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God’s Bankers
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God’s Bankers

A History of Money and Power at the Vatican

Gerald Posner
Wall Street Journal Books, 2015

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Veteran author and reporter Gerald Posner provides a well-researched history of the Vatican’s finances. He describes a pattern of Vatican insiders and business partners taking financial advantage of the secrecy that the Vatican’s sovereign status provides. His most compelling reportage covers the Roman Catholic Church’s notorious failings during the Holocaust. Posner details the Church’s self-preserving favoring of Italian Fascists and German Nazis due to its fear of “godless bolshevism.” Pope Pius XII’s failure to chastise the mostly Catholic perpetrators of the Holocaust proves deeply disturbing, as does the Church and its bank’s assisting a “ratline” of Nazis to escape to Argentina after the war. The Church’s cover-ups in response to child abuse claims also prove damning. Today’s push toward financial propriety, driven by the assertive, admirable Pope Francis, makes for an uplifting ending. Posner comes down on the negative events in Vatican history, and doesn’t dwell on the Church’s charity or good works. He treats hard issues as fair game and provides fascinating material on the Fascist era. While always neutral on religion and politics, getAbstract recommends Posner’s riveting reporting and sobering lessons about human fallibility, however much reverence those failed humans accrued.

Summary

The Vatican Needs Money

The Vatican’s finances have always been controversial. Its sale of indulgences – the forgiveness of sins – which Protestant reformers found so distasteful, was once a cash cow. In the 15th century, “so much money flooded to [Pope] Sextus that he was able to build the Sistine Chapel.” In the early 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church made indulgences available for sins not yet committed. The resultant cash surge financed St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Church lost much of its historic income as newly united Italy absorbed the Papal States. European countries separated church and state, and – like France – nationalized Church property. In 1871, the Italian Nationalists passed the Law of Papal Guarantees, awarding the Pope and Vatican certain privileges, special status and tax breaks. The settlement included an annual subsidy of 3.2 million lire “to offset the income lost from the Papal States.” The Church disdained modern capitalism and maintained a traditionalist line against free speech, democracy, and the separation of church and state.

In the 1870s, the “grim consequences” of the Church’s secretive...

About the Author

Gerald Posner’s books include Miami Babylon, Motown, Citizen Perot and Warlords of Crime. He contributes to NBC, CNN and the History Channel.

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