Vatican Bank

[Jan Klimkowski]

Of course Eduardo Rozsa Flores, the Gladio terrorist and thwarted assassin of Bolivian President Evo Morales, was also Opus Dei.

The surviving members of Rozsa Flores' false flag terror group received direct assistance from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM).

Opus Dei and SMOM are inextricably linked.

[Peter Lemkin]

Opus Dei and SMOM are inextricably linked.

The Order

This humanitarian organization has agreed with the state of Italy on a certain level of sovereignty in 1966, expressed mainly in the issuing of stamps and coins. One should draw attention on their stamps, since they are mostly heraldic and vexillological (and history of art, but we are not dealing with that here?). Most of the serious stamp dealers don't recognize those stamps to be real stamps, but for vexi-freaks, they are quite interesting, and I dare say a valuable source of (primarily) coats of arms. The Order has its branches (missions) in many countries of the world, and their stamps are recognized by 44 states (until 1994). However, on some of the stamps there are images of the flag of the Order, red with a white Maltese cross. On all the images the flag is shown flying, so it is difficult to estimate the proportions. Is seems to me that 1:2 is approximate enough.
Željko Heimer, 8 March 1996

Extracts from the St. John Ambulance Australia Cadet Manual (3rd Edition) :
Seven years later [the Knights Hospitaller] were given the island of Malta by the Emperor Charles V of Spain. ... The Order had always contained people of different nationalities and was organised into eight national 'Tongues', which were, in the official order of precedence, those of Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, England, Germany and Castile-Portugal.
The British occupation in 1800 (...) found the knights dispersed and disunited. Subsequently, they established their headquarters in Rome, where their claims to sovereign status are recognised by more than thirty countries with which they maintain diplomatic relations. This is exclusively a Roman Catholic and a religious Order, known now as the Sovereign Military Order.
Jonathan Dixon, 24 September 1999

SMOM is sovereign and has diplomatic ties with a number of countries, but it has no territory except a few buildings used for administration.
Ole Andersen, 14 March 2001

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a sovereign entity according to international law, but is actually used as a classic example of an entity which is sovereign (like a country) but is not a country. It does not have a territory, and therefore, it does not live up to the requisites of a country. A sovereign entity does not have to be a country. SMOM is an example of this. For sovereignty, it is generally considered that the entity should be recognized as such by other sovereign entities.
Literature on the subject: R.M.M. Wallace: "International Law", Sweet & Maxwell, 2nd edition, London 1992, page 76.
Elias Granqvist, 14 March 2001

The case of the SMOM is an interesting matter. Different books on international law give different explanations. Some countries consider it as a sovereign organization, others consider it as a country without territory, others consider it as the world's smallest country. Whether it is a country or not depends on the status of the headquarters of SMOM (a building and a garden - 6000 square meters). The headquarters have an extraterritorial status, but it is not clear whether it is the territory of the SMOM or it is the embassy of SMOM in Italy. In any of the two cases, I think that the SMOM should be considered as a country, as it has many of the functions of a country: it has diplomatic relations with many countries, issues passports (only countries, the Red Cross, and the UN issue passports), and it's a member of a few international organizations.
Ivan Marinov, 14 March 2001

I have at hand a book, "Report from Practically Nowhere" by John Sack, copyright 1959 et seq., published by the Curtis Publishing Company, with chapters about visits to Andorra, San Marino, Lundy, Liechtenstein, Sharjah, Athos, Swat, Punial, etc., with a chapter about the S.M.O.M. wherein is stated that, by agreement with the Italian government, citizens of the S.M.O.M. are limited to three: the Grand Master, the Deputy Grand Master, and the Chancellor. These carry S.M.O.M. passports. The numerous other members of the order remain citizens of their own respective countries.
John Ayer, 14 March 2001

The case of SMOM is similar to the Vatican's case in this sense. The Vatican also has citizens (1500 persons), but there is nobody with only Vatican citizenship. For example, the Pope [John Paul II] is citizen of both the Vatican and Poland. The other peculiarity is that the Vatican issues only diplomatic passports, so this is a country, where all the citizens are diplomats. SMOM has the same practice. A month ago there was a scandal in Hungary with the chief of the humanitarian service of the Hungarian branch of the SMOM. In the news there was the following information: he was beaten in Romania and both his Hungarian and his SMOM diplomatic passport were stolen.
Maxval, 14 March 2001

According to <www.smom-za.org>, SMOM has diplomatic relations with 75 countries. It also has permanent observer status at the UN and Italian recognition of its extraterritorial rights over its properties in Rome. Given the humanitarian activities of the SMOM, I'd guess that the value in having it recognized as a sovereign entity is that it can be seen as neutral, allowing SMOM into a war zone or wherever doesn't have to carry the political baggage it might have if SMOM were a corporation operating under the laws of Italy, let alone the United States, for example.
Joe McMillan, 15 March 2001

John Ayer made reference to a 1955 book by John Sack titled 'Report from Practically Nowhere.' I had a chance to read this book over the weekend, and while it's obviously somewhat - or more than somewhat - out of date in much of its political information, it's still a quite entertaining look at many of the little, and little-known, micro-states of the world.
In the chapter on the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Sack mentions that the S.M.O.M.ians (as he calls them) ran a hospital in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, 'where, at first, the flags of the S.M.O.M. were thought to be Denmark's by the Schleswig-Holsteiners, who figured the Danes weren't up to any good.'
Andrew S. Rogers, 9 April 2001

According to the UN's official site <www.un.org>, SMOM maintains a recognized permanent observer mission in New York. SMOM is not categorized by the UN as a non-member state (like e.g. the Holy See) but among "entities and intergovernmental organizations having received a standing invitation to participate as observers."
Joe McMillan, 15 May 2002

My DK flag book says that the "Order of St. John" flies a reverse English flag (my description) in Britain, but the Maltese cross in Rome. Is this correct? If so, are the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and this Order the same thing?
Nathan Lamm, 29 July 2002

Two different orders. After the Reformation, several of the branches of SMOM were completely Protestant, so they left SMOM, but kept on doing more or less the same. There is a formal cooperation between these orders nowadays, in part to keep more or less phony orders from infringing on the accumulated goodwill.
Ole Andersen, 29 July 2002

The SMOM is the Order of St. John, however in England (and the Commonwealth and even the US) the order which claims descent from the Order of St John (in particular, from the English Langue of the Order) is the "Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem" which was granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria, and from which springs St. John Ambulance in all its various forms. See St. John Ambulance. The flag of this order is the "reversed English flag" (the cross of St. John) with the Queen's crest in the canton.
Jonathan Dixon, 29 July 2002

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a sovereign entity in international law, with diplomatic missions to 92 countries and permanent missions to the UN, the European Commission and other international and multinational organisations. The Order's continued sovereign status derives from its established acceptance as such by other sovereign states, rather than from its possession of an extensive national territory. As such, it is an unusual example of a sovereign international entity, similar to the Vatican City State. The extraterritorial seat of the Order is in Rome.
Peter Martinez, 21 December 2002

SMOM is the remnant of the Order of Malta which had territories in Mediterranean: Palestine, Rhodes,
Aegean Sea, Malta, etc. And it has at least 2 territories: The Palace of Via Condotti in Rome and the Fort Saint Angel given by the government of Malta a few years ago.
Jean-Marc Merklin, 28 December 2002

The present "territories" of SMOM are not considered territory any more than an embassy of a foreign country is considered its territory in any country. Thus, SMOM does not have a territory.
Elias Granqvist, 28 December 2002

The SMOM also ruled the island of St. Croix in the Caribbean from 1651 to 1665.
Ned Smith, 29 December 2002

I've taken a look at the order's own website and other references and as far as I can tell SMOM itself does not claim to be a state. It describes itself not as a state but as a "sovereign subject of international law." That seems to mean that it can make treaties, etc., but it apparently acknowledges that it has no territory or people of its own. As someone has noted, its facilities in Rome and elsewhere have a status equivalent to that of an embassy. An embassy possesses sovereign immunity from the jurisdiction of the host state, but it is not actually part of the territory of the sending state. Apparently the logic of the SMOM position is that the Order has always had sovereign status independent of whatever territories it may or may not have occupied from time to time. If it had been a state, its sovereignty would have been extinguished when its home territories were conquered, as happened on three occasions. SMOM is a legitimate and highly praiseworthy organization and is widely recognized as possessing sovereign status (useful in fulfilling a nonbelligerent honest broker's role in wartime situations). It just isn't a "state."
There are other Orders of Malta besides SMOM, some of which are reasonably legitimate successors of the original order (the Protestant branches in Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands, for example); one of which (in the UK) has a questionable lineage but is recognized by the British crown and, like SMOM, conducts important humanitarian operations, especially ambulance services; and many of which are entirely fraudulent or recreational, mainly, I believe, here in the United States.
Joe McMillan, 29 and 31 December 2002

[Peter Lemkin]

All I know is that just around the block from me is one HUGE building that flies the flag and has the sign stating Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta. It is considered in common local parlance as an 'embassy' or 'diplomatic mission' or both. Most of the building is rented out to a university and only a few offices seem to be for use of the 'Order'. A very old church is nestled in the center of the 'embassy' building which forms a 'U' around it. The next block has the Embassy of France, which is the same size [!]. I wonder what goes on in their offices...dare I knock and ask?! Apply for a visa?....to...?!?!?:wirlitzer: Just did a little research, and found that its been there, around the corner in some form, since 1169!:popworm:It is one of the six 'Grand Priories' of the 'Order'
Grand Priory of Rome
Grand Priory of Lombardy and Venice
Grand Priory of Naples and Sicily
Grand Priory of Bohemia
Grand Priory of Austria
Grand Priory of England
From their own [apparently official] website:"The Order of Malta is one of the few Orders created in the Middle Ages and still active today. It is also the only one that is at the same time religious and sovereign. This is due to the fact that most of the other Orders of chivalry lacked the hospitaller function which characterises the Order of Malta, so they disappeared as soon as the military purposes that represented the reasons for their existence ceased.
The knights of Malta The knighthood nature explains and justifies the maintenance of the noble nature of the Order, as most of its Religious Knights came from chivalrous and noble Christian families. Today the majority of Knights of Malta belong to all classes of society. The members of the Order may be defined as Catholics enlivened by altruistic nobleness of spirit and behaviour. All Knights of Malta must meet the traditional requirement for the bestowing of knighthood: distinguish themselves for special virtues. The knighthood nature of the Order has kept its moral value, characterised by the spirit of service, sacrifice and discipline of today's Knights of Malta. Battles are no longer fought with swords, but with the peaceful tools of the fight against disease, poverty, social isolation and intolerance, as well as witnessing and protecting the faith.

All the 13,500 Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta shall conduct themselves so as to give Christian example in their private and public lives, thus putting into effect the tradition of the Order. It is incumbent on them to collaborate effectively in its hospitaller and social works.":joystick: The current head of the Order is one Fra' Matthew Festing 2008 -->
The Sovereign Order of Malta is a sovereign subject of international law. The Order which is based in Rome, in via Condotti has its own Government, an independent magistracy, bilateral diplomatic relations with 104 countries and is granted the status of Permanent Observer in many international organisations, such as the United Nations. Its operational activities are managed by the six Grand Priories, six Subpriories and 47 National Associations of Knights in the five continents. The Order issues its own passports and stamps and creates public institutions, endowed with independent juridical personality. Order's life is governed by the Constitution and the Code, reformed in 1997.
The Grand Master governs the Order both as sovereign and religious head. He is elected for life, within the professed knights in perpetual vows. He is assisted by and presides over the Sovereign Council, which is composed of four high offices Grand Commander, Grand Chancellor, Grand Hospitaller, and Receiver of the Common Treasure as well as six other members, all elected by the Order's Chapter General for a five-year term. The Council of Government and the Board of Auditors, whose compositions reflect the international character of the Order, assist the Grand Master and the Sovereign Council. The Chapter General also elects these two bodies for a five-year term.
The legal system of the Order is expressed by the usual division into three powers:
Legislative power rests with the Grand Master and Sovereign Council for non-constitutional matters; with the Chapter General, representing the Supreme Assembly of Knights, as far as constitutional rules are concerned.
Executive power Rests with the Sovereign Council, chaired by the Grand Master and composed of ten Knights elected by the Chapter General.
Judicial power is exercised by the Magistral Courts of First Instance and of Appeal, composed of judges appointed by the Grand Master and the Sovereign Council from Order members of legal expertise. Rests with the Grand Master and Sovereign Council for non-constitutional matters; with the Chapter General, representing the Supreme Assembly of Knights, as far as constitutional rules are concerned.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Have you heard the one about the Monsignor, the Banker and the Spy?

Vatican bank cleric arrested in €20m corruption inquiry

Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, accused of trying to help friends bring millions of euros into Italy from Switzerland by plane

Reuters in Rome
guardian.co.uk, Friday 28 June 2013 11.56 BST

Link to video: Vatican cleric arrested in bank corruption investigation

A senior Vatican cleric suspected of trying to help rich friends bring millions of euros into Italy illegally has been arrested as part of an investigation into the Vatican bank.

Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, who worked as a senior accountant in the Vatican's financial administration, is involved in another investigation by magistrates in southern Italy. He was arrested in a parish in the outskirts of Rome and taken to the city's Queen of Heaven jail, his lawyer, Silverio Sica, said. Also arrested in the investigation were a member of Italy's secret services and a financial broker.

Sica said Scarano was accused of being involved in an attempt to help friends bring €20m (£17m) into Italy from Switzerland by plane, in league with the secret service agent and a financial intermediary.

The lawyer, who had access to the charge sheet, said the money never left Switzerland. Detectives identified the secret service agent as Giovanni Zitto and the broker as Giovanni Carenzio. It was not clear what role the bank had, if any, in the latest developments.

A Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, said Vatican authorities were willing to co-operate with the investigation, but had so far received no official request. He said the AIF, the Vatican's financial authority, was monitoring the case and would take action if necessary.
Vatican bank The Institute for Religious Works, the Vatican's bank. Photograph: AFP/Getty

The arrests came two days after the Vatican announced Pope Francis had set up a commission of inquiry into the bank, formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion, which has been hit by a numerous scandals over the years.

Scarano worked for years as a senior accountant for a Vatican department known as the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See. He was suspended from his duties several weeks ago when he was placed under investigation by magistrates in the southern city of Salerno, his home town.

In that inquiry, Sica said wealthy friends had donated money to Scarano to help him build a home for the terminally ill. According to the lawyer, his client wanted to use that money to pay off his mortgage so he could sell a property in Salerno and use the proceeds to construct the facility.

In an apparent attempt to cover his tracks, Scarano has been accused of taking €560,000 in cash out of his account in the Vatican bank a little at a time, usually €10,000 and giving it to friends who then gave him cheques. He deposited the cheques into a separate bank account to pay off the mortgage.

[Peter Lemkin]

Have you heard the one about the Monsignor, the Banker and the Spy?

That seems to ring a bell.......of the past....
That seems to ring a bell.......of the past...
yeah, That seems to ring a bell.......of the past....
That seems to ring a bell.......of the past....
That seems to ring a bell.......of the past....
yeah, That seems to ring a bell.......of the past....
That seems to ring a bell.......of the past....


....naaaaah, just could be a glitch in my memory.......and THE 'consensual' history.
...remember, these are GOD'S BANKERS![ALL OTHERS GO TO HELL!]

AND i'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT IN THE PAST 'GOD'S BANKERS' HAVE HELD SUCH PRESTIGIOUS POSITIONS - SUCH AS HANGING BY THEIR NECK UNDER THE BLACKFRIAR'S BRIDGE IN lONDON, WITH BRICKS IN HIS POCKETS

...AND THERE WERE SO MANY OTHER SUCH.......

[David Guyatt]

AND i'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT IN THE PAST 'GOD'S BANKERS' HAVE HELD SUCH PRESTIGIOUS POSITIONS - SUCH AS HANGING BY THEIR NECK UNDER THE BLACKFRIAR'S BRIDGE IN lONDON, WITH BRICKS IN HIS POCKETS

Those Opus Dei guys really know how to keep bankers in suspense don't you think?

[Jon Levy]

The Vatican City State is in the Euro Zone hence the EU Commission has the authority to enforce anti money laundering rules against the IOR. However, we have an odd situation where the EU is shielding the IOR by claiming it is not under the jurisdiction of the Vatican City State. Legal documents and the new IOR website www.ior.va contradict this mightily.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/112084700/Vatican-EU-Case

[Magda Hassan]

Pope Fires Entire Board of Vatican's Financial Watchdog

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[TD="align: left"]June 6, 2014

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By Robert Wenzel

Pope Francis has sacked the five-man board of the Vatican's financial watchdog - all Italians.

The Vatican said the Pope named four new members, from Switzerland, Singapore, the United States and Italy, to replace them on the board of the Financial Information Authority, the Holy See's internal regulatory office.

The Pope replaced the board members with what appears to be a group of very powerful behind the scenes global one-world establishment operators.

Among them are Swiss lawyer named Renè Bruelhart, who previously led a European regulatory body called the Egmont Group. Egmont, essentially, is designed to prevent financial cross-border financial transactions to be hidden from the prying eyes of governments. Egmont "financial intelligence units" are national centers to collect information on suspicious or unusual financial activity from the financial industry and other entities or professions required to report "suspicious" transactions.

From Egmont's web site:

The goal of the Egmont Group is to provide a forum for FIUs around the world to improve cooperation in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism and to foster the implementation of domestic programs in this field. This support includes:

Expanding and systematizing international cooperation in the reciprocal exchange of information;
Increasing the effectiveness of FIUs by offering training and promoting personnel exchanges to improve the expertise and capabilities of personnel employed by FIUs;
Fostering better and secure communication among FIUs through the application of technology, such as the Egmont Secure Web (ESW);
Fostering increased coordination and support among the operational divisions of member FIUs;
Promoting the operational autonomy of FIUs; and
Promoting the establishment of FIUs in conjunction with jurisdictions with an AML/CFT program in place, or in areas with a program in the early stages of development.

Juan C. Zarate is also a replacement member named by the Pope. Zarate is a visiting lecturer at Harvard Law School and a senior advisor to the university's Center for Strategic and International Studies. From 2005 to 2009, Zarate served as deputy National Security Advisor with responsibility for counter-terrorism strategy.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has clear problems with understanding George Washington's advice that the US should not meddle in the affairs of other nations. From their web site:

Since 1962, CSIS has been dedicated to finding ways to sustain American prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world.

CSIS trustees include Sam Nunn, Zbigniew K. Brzezinski, William S. Cohen, Carla A. Hills, Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft. Nuff said.

Another replacement member is Marc Odendall who has worked for the Matuschka Group, Munich, from 1983 to 1984, for JPMorgan, Paris, from 1984 to 1989 and for CSFB, Paris, from 1990 to 1993, before joining Merrill Lynch, Paris, in 1994 where he worked until he joined Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Paris and London, in 1996. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Odendall worked with CSFB, London.

The final replacement member is Joseph Yuvaraj Pillay, who served as the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation from 1985 to 1989. Mr. Pillay held a variety of positions in the government of Singapore from 1961 to 1995, rising to permanent secretary in 1972. He served as the Chairman of Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance from 2002 to 2007.

Pillay also served, in a non-executive capacity, as Chairman of the board of several government-linked companies, including: Singapore Airlines Ltd from 1972 to 1996, Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited from 1974 to 1986, Development Bank of Singapore Ltd from 1979 to 1984, and Singapore Technologies Holdings (Private) Limited from 1991 to 1994. He serves as Honorary Director of Securities Investors Association (Singapore). He has been a Director of Tiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd. since July 8, 2013., member of the Investment Committee of the United Nations Pension Fund, and Chairman of Commonwealth Africa Investments Limited. He serves as Member of Investment Committee of the United Nations Pension Fund, Asia-Europe Foundation and Financial Sector Development Fund Advisory Committee of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

I am not sure what the Pope is up to but, I wouldn't let these characters near my bank accounts.

---

Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.com and author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

[David Guyatt]

The new pope does seem to be cleaning house doesn't he.

This is the sort of thing the "Smiling Pope" planned on doing but instead he got dead quickly.

[Magda Hassan]

The new pope does seem to be cleaning house doesn't he.

This is the sort of thing the "Smiling Pope" planned on doing but instead he got dead quickly.

Well this one does only eat in the cafeteria with all the hundreds of Vatican workers. I think he is aware that there has been a precedent.