The Vatican Bank: Conforming to Caritas in Veritate?

The Catholic Church during the early 16th Century was rooted throughout Europe. The Church influenced every country and its respective monarchs through the Church’s wealth and power. The Catholic Church placed a tight hold on the general populace with individuals who went against the Church being branded as heretics and excommunicated. The wealth and power of the Church eventually caused the quality of the clergy to deteriorate. Priests became corrupt and subjected to their physical desires. They frequented taverns, gambled and kept mistresses. The reputation of the clergy were horrid as the general populace was relieved that “their priest [kept] a mistress” because it “[secured] their wives from seduction” The knowledge of the clergy degenerated as well as they were no longer required to learn and teach the Holy Scriptures because the Church dictated their actions. The pinnacle of the Church’s corruption was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was the “extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment” sold by priests as a temporary relief from sins. The indulgences were then sold to the general populace for money as the monetization of a priest’s services. Johannes Tetzel was a prominent preacher of indulgences who relied on the money from the sales to subsidize the rebuilding of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The corrupt sales did not go unnoticed as Martin Luther, in an effort to stop the corruption of the Church, posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Castle

When criminals reach this stage, it becomes arduous for investigators to distinguish if the funds are licit or not ( Grosse, 4 ). One of the most famous money laundering scandals in America was the Bank of New York money laundering scandal with Russia. In the summer of 1999, The Bank of New York found themselves in a predicament when they were found as suspects of an international money laundering scandal. The bank laundered billions of dollars to the Russian mafia and Russian politics. In august later that year, the New York Times published their calculations that the bank laundered nearly $14.2 billion dollars to $10 billion dollars that was laundered from Russia passed through the Bank of New York (Block, 3).

During the 14 and 1500’s, the Catholic Church was the major powerhouse on the world stage. The church became the largest land owner, giving them massive amounts of economical power. With limitless amounts of power for the church, they were even more powerful than the king himself; they had their own taxes, laws, and they even could excommunicate the king if they chose to do so. The church made royal officials fear it while also gaining the support of the people, sometimes unwilling support was given. Indulgences were purchased in the hopes that their loved ones would be saved from Purgatory or even Hell. The church’s goal used to be helping all people and preaching the word of God, but now the church was corrupt and blinded by power and money, only one man could initiate the change needed, Martin Luther.

The Catholic church and the economy is not a phrase one hears regularly. However, I am not advocating that the church join the market, rather it should address the fundamental issues in the global market, especially dealing with capitalism and imperialism. Much like in ecology, we have been aware of the widening gap between the developing world and the post-industrial world for quite a few years and yet it just continued to widen. The super wealthy are controlling and allocating the money in the world and often this leads to suffering for those who are living in a developing nation. Even when large companies provide employment for workers in developing countries, the work is often dangerous and has long hours, not to mention little pay. As a universal body, the Catholic church has the ability to speak out against this and deliberate what is closest to God’s calling for each of the nation. It would not only benefit the people in poverty, but nations which are on the brink of economic collapse across the world, including Europe. By making the church’s moral teachings on this subject clear, the church can encourage its community across the world to try and make a positive change. While this is happening on a large scale between countries, this wealth gap is also seen within a country’s economy as well. Not only will becoming more balance benefit the world, but it will support the many Catholics in the

There are no accurate figures available on the number of Catholic sexual abuse cases internationally, but the US is the country with the highest number of reported cases. Sex abuse allegations corresponding to approximately 3000 priests dating back fifty years were investigated by the central governing body of the Catholic Church the Holy See from 2001 to 2010 (Lewis, 2010). Worldwide cases expose long-term abuse and of which the church hierarchy regularly cover up reports of alleged abuse. Diocesan officials say that sexual abuse by clergy is generally not discussed and thus is difficult to measure (Paulson,

There is not an exact version of where the term money laundering comes from, but there is a theory that affirms the term was first used and recognized internationally in the 1970’s, after the Watergate scandal, the scandal that led to the resignation of the president Nixon (Dr. Gholanhossein).

The Catholic Church dominated the western world between 590 and 1517. The church fully controlled and dominated over religion. In addition, it also regulated philosophy, morals, politics, education and art. As a result of neglect of vital Biblical doctrines of Christianity, the Catholic Church controlled most of the life aspects. It had full domination over the decisions that political institutions made. Theologically, the Catholic Church was ailing and most of its requirements led to atrocious corruptions. It is during this era that Rome nearly departed from teaching Biblical lessons. The church engrossed in heresy to an extent that it was not possible to regulate the corrupt deals that took place in the institution in the name of corruption and other evils. The essay critically evaluates some of the causes of this aspect of corruption during the middle ages, ways in which the leaders manifested corruption and how corruption impacted on the society and to the Church from a historical perspective. Given the fact that the Catholic Church had power over political and religious systems, its exercise of power created a situation that the society then

The statute regarding money laundering is Section § 1956(a)(1). To prove the statute has been violated, “The defendant conducted or attempted to conduct, financial transaction” (Strader 295). This means that there has to be sufficient evidence to show the person was conspiring or has actually committed the act of money laundering. Although this is in place, money laundering is still happening. Money laundering is not a crime that takes place in one location, but rather all over the world. There should more done to enforce the monetary transactions of companies. I believe if there were more audits on corporations, more white collar criminals would be caught. Because most places are not strictly monitored, they can get away with money

Today, these issues are in the media and topics of gossip, theology conversation and research. The modern day protestant church in danger of following the same path of the Medieval Catholic Church, if it does not heed warnings (Mfumbusa, Pavlo, Armstrong). The Canterbury Tales were Chaucer’s meanest of bringing attention to corruption in the church. There were many tales; however, only

In the time of king Henry VIII’s rule the pope became the dominant figure of power and influence in Europe and maybe the world. The church had vast amount of land and wealth. The church’s wealth was mainly due to the countless amount of donations, taxes, and indulgences

The report will look into the external influences that the chosen organisation (Barclays Bank) are subjected to and the importance of those factors would be briefly discussed. The second part will also discuss the relevance of ethics and corporate social responsibility and it influences its policies. The effectiveness of the response of the company and area of improvement will be discussed.

Although many arrests have been made, organized crime and the Mafia are still very active. Organized crime and its families, particularly the Italian mafia, have increased their illegal activities significantly over the past few decades. The Mafia and organized crime go hand and hand, one cannot be spoken without the other. Both of these forms of criminal actions have been recognized since the late 1800's, and police say it is not disappearing too fast.(Widener 6)

The bank's main owner, Ramón Báez Figueroa, was accused of operating a secret “bank within the bank” by officials for more than ten years (Economist, 2003).

Crime and corruption within the global banking systems are on an exponential rise with no end in site. It is such a systemic problem that the global community has begun to desensitize itself to bank corruption. These extraordinary acts of immoral behavior are now an expected way of life when it comes to bearing witness to banking activities. There is a deep-seated culture with a decline in ethics that run the world’s banks which is compounded by the deliberate disregard to law, regulation and public trust. “Banks have done more injury to the religion, morality, tranquility, prosperity, and even wealth of the nation than they can have done or ever will do good.” - John Adams

The Acting Attorney, General Hoffman said in this article, “This was a huge bank fraud scheme in which the defendants attempted to use the casinos to launder the stolen funds. This case highlights the ever-present threat of identity theft and the need for financial institutions, banking clients and law enforcement to remain extremely vigilant.” In this case, the criminals used techniques such as money laundering to try to hide their illegal activities. According to INTERPOL, money laundering is defined as “any act or attempted act to conceal or disguise the