As mentioned in the January 2019 piece (linked below) there
will be continued resistance to reforming the IOR/Vatican Bank.
The question is... just who are these five officials? I'm not
referring to their names, rather what faction do they represent? Are these
people resisting reform with other connections to the hierarchy? Are these
people acting in the interest of outside parties? Are their suspensions a
protective measure, a tactical move on the part of one faction or the other?
It's hard to say but clearly there's a struggle taking place.
The fact that a top figure in the Anti-Money Laundering unit has been taken
down points to obstruction, someone seeking to curtail any 'probing' or
investigation, or perhaps it reveals that he was in fact corrupt and thus those
seeking genuine reform realised there was a fox in the hen house.
The fact that the prosecutor instigated these suspensions
would indicate it's a purging of corrupt officials and that's how many seem to
be reading this story. It could be, but I'm not wholly convinced that's the
case. There may be a few twists and turns yet to come.
Clearly some of the same old activities that were taking
place during the scandal of the early 1980's are still happening. The Papacy
maintains a substantial empire but it's not one Innocent III (1198-1216) would
recognise. It's not a political empire per se. The Vatican is a financial
power-house heavily invested in real estate, utilities and corporations. In the
capitalist framework that dominates the Western order this gives the Vatican a
certain (if limited) amount of political influence. Given that the organisation
collaborates with other political actors... elements of the US and Italian Deep
States and other governments within Europe, Latin America and Africa... their
intelligence agencies, finances and political connections means that the
Vatican is still playing a global role... or in other cases is a powerful tool
for players that would use it.
And yet, there is a civil war taking place within the Vatican
itself, a struggle for control that echoes in some respects the battles taking
place across the Western world. The Western order is in crisis and in some
respects has been since the World War II era. And though we've entered a new
phase for a new century (as it were), there's overlap and echoes of the previous
generation's struggle live on.
Additional links directly related to this story:
See also:
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