Indian Trade Links - The Man of Sin: Alive, Well and Living in Rome
Added: Feb 18, 2012
From: benzion888
Duration: 15:4
The other item of great interest in the news this week was the revelation of money laundering through the Vatican Bank. The Associated Press Reported:The chairman of the Vatican bank, who has been placed under investigation for alleged violations of Italy's anti-money laundering laws, questioned Friday why Italian prosecutors insisted on seizing €23 million ($30 million) from a Vatican bank account.He said the bank's image may have been "irreparably" damaged by widespread news coverage of the investigation and asked what people "from the United States to China" will now think of the Catholic church.The paper goes on to point out:The Vatican bank was implicated in a scandal over the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s in one of Italy's largest fraud cases. Roberto Calvi, the head of Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 in circumstances that remain mysterious. Banco Ambrosiano collapsed following the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans the bank had made to several dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans.While denying any wrongdoing, the Vatican bank agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.The story of the Vatican Bank being caught with its "finger in the pot" is captured in the book The Vatican Billions by Avro Manhattan, a recommended read.Interestingly, the Associated Press points out who the clients of the Vatican Bank are. We read:The bank is not open to the public. Depositors are usually limited to Vatican employees, religious orders and people who transfer money for the pope's charities.This means any banking sins are limited to the employees and religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church.Is it any wonder the Bible describes this Great City as being clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! (Revelation 18:4, 19:16), and that she is involved in "the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls..." (Revelation 18:12). The Associated Press reported in September of last year when this story first broke, The Bank's chairman rejected suggestions that the Vatican bank, which was implicated in a major banking scandal in the 1980s, was being targeted, although he said the bank's "unique" role in service of the Catholic church is misunderstood.News reports circulated more than a year ago that Italian investigators were scrutinizing millions of euros worth of Vatican bank transactions to see if they violated money-laundering regulations.The Globe and Mail reported:The new law, according to Reuters, will force the bank and other Vatican branches to meet global standards, set by the Financial Action Task Force, to fight money laundering and financing for terrorists...So are we to understand by this that money has been laundered through the Vatican Bank to finance terrorists, since only Vatican employees and religious orders can bank there? The article continues: The changes were ordered last year by Pope Benedict XVI. Before now, The Wall Street Journal notes, Vatican finances were not subject to the same regulations as global banks. The question now is how the regulations will be enforced, given that the Vatican doesn't have a legal system as do other countries, the newspaper pointed out. So the Vatican Bank has been running amuck without proper regulations for years. Even now it the whole process is being considered disingenuous as it will police itself. Reuters reported:The modern Vatican has little experience in bringing criminals to justice. In 1929, Italy and the Vatican signed a pact in which Rome recognized the Holy See's sovereignty but also allowed popes to shield Vatican officials from investigations and prosecutions by foreign governments by invoking diplomatic immunity. There is no prison inside the world's smallest state. Under the new rules, the Vatican will send people convicted by Vatican courts to prisons in Italy, said the person familiar with the matter.So the Vatican has been committing financial fornication with the Government of Italy since it was given city-state status! Its diplomatic immunity makes it untouchable by human law inside the sovereign walls of the Great City.
Channel: Education
Tags: revelation 18 bible news bible prophecy vatican bank rome book of revelation exorcism beatify john paul ii
Rating: 5.0' max='5' min='1' numRaters='5' rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#overall ( ratings) Views: 170 Comments: 18
benzion888 Says:
Feb 18, 2012 - I know the idea of dead people performing miracles is obnoxious to Bible truth. The concept of praying to a corpse, which somehow listens, and then performs miracles is completely out of the realm of Biblical reality. Put not your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. Psalm 146:3
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - End of controversial property tax breaks leaves the Pope facing €600m-a-year billAfter several years of scandal in which the Catholic Church has faced allegations of financial impropriety, paedophile priests and rumours of plots to kill the Pope, the Vatican is now facing a new €600m-a-year tax bill as Rome seeks to head off European Commission censure over controversial property tax breaks enjoyed by the Church.
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - As the EC heads closer to officially condemning the fiscal perks enjoyed by the Catholic Church and introduced by the Berlusconi administration, Prime Minister Mario Monti has written to the Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, saying that the Vatican will resume property tax, or Ici, payments
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - Mr Almunia said in 2010 that the exemption amounted to state aid that might breach EU competition law. A parliamentary proposal by the Italian Radicals party last August to repeal the exemption, with a successful petition on Facebook, upped the pressure. A spokesman for Mr Almunia appeared to give the thumbs-up yesterday: "It is a proposal that constitutes a significant progress on the issue and I hope will be implemented," he said.
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - "This is a victory for public pressure," said Mario Staderini, the leader of the Italian Radicals party. "We've managed to break down -- a little bit -- the wall protecting the Church."The Vatican avoids Ici tax on about 100,000 properties, classed as non-commercial, including 8,779 schools, 26,300 ecclesiastical structures and 4,714 hospitals and clinics
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - Estimates of its annual saving from avoiding the levy range widely from €600m to €2.2bn. The Church, however, says the tax exemption is worth only €100m a year. Neither is it clear from Mr Monti's comments how much Ici tax the Church will now have to pay
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - Since 2005 church-run organisations have not been considered ordinary commercial structures and have been exempt.
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - According to Corriere della Sera newspaper, tax authorities will judge how much of a property is used purely for religious purposes and tax it accordingly
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - Thus a church will remain exempt. But a hostel with a chapel would have to make contributions.
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - In addition Mr Monti said in his letter that by changing the law and removing some of the church's exemption from Ici he expected the EC to relent on demands that tax payments be backdated
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - We think the Church should have to pay the arrears," said Mr Staderini. "It should make the payment back to 2005.
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - Given how much the Vatican stood to pay with arrears, I think they will not be that unhappy with the result
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - Monsignor Domenico Pompili, a spokesman for the Italian Bishops Conference said the Church hoped the "social value" of their establishments would be taken into account
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - Meanwhile, as the Vatican financial authorities do their sums and continue to lobby, the Holy See has announced an official investigation into a series of embarrassing leaks.
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - After the child abuse and financial scandals of recent years, the prospects for another annus horribilis were underlined last week there was a plot to kill Pope Benedict XVI this year
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - "It's now complete war inside the Vatican," said Robert Mickens, The Tablet's Rome correspondent, who has20 years' experience of reporting on the Vatican. "Things are falling apart
benzion888 Says:
Feb 21, 2012 - The rancour has been blamed on manoeuvring surrounding the succession of Pope Benedict and the exceptional unpopularity of the current leadership
cjpwi Says:
Feb 18, 2012 - The Vatican and dead bodies........Disgusting!