The IOR (Institute for Works of Religion) board,
which is still leaderless having controversially dismissed its
president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, met last Thursday.
Vatican sources have
confirmed that no announcement of a successor is expected any time soon
and that the appointment of the new president - a long and well-thought
out process - will take place in 2013.
The lay members of the Vatican bank are: German
acting president, Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz, of Deutsche Bank; the
American, Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus and
one of the signatories of the accusation act against Gitti Tedeschi
which was deliberately leaked to the papers; the Spaniard Manuel Soto
Serrano of Banco Santander and Antonio Maria Marocco, a notary from the
Italian city of Turin.
Together, they discussed future arrangements
and ways in which to bring the IOR in line with international money
laundering directives.
No significant updates were expected, however, on
the name of the new president.
The past few months seem to have proven that the
IOR functions just fine even without a president.
A number of names
ended up on the list of figures that could potentially succeed Gotti
Tedeschi.
The choice will be made very carefully: timing, prudence and
careful evaluation are crucial and show how delicate a choice this will
be and how much care the Vatican wishes to take in appointing the person
for the job.
The Vatican will have to choose a distinguished European
figure of international standing and not an Italian.
The person chosen
will have to guide the bank out of the shallows, where it has remained
for some time and at the same time use teamwork to guarantee the bank’s
autonomy, making it less “Italian”.
Benedict XVI and Vatican Secretary of State,
Tarcisio Bertone’s decision to nominate Ettore Gotti Tedeschi as
director of the IOR in 2009 was taken with the aim of bringing the
Vatican bank in line with the highest anti-money laundering standards.
The intricate series of events that led to the president’s dismissal
having been in the role for only three years (the way the Holy See
appointed him completely broke with Vatican tradition) brought to light
internal tensions that were not only linked to the banks management, but
more generally to the implementation of anti-money laundering laws in
various Holy See organisations as well as in other actions taken on the
side.
For example the acquisition of the San Rafaele hospital in Milan.
Italian banker, Cesare Geronzi, who is considered
to have close relations with the Vatican, denied he was a candidate for
the position.
Speaking to Gad Lerner on Italian television programme “L’Infedele”
(“The infidel”), which he appeared on to present a book interview he
co-edited with Italian journalist Massimo Mucchetti, he said he would
ever never want to be president of the IOR.
“I was asked for advice and I
gave it - Geronzi said – and the time has come for a deeper separation
between Italy and the Vatican. The IOR needs a foreign president, an
“outsider” as [Italian financier] Cuccia put it.”
Over the past months the Vatican has shown signs
of greater autonomy from Italy and the Bank of Italy, which Ettore Gotti
Tedeschi was joined at the hip with.
Too much so according to some.