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The Vatican Bank (or The Institute for Works of Religion - IOR), was personally owned and operated by the Pope and made loans to religious projects all over the world. It was discovered that the bank exploited its high status and engaged in risky speculation and illegal schemes, including money laundering.
Money was invested with Robert Calvi, head of the bank in Milan. He was eventually convicted for currency fraud in 1981 - (over $1.3 billion dollars was missing from bank funds). Calvi fled to England where he was found dead, hanging from a bridge in London.
Another participant in the scandal was Michele Sindona, an advisor to Pope Paul VI. Sindona was poisoned in 1986 in his prison cell. This sordid financial fraud also was linked with the Masons, the Mafia, arms dealers, political kickbacks and monies funneled through the CIA to support Solidarity in Poland.
The Mysterious Death of JP One
Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy: Financing the Vatican, 1850-1950
www.exeter.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/scandals/classic.html#ambro
www.americanatheist.org/pope99/calvi.html

