God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican

by Gerald Posner

  Vatican Exposed, The (Williams), 600n

  Vatican Library, 44, 58

  Vatican Museum, 54, 156

  Vaticano S.p.A. (Nuzzi), 439–40

  Vatican Radio, 256, 267, 488, 504, 568n

  Vatileaks scandal, 467–71, 472, 473–74, 475, 478–79, 480, 483, 491, 492

  Gabriele trial in, 485–86

  inept Vatican response to, 469

  Venice, Italy, 206, 208, 597n

  Vetco Offshore Industries, 208–9

  Via col vento in Vaticano (Gone with the Wind in the Vatican; Marinelli), 463

  Vianini, 343, 348

  Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, 70, 99, 200n

  Vietnam War, 200, 264, 587n

  Viganò, Carlo Maria, 451, 455n, 469, 474, 577n

  Benedict XVI and, 458–59, 460

  Bertone’s exile of, 458, 460

  reform efforts of, 467–68

  Villot, Cardinal Jean-Marie, 249, 251, 253, 254, 255–56, 258, 264–73, 276, 633n, 634n

  Vincenza Taffarel, Sister, 265, 267, 269, 270, 273n, 632n, 633n

  Vittor, Silvano, 3, 4

  Volpi di Misurata, Giuseppe, 50–51, 56, 90, 127–28, 158, 159, 547n, 577n–81n, 583n, 620n

  aristocratic lifestyle, 578n

  arrest by SS of, 129

  competing with Germans for wartime business, 124

  death of, 129

  as Generali’s head, 122–25, 127

  as Italy’s Finance Minister, 121

  as Libya Governor, 121

  Nogara and, 120–22, 124, 126, 128–129, 130

  view of World War II Vatican-Italian business relationship, 126

  Wagner, Gustav, 146–47

  Wagner, Robert, 336, 337

  Wagon-Lits, 121–22

  Walesa, Lech, 306, 308, 310n, 646n

  Wall Street, 53, 54, 58, 131, 160, 512

  Wall Street Journal, 181, 204, 205, 218n, 219, 319, 442, 483

  Walters, Vernon, 306–7, 310, 646n

  Watergate scandal, 214, 240

  Weber, Anton, 147–48

  Weber, Max, 23, 539n

  Weizsäcker, Ernst von, 100, 102, 103

  “Why the Vatican Kept Silent on Nazi Attrocities: The Failure to Act” (Posner), xii

  Wiesenthal, Simon, 339, 590n

  Wiesenthal Center, 339–40, 341, 384, 385–86, 390

  WikiLeaks, 408, 426, 428, 576n

  Willan, Philip, 440, 666n

  Williamson, Richard, 435, 685n

  Wilson, William A., 307, 334–37, 655n, 659n

  Marcinkus intervention of, 335–37, 349–50

  Wiseguy (Pileggi), 299

  Wojtyla, Karol Józef, see John Paul II, Pope

  World Jewish Congress, 383, 385, 387, 389, 393, 589n, 669n

  World War I, 23n, 39–43, 45, 51, 53, 55n, 63, 83, 85, 112, 113, 123, 124, 134, 164, 259, 424, 572n, 573n

  Vatican finances affected by, 40, 43

  World War II, xi–xiii, 76, 85–110, 111–19, 120, 134, 137, 138–39, 141, 145n, 148, 160, 164, 168, 176, 180, 221, 248, 278, 279, 307, 312, 340, 359, 373n, 385, 390, 424, 457, 540n, 552n, 553n, 561n, 566n, 572n, 576n, 581n, 586n, 589n, 600n, 605n, 616n, 620n, 671n

  Benedict XVI in, 422–23

  Generali and, 124

  gold looted during, 130–31, 384, 387, 388, 389, 391, 392, 393

  insurance companies during, 122–29

  onset of, 85–86

  see also Holocaust

  Wyszyński, Cardinal Stefan, 275, 276, 282, 296

  Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, 104n, 393, 572n

  Yallop, David, 272n–73n, 349, 635n, 639n

  Yugoslavia, 87, 124, 139n, 140, 142, 143, 146n, 149, 564n, 587n

  Zembrzuski, Michael, 281–82

  Zitropo Holding S.A., 244, 322, 614n, 615n, 625n, 640n

  and IOR loan, 625n

  liquidation of, 322

  Zorza, Lorenzo, 314n, 315–16, 329, 330, 644n, 649n

  Illustration Credits

  Wikipedia Commons: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13, 22, 30, 37

  Wikipedia Commons (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston): 2

  Museo Centrale del Risorgimento: 4

  Library of Congress: 7, 17, 19

  Wikipedia Commons (Courtesy of U.S. Department of the Interior): 8

  German Federal Archives: 10, 14, 18, 20

  Courtesy of Elan Steinberg: 12

  Collezione Cartoline Albertomos: 15

  AP Photo: 16, 28, 29, 31, 33

  National Archives: 21, 35

  © Bettmann/CORBIS: 23, 25, 26, 34, 36

  © Corbis: 24

  © Gianni Giansanti/Sygma/Corbis: 27

  AP/Raul Fornezza: 32

  © Andrzej Grygiel/epa/Corbis: 38

  © KNA-Bild/dpa/Corbis: 39

  © Gianni Giansanti/Immaginazione/Corbis: 40

  Author photo of Vanity Fair cover: 41

  © Stringer/Italy/Reuters/Corbis: 42

  AP Photo/El Salvador School: 43

  Author photo of Time cover: 44

  © Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters/Corbis: 45

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  Copyright © 2015 by Gerald Posner

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  First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition February 2015

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  Interior design by Robert E. Ettlin

  Jacket design by Christopher Lin

  Jacket photograph: FLOORTJE/Getty Images

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Posner, Gerald L.

    God’s bankers : a history of money and power at the Vatican / By Gerald Posner.

      pages  cm

    1. Catholic Church—Finance.  2. Catholic Church—Corrupt practices.  3. Istituto per le opere di religione—Corrupt practices.  4. Banks and banking—Vatican City.  5. Catholic Church—History—20th century.  6. Catholic Church—History—21st century.  7. Catholic Church—Controversial literature.  I. Title.

    BX1950.P68  2015

    364.16'8—dc23        2014021061

  ISBN 978-1-4165-7657-0

  ISBN 978-1-4391-0986-1 (ebook)