Pope gives IOR exclusive on financial activities

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 23 - Pope Francis on Tuesday gave Vatican Bank IOR the exclusive on managing the financial activities of the Holy See and associated Vatican institutions managing finances in any form in what was called a "rescript" of the once-controversial bank's remit.
    The bank was dogged by scandals in the 70s and 80s, the nadir being the murder of 'God's Banker' Roberto Calvi in 1982, found hanging under London's Blackfriars Bridge in what is thought to have been a Mafia vendetta.
    It has worked hard to clean up its reputation in recent years, getting on Italy's white list of clean banks and receiving good marks from the IRS and Europe's anti-money-laundering body Moneyval.
    The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR)—commonly known as the Vatican Bank—will now have exclusive competence over asset management and shall oversee the management of all the movable assets of the Holy See and its related institutions, Vatican News reported.
    Pope Francis issued that decree in a rescript published on Tuesday in the Osservatore Romano, the Vatican daily.
    The Pope stipulates that the rescript "shall have the nature of an authentic interpretation of the provisions in force and shall have firm and stable force, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, even if it precedes the rescript or specifically refers to special issues." The rescript concerns Article 219, paragraph 3 of the Constitution on the Roman Curia "Praedicate Evangelium." The relevant article is to be interpreted "in the sense that the activity of asset manager and custodian of the movable assets of the Holy See and of the institutions linked to the Holy See belongs exclusively to the Institute for the Works of Religion." For this reason, Holy See and related institutions "that possess financial assets and liquid assets, in whatever form they are held, with financial institutions other than the IOR must inform the IOR and transfer them to it as soon as possible within 30 days from 1 September 2022." The papal rescript enters into effect immediately, with publication in the Holy See's daily newspaper. (ANSA).