Emiliano Fittipaldi Archives

Vatican bank chief says latest scandals are true proof of reform

Oct 26, 2019

While it’s tough for outsiders to assess the latest round of purported scoops about Vatican finances and stern denials, what’s becoming clear, at least, are the dueling narratives at work.

By John L. Allen Jr.

Facing fresh charges of financial scandal, all the pope’s men strike back

Oct 22, 2019

“They want to strike the papacy,” Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga said in an interview with Italy’s largest-circulation daily newspaper, La Repubblica. “First they depicted a church largely made up of pedophiles, now they’re suggesting economic recklessness, but it’s not so.”

By John L. Allen Jr.

Ironic collision of two Sunday stories raises question of what a “poor Church” means

Oct 21, 2019

The ironic juxtaposition of two stories on the same day illustrates a chronic confusion within the Church about what an “option for the poor” actually means.

By John L. Allen Jr.

Leaked documents detail $200 million Vatican deal for swanky London property

Oct 20, 2019

“Hundreds of millions of Euro destined for the least and the poor are still administered opaquely and with no transparency, as if the Vatican were a merchant bank in an offshore country,” a new report claims.

By John L. Allen Jr.

First Vatican trial under laws against financial crime to open Tuesday

Jul 17, 2017

Tuesday sees the start of the Vatican trial of two former officials of a papal hospital in Rome charged with illicitly using funds to renovate the Vatican apartment of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in a way that benefited a fellow Italian businessman. Bertone himself was not an object of the Vatican investigation and does not face any charges in the trial, which marks the first prosecution under new Vatican laws on financial crime.

By Inés San Martín

Two missed opportunities for real reform on sex abuse

Jan 21, 2017

Two stories this week, one in Italy and the other in the States, both highlight missed opportunities for real reform on clerical sexual abuse, born of trafficking in stereotypes and straw men rather than engaging the nitty-gritty of reality in the Catholic Church.

By John L. Allen Jr.