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VATICAN

Vatican foiled over bid to hide Swiss bank data

A top Swiss court on Monday rejected an appeal by the Vatican's bank to keep secret information from one of its Swiss bank accounts suspected of being used for fraud.

Vatican foiled over bid to hide Swiss bank data
Photo: Jean-Pol Grandmont

Judges at Switzerland's federal criminal court allowed the transfer of most information sought by prosecutors in Italy from the account held by the Vatican bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), the daily Le Temps reported.
   
Italian prosecutors suspect the account was used in 2007 and 2008 by third parties to launder as a donation funds from the sale of a company.
   
The IOR had invoked the Vatican's sovereign immunity, but the judges found that the transactions in question did not relate to functions covered by that immunity.
   
However, Swiss judges ruled that information not pertinent to the investigation would not be transferred.
   
Under pressure from its international partners, in particular the United States, Switzerland has been gradually dismantling its decades-old tradition of banking secrecy.
   
Meanwhile, the IOR has been trying to rid itself of a reputation for shady dealings, following a series of money-laundering scandals in the past.
   
It was the main shareholder of the Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in 1982 amid accusations of ties to the Mafia, while its chairman Roberto Calvi — dubbed "God's Banker" — was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in
London in a suspected murder by mobsters.
   
Pope Francis was elected in 2013 with a mandate to clean up the Vatican and has focused on improving transparency in the centuries-old institution.

WOMEN

Pope appoints French woman to senior synod post

Pope Francis has broken with Catholic tradition to appoint a woman as an undersecretary of the synod of bishops, the first to hold the post with voting rights in a body that studies major questions of doctrine.

Pope appoints French woman to senior synod post
Pope Francis has appointed Nathalie Becquart as undersecretary of the synod of bishops. She is the first woman to hold the post. Photo: AFP

Frenchwoman Nathalie Becquart is one of the two new undersecretaries named on Saturday to the synod, where she has been a consultant since 2019.

The appointment signals the pontiff's desire “for a greater participation of women in the process of discernment and decision-making in the church”, said Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary-general of the synod.

“During the previous synods, the number of women participating as experts and listeners has increased,” he said.

“With the nomination of Sister Nathalie Becquart and her possibility of participating in voting, a door has opened.”

The synod is led by bishops and cardinals who have voting rights and also comprises experts who cannot vote, with the next gathering scheduled for autumn 2022.

A special synod on the Amazon in 2019 saw 35 female “auditors” invited to the assembly, but none could vote.

The Argentinian-born pope has signalled his wish to reform the synod and have women and laypeople play a greater role in the church.

He named Spaniard Luis Marin de San Martin as the other under undersecretary in the synod of bishops.

Becquart, 52, a member of the France-based Xaviere Sisters, has a master's degree in management from the prestigious HEC business school in Paris and studied in Boston before joining the order.

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