On December 12th court documents came to light detailing new money-laundering allegations against the Institute for Religious Works (IRW), otherwise known as the Vatican Bank. Italian prosecutors are claiming that the bank has repeatedly and deliberately ignored EU rules against money laundering, and even aided the Italian Mafia.
This isn’t new. There was a major Vatican Bank scandal in 1980’s resulting in a suspicious death by hanging and the poisoning of Michele Sindona, one of the key figures, while in prison. Many assumed he had ties to organized crime. The Vatican paid hundreds of millions in fines.
And it appears not much has changed.