-thirds of the fund’s assets.

Crasso said Oct. 4 that after Il Corriere’s Dec. 2019 article, he was told “the Holy Father had given instructions to liquidate the fund. And now we are closing it.”

In conflict with Becciu’s claim that he didn’t know what Crasso was doing, Crasso said “Centurion was known in the Secretariat [of State]” and that Vatican officials “knew very well” which investments were being made. 

Asked how he made his decisions about how to invest Vatican money, Crasso said the secretariat pointed out some investments to him directly, such as shares in the English Eos fund, who were “friends of Monsignor Alberto Perlasca.”

Perlasca is Becciu’s former chief deputy at the Secretariat of State. In February, his home and office were raided by investigators over his participation in the Vatican’s investment of hundreds of millions of euros with the Italian financier Raffaele Mincione. 

Crasso indicated that on at least one occasion he informed Perlasca that a desired investment was too risky and advised making an investment of only six million euros instead of 30 million, which they did.

Vatican investments through Centurion have also been reported to include funds from the Peter’s Pence collection, intended to support charitable works and the ministry of the Holy See.

Crasso confirmed that “the funds of Peter’s Pence were managed by banks, including hedge funds. Everyone knew it,” he said. “Now, however, the Vatican’s auditor general argues that these funds were tied to charitable works. But they never told the banks!”

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Pope Francis announced in March that the next Synod of Bishops, to be held in October of 2022, will discuss the topic of “synodality” – that is, the Synod will be talking about synods, synods, […]

CNA Staff, Jan 20, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- Investigators examining transfers from the Vatican to Australia have been unable to account for around $1.9 million sent between the two countries, local media reported on Wednesday.

Another $5.4 million in Vatican-linked transfers have been identified as being for legitimate expenses, such as travel, wages, and pension payments, The Australian newspaper said on Jan. 20.

Australian authorities have been investigating suspicious transfers from the Vatican to Australia for several months.

Australia’s financial crime watchdog acknowledged earlier in January that it had vastly overestimated the sum of what it said had been 47,000 Vatican transfers.

The Australian newspaper said on Jan. 13 that the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), a government agency, attributed the miscalculation to a “computer coding error.”

After a “detailed review” of its initial finding, AUSTRAC informed Australia’s Senate that its initial finding of $1.8 billion was incorrect, and the real figure amounted to $7.4 million, sent in 362 transfers between 2014 and 2020.

Investigators at AUSTRAC, the Bank of Italy, and the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) — also called the “Vatican bank” — are conducting a joint investigation into the $7.4 million.

After finding that $5.4 million came from legitimate expenses, nearly $2 million still remains to be tracked.

The Australian reported last week that AUSTRAC had also concluded that over the past six years there were 237 transfers totaling $20.6 million in the other direction: from Australia to the Vatican.

The newspaper said that AUSTRAC was, however, continuing to investigate suspicious transfers from the Vatican to Australia.

It added that Australian Federal Police and the Vatican’s financial intelligence unit were investigating four transfers to Australia from the Vatican. 

It said that two of the transfers were connected to Cardinal Angelo Becciu. A total of $1.5 million was reportedly sent to a company in Melbourne between 2017 and 2018.

Reports of suspicious money transfers from the Vatican to Australia date back to October when Italian media reported that an alleged transfer was part of a dossier being compiled by Vatican investigators and prosecutors against Becciu. 

Becciu resigned from his curial position and gave up his rights as a cardinal on Sept. 24, reportedly in connection with multiple financial scandals dating back to his time as the second-ranking official at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or any attempt to influence the trial of Cardinal George Pell, the former prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, which began in August 2018. 

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