It's Sunday

Until now the [Vatican's own bank, the Institute of Religious Works] IOR has operated with few of the regulations that govern the activities of banks in the wider world, with sometimes disturbing results.

In the 1980s it became involved in an infamous fraud scandal the Banco Ambrosiano affair which made global headlines when its chief, Roberto Calvi, was found hanging from a bridge in London, a murder that has never been solved.

More recently Italian state prosecutors have been investigating allegations of money laundering at the IOR, freezing some accounts, seizing funds and putting its president under formal scrutiny.

Filmmakers Alessandro Righi and Emanuele Piano have been examining this latest chapter in the history of a notoriously secretive organisation.

  alJazeera

A little history on Calvi's Banco and the IOR - oh, and, guess who - the CIA.And for further reading:

A billion-dollar Italian bank fraud has reached into the heart of one of the world's most respected institutions, the Vatican. So far, two people involved in the affair have died, $1.4 billion is unaccounted for, and the financial stability of several European banks is in danger.

At the very center of the scandal is Archbishop Paul C. Marcinkus, the American-born president of the Institute for Religious Works, the so-called Vatican Bank.

  Time

You need a subscription to Time to read that, but here it is at: http://www.maurizioturco.it/bddb/1982_07_26_time_scandal_at_.html

And, I might as well toss into this post more information about the book that supposedly has the Vatican scrambling: "His Holiness" Here's a look at it from the Daily Beast.  (If you can read Italian, here's the book's author's blog:  Gianluigi Nuzzi)

And, Daily Kos has a highly referenced article that should provide you with hours of enlightened reading, as opposed to going to church, which only keeps you in the dark.