Finanças obscuras do Vaticano

O Papa Francisco tenta resolver um problema mundano: tornar o Vaticano um lugar menos pecaminoso em termos financeiros. Mas o quadro traçado pela The Economist mostra que nem as autoridades europeias acreditam na santidade do Vaticano: o lugar parece favorecer a lavagem de dinheiro:


AFTER A WEEK of resignations and exclusions, the Vatican faces the very real risk of being reduced once more to the status of an international financial pariah. In the coming days its officials are due to answer a detailed questionnaire for Moneyval, Europe’s anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorist-financing watchdog. The picture they will have to paint could scarcely be less reassuring.

The Financial Information Authority (AIF)—the Vatican’s regulatory body and the cornerstone of a nine-year campaign to dispel the Holy See’s image as a refuge for hot money and shady dealings—is no longer eligible to receive intelligence on suspected financial crime from its counterparts in other states. The AIF’s president, René Brülhart, has left (the Vatican announced on November 19th that his contract would not be renewed). Half his board has since resigned. And the authority’s director is suspended from duty.