Institute for the Works of Religion

the I.O.R. eventually became Banco Ambrosiano's fourth-largest stockholder, acquiring over the years at least 794,390 shares, or 1.589% of the bank's stock.

Paul VI put him in charge of the Vatican bank in 1969.

The I.O.R. supplied Calvi with "letters of patronage" (called comfort letters by bankers), documents stating that the shell companies were controlled, either directly or indirectly, by the I.O.R.

a "liberating letter," written by Calvi to the I.O.R. five days before the letters of patronage were issued

The liberating letter in effect negates the letters of patronage and relieves the Vatican bank of any responsibility for the companies in question.

Yet this letter was never made known to the Ambrosiano Latin American banks that lent money to Calvi's shell firms.

When Calvi asked the I.O.R. to renew the letters, which expired in June 1982, Marcinkus turned him down.

By issuing such letters, the Vatican bank was in effect vouching for Calvi's creditworthiness.

The letters were written after loans had been made to the shell companies

Marcinkus claimed the letters were for "internal use."

The liberating letter thus gives the arrangement between Calvi and the I.O.R. the appearance of a conspiracy to withhold essential information from the lending banks.

the Vatican claims its relationship with Calvi and Banco Ambrosiano involved only normal banking operations

Founded in 1942 to invest and increase the funds given to the Holy See for religious works, the I.O.R. is much like any other international commercial bank.

Last week, after nearly two years of intense negotiation, Ambrosiano’s creditors quietly circulated a 161-page agreement that called for the Vatican to pay them $244 million in recognition of its “moral involvement” in the bank failure.

To raise funds for the settlement, which is due by June 30, the church recently sold its controlling interest in Vianini, one of Italy’s largest construction companies, for an estimated $35 million.

In arriving at a settlement with Ambrosiano’s 120 bank creditors, the Vatican negotiated a clause stating that the payment was being made solely because of moral considerations.

According to one church official, the settlement will mean that the Vatican’s accountability in the matter “will finally be completely resolved.”

The Institute owns several companies that had received loans from Banco Ambrosiano that were part of the missing $1.3 billion.

The church has always insisted that it has no legal or financial responsibility for the Ambrosiano losses.

The Vatican bank has signed a tentative accord calling for the institution to pay $250 million to the creditors of Italy's largest private bank

unrecovered loans to Panamanian companies nominally owned by the Vatican bank

While denying any wrongdoing, the Vatican bank agreed to pay US$250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.

L’accordo venne firmato il 25 maggio 1984 a Ginevra.

decise che la Santa Sede avrebbe versato, a titolo di indennizzo morale, senza riconoscere alcuna responsabilità, una somma di 250 milioni di dollari

Marcinkus e i presuli della commissione economica cardinalizia premevano affinché il Vaticano facesse muro

L’accordo sull’indennizzo di 250 milioni di dollari fu avallato anche da Giovanni Paolo II in una riunione segreta che si tenne a Castel Gandolfo nell’agosto 1983

Per far fronte a quella somma lo Ior dovette vendere le partecipazioni del Banco di Roma per la Svizzera.

Il resto venne ricavato dal fondo pensione dei dipendenti.

The Vatican, a major shareholder in Banco Ambrosiano, paid $250 million to the failed institution's creditors in what it called a goodwill settlement. It denied any moral or legal blame.

Archbishop Marcinkus always denied any involvement in the bank's failure and said the Catholic Church should not have made the payment.

In 1984 the Vatican denied all wrongdoing but IOR paid $244m to creditors of the collapsed bank in exchange for the dropping of further claims against the Vatican.

Angelo Caloia, Mr Gotti Tedeschi's predecessor, was appointed in 1989

following suspicions raised by the Bank of Italy over two attempted transfers

It is overseen by five key cardinals, has no shareholders and its profits are used for charitable purposes.

Originally founded in 1887 and housed within a medieval bastion within the Vatican

Angelo Caloia, 81, led the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) for two decades, ending in 2009.

Angelo Caloia, who served as president of the Institute for the Works of Religion from 1999 to 2009

the outgoing President of The Institute for Religious Works, Ernst Von Freyberg

as President of the Vatican Bank since 1971

con fondi provenienti dall'Istituto Opere di Religione che utilizza a tal fine disponibilità esistenti a suo nome presso diverse banche

assistita da una « lettera di patronage » rilasciata dall'IOR

The warrants alleged that the Vatican bank, known formally as the Institute for Religious Works, knew or should have known that it was a party to fraudulent deals that caused the Banco Ambrosiano debts.

The Vatican has always maintained that the Institute for Religious Works was an unwitting victim of a hidden financial scheme hatched by then-Banco Ambrosiano President Roberto Calvi.

the defendants were ordered to pay damages to the IOR and its subsidiary SGIR, which had joined the proceedings as a plaintiff seeking damages, in excess of 20 million euros

The IOR launched a process in November 2010 (in advance of the enactment of AML/CFT legislation) to review its client database.

Both financial institutions are ultimately controlled by the HS/VCS.

Italian financial police made the seizure Tuesday as a precaution and prosecutors placed the chairman and another official of the Institute for Religious Works under investigation for alleged mistakes linked to violations of Italy's anti-laundering laws.

In a statement, the Vatican said it had been working for some time to make its finances more transparent

most of the customers of the one entity - the Institute for the Works of Religion - that has been authorised to carry out financial activities are non-resident