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# God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican

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A deeply reported, New York Times bestselling exposé of the money and the clerics-turned-financiers at the heart of the Vatican—the world’s biggest, most powerful religious institution—from an acclaimed journalist with “exhaustive research techniques” ( The New York Times ). From a master chronicler of legal and financial misconduct, a magnificent investigation nine years in the making, God’s Bankers traces the political intrigue of the Catholic Church in “a meticulous work that cracks wide open the Vatican’s legendary, enabling secrecy” ( Kirkus Reviews ). Decidedly not about faith, belief in God, or religious doctrine, this book is about the church’s accumulation of wealth and its byzantine financial entanglements across the world. Told through 200 years of prelates, bishops, cardinals, and the Popes who oversee it all, Gerald Posner uncovers an eyebrow-raising account of money and power in one of the world’s most influential organizations. God’s Bankers has it all: a revelatory and astounding saga marked by poisoned business titans, murdered prosecutors, and mysterious deaths written off as suicides; a carnival of characters from Popes and cardinals, financiers and mobsters, kings and prime ministers; and a set of moral and political circumstances that clarify not only the church’s aims and ambitions, but reflect the larger tensions of more recent history. And Posner even looks to the future to surmise if Pope Francis can succeed where all his predecessors failed: to overcome the resistance to change in the Vatican’s Machiavellian inner court and to rein in the excesses of its seemingly uncontrollable financial quagmire. “As exciting as a mystery thriller” ( Providence Journal ), this book reveals with extraordinary precision how the Vatican has evolved from a foundation of faith to a corporation of extreme wealth and power.

Review: Fascinating (and critical) read offering insight to a complex institution. - Before reading this book, I had no idea how little I knew about the Catholic Church. I count Catholics among my best friends and admire their faith and morals. Of course, Catholic individuals aren’t all representative of the Catholic Church any more than every American citizen is representative of the President. I expecting the book to take more emphasis on “Banker” than “God”, but end up far more knowledgeable about the Church and money. The book itself is well-written and attention-keeping. I listened on Audible rather than reading hard-copy which was fine for me. Readers more interested in the historic (largely Italian) names and details may be better served by traditional reading. The book is extremely critical. Thankfully, it is backed by sufficient research to make the criticism credible. Starting with the topic of Church finance, I take away a simple message that finance matters a lot for the Church. This is a vast organization with 1-billion plus followers, 20 million people worldwide receiving some financial assistance from the Church, and a lay bureaucracy that requires salaries. The Vatican collects money indirectly from the local arms of the Church supplemented by direct contributions such as “indulgences” (an odd concept of donating to recover from sin), and Vatican tourism. The Vatican Bank, like any institution, generally sought to protect the interests of its (lone) shareholder and grow wealth. While at times unsavory, this has included asserting sovereign authority against money laundering investigators, liquidating Italian shareholdings when threatened with withholding tax, and making investments that resulted in “immoral behavior” (porn, weapons). The Vatican Bank, or “Institute for the Works of Religion” (IOR) is a fascinating place. Popes have taken varied levels of interest in the bank ranging from hands-on reform to making appointments and otherwise stepping back. A LOT of money passes through the bank which serves as a store of Vatican wealth, a personal bank for various members of the clergy, and payment processor for various Church organizations around the world. It is also spectacularly opaque by design and accident. By design, the Vatican is its own sovereign and therefore not subject to regulation and transparency that many of us take for granted. Institutions such as the UN have grouped the Vatican as an “offshore banking center” with states such as Switzerland, Luxemburg, Lichtenstein, and Bahamas. Depositors have taken advantage of the IOR’s special status to launder money and avoid taxes. In one stinging criticism, the author quotes an official “the Vatican is its own state when it suits them. Other times, it relies on Italy [such as after Pope John Paul II was shot].” It is also opaque by accident, lacking many of the digital features of modern banking and relying on hard copy faxes as recently as 2013. I’m personally struck by examples of Vatican officials (primarily Clergy) living elaborate lifestyles on stolen funds. It’s pretty shocking to think of Priests living in multi-million dollar homes with millions in art work and Aston Martins in the drive. How did this so often go unnoticed? The Vatican Bank wasn’t always rich. The book starts in the period when the Vatican was able to tax Papal states. As these territories became part of other sovereign nations, taxing became more difficult and the bank had to rely on voluntary contributions. Germany is an exception where the state did (still does?) collect a tax on Catholics on behalf of the Church. In the 1800’s the Vatican began borrowing from the Rothschilds in what seemed a profitable relationship for both sides. Eventually, pressure mounted against borrowing from Jews. The Church then turned to an increasingly wealthy American Catholic community for contributions. This dried up into WWI and the Great Depression. In 1929 the Lateran Treaty formally established Vatican sovereignty from Italy and granted the Church and a lot of money from Italy including bonds which tied together Vatican and Italian fortunes together. Vatican wealth took a major step-up during and after WWII. Bernadino Nogaro was an experienced investor who oriented the Vatican’s portfolio toward gold, property and a nascent Italian industrial economy. All paid through this period and the Vatican also gained influence by holding major stakes in the majority of Italy’s biggest companies. Future investors would struggle to replicate this success, often being drawn into more aggressive investments – both in terms of returns and legality. Most alarming, the author connects Vatican investment and finances to at least three specific recent scandals: (i) supporting Italy’s late-1930s military efforts in Ethiopia in an effort to support investments in the Italian defense industry, (ii) funding and harboring Holocaust war criminals, often by shielding Nazi gold, and (iii) the Child sex abuse scandals which came to light in the past twenty years. The author presents two quasi-defenses, neither of which resonates as credible (to me or the author). The better of the two is that the Vatican is an institution that “thinks in centuries”. I’m all-for long-term thinking, but equally fear this approach allowed the Vatican to overlook too much. Second, the Vatican is a large organization and every tree will have a few bad apples. It’s a large, gossipy, insular organization so bad apples are inevitable. My sense is, however, there have been simply too many with too much power. Specifically on the Holocaust, the book’s narrative is disturbing. The author (who has also written about Nazi war criminals in Argentina) argues that the Vatican: (i) Failed to speak out against the Holocaust, largely in order to protect its monetary ties with German Catholics and ties with Mussolini (ii) Laundered millions in Nazi gold – a general term for all sorts of war booty – enabling Nazi war criminals to set up new lives. Much went from Croatia, through the Vatican, and ended up in Latin America. (iii) Stuck their heads in the sand when the Jews of Rome were being rounded up for Concentration Camps. Pope Pious at the time apparently complained more about tanks blocking his view out of the Vatican than the Jews being killed, (iv) Were somewhere between un-helpful and obstructionist during 1980’s discussing regarding the return of Jewish property – Italian insurers made millions in un-paid policies. The author further connects this moral failure during the Holocaust to a long line of Vatican anti-semitism and connects all the way through Pope John Paul II’s failure to apologize at Yad Va’Shem in Israel a few years back. Specifically on the Child Sex abuse scandals, the link back to Vatican Bank is that two Popes hesitates to admit errors on behalf of the Church to avoid the risk of large settlement payments to other sovereigns. According to the author, the result was slow apologies, damage to the Church’s reputation, and an increased financial burden on the smaller dioceses, at least one of which went bankrupt in the process. No doubt, the Vatican does a lot of good for a lot of people. It offers a moral compass for one billion plus Catholics worldwide, distributes charity on a behemoth scale, and inspires hope in populations that need it (most recently John Paul II from Poland engaging Communist populations and the current Pope representing the growth of Latino and modern Catholics). The bank itself has largely filled its purpose of keeping the Vatican afloat and able to execute its mission. The book also ends on an up-beat tone praising the early days of Pope Francis’ administration as increasingly modern, flexible, and representative for new Catholics. In the end, each reader must balance the need to fund the Vatican’s social benefits against the evil and suffering it has endorsed or enabled. The author takes a critical approach emphasizing the latter. I tend to agree, with the caveat of not having heard counters to the authors’ claims.
Review: Clear, Direct, Informative. Amazing Story. - GODS BANKER A History of Money and Power Inside the Vatican Four Stars, Great Book. Clear, direct and informative. Well written. Halfway through the book, I had rated this book at 5 stars. Posner's straight forward writing style keeps it interesting. But the endless stream of despicable behavior, bureaucratic conniving and hypocrisy wore me down. Good overall history of the Vatican and the IOR (Vatican Bank), progressing from the early church believing lending money for profit was usurious to the Church running an international financial institution where anything for profit was acceptable. But, if your interest runs to a specific scandal, in example Nazi Gold or the Black Friar Bridge murder, Mob Money Laundering etc, then there are shorter more focused books dealing with each.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #258,759 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #182 in Christian Popes #236 in Political Corruption & Misconduct #398 in Christian Church History (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 981 Reviews |

## Images

![God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81bZJSNKqjL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fascinating (and critical) read offering insight to a complex institution.
*by J***R on January 17, 2016*

Before reading this book, I had no idea how little I knew about the Catholic Church. I count Catholics among my best friends and admire their faith and morals. Of course, Catholic individuals aren’t all representative of the Catholic Church any more than every American citizen is representative of the President. I expecting the book to take more emphasis on “Banker” than “God”, but end up far more knowledgeable about the Church and money. The book itself is well-written and attention-keeping. I listened on Audible rather than reading hard-copy which was fine for me. Readers more interested in the historic (largely Italian) names and details may be better served by traditional reading. The book is extremely critical. Thankfully, it is backed by sufficient research to make the criticism credible. Starting with the topic of Church finance, I take away a simple message that finance matters a lot for the Church. This is a vast organization with 1-billion plus followers, 20 million people worldwide receiving some financial assistance from the Church, and a lay bureaucracy that requires salaries. The Vatican collects money indirectly from the local arms of the Church supplemented by direct contributions such as “indulgences” (an odd concept of donating to recover from sin), and Vatican tourism. The Vatican Bank, like any institution, generally sought to protect the interests of its (lone) shareholder and grow wealth. While at times unsavory, this has included asserting sovereign authority against money laundering investigators, liquidating Italian shareholdings when threatened with withholding tax, and making investments that resulted in “immoral behavior” (porn, weapons). The Vatican Bank, or “Institute for the Works of Religion” (IOR) is a fascinating place. Popes have taken varied levels of interest in the bank ranging from hands-on reform to making appointments and otherwise stepping back. A LOT of money passes through the bank which serves as a store of Vatican wealth, a personal bank for various members of the clergy, and payment processor for various Church organizations around the world. It is also spectacularly opaque by design and accident. By design, the Vatican is its own sovereign and therefore not subject to regulation and transparency that many of us take for granted. Institutions such as the UN have grouped the Vatican as an “offshore banking center” with states such as Switzerland, Luxemburg, Lichtenstein, and Bahamas. Depositors have taken advantage of the IOR’s special status to launder money and avoid taxes. In one stinging criticism, the author quotes an official “the Vatican is its own state when it suits them. Other times, it relies on Italy [such as after Pope John Paul II was shot].” It is also opaque by accident, lacking many of the digital features of modern banking and relying on hard copy faxes as recently as 2013. I’m personally struck by examples of Vatican officials (primarily Clergy) living elaborate lifestyles on stolen funds. It’s pretty shocking to think of Priests living in multi-million dollar homes with millions in art work and Aston Martins in the drive. How did this so often go unnoticed? The Vatican Bank wasn’t always rich. The book starts in the period when the Vatican was able to tax Papal states. As these territories became part of other sovereign nations, taxing became more difficult and the bank had to rely on voluntary contributions. Germany is an exception where the state did (still does?) collect a tax on Catholics on behalf of the Church. In the 1800’s the Vatican began borrowing from the Rothschilds in what seemed a profitable relationship for both sides. Eventually, pressure mounted against borrowing from Jews. The Church then turned to an increasingly wealthy American Catholic community for contributions. This dried up into WWI and the Great Depression. In 1929 the Lateran Treaty formally established Vatican sovereignty from Italy and granted the Church and a lot of money from Italy including bonds which tied together Vatican and Italian fortunes together. Vatican wealth took a major step-up during and after WWII. Bernadino Nogaro was an experienced investor who oriented the Vatican’s portfolio toward gold, property and a nascent Italian industrial economy. All paid through this period and the Vatican also gained influence by holding major stakes in the majority of Italy’s biggest companies. Future investors would struggle to replicate this success, often being drawn into more aggressive investments – both in terms of returns and legality. Most alarming, the author connects Vatican investment and finances to at least three specific recent scandals: (i) supporting Italy’s late-1930s military efforts in Ethiopia in an effort to support investments in the Italian defense industry, (ii) funding and harboring Holocaust war criminals, often by shielding Nazi gold, and (iii) the Child sex abuse scandals which came to light in the past twenty years. The author presents two quasi-defenses, neither of which resonates as credible (to me or the author). The better of the two is that the Vatican is an institution that “thinks in centuries”. I’m all-for long-term thinking, but equally fear this approach allowed the Vatican to overlook too much. Second, the Vatican is a large organization and every tree will have a few bad apples. It’s a large, gossipy, insular organization so bad apples are inevitable. My sense is, however, there have been simply too many with too much power. Specifically on the Holocaust, the book’s narrative is disturbing. The author (who has also written about Nazi war criminals in Argentina) argues that the Vatican: (i) Failed to speak out against the Holocaust, largely in order to protect its monetary ties with German Catholics and ties with Mussolini (ii) Laundered millions in Nazi gold – a general term for all sorts of war booty – enabling Nazi war criminals to set up new lives. Much went from Croatia, through the Vatican, and ended up in Latin America. (iii) Stuck their heads in the sand when the Jews of Rome were being rounded up for Concentration Camps. Pope Pious at the time apparently complained more about tanks blocking his view out of the Vatican than the Jews being killed, (iv) Were somewhere between un-helpful and obstructionist during 1980’s discussing regarding the return of Jewish property – Italian insurers made millions in un-paid policies. The author further connects this moral failure during the Holocaust to a long line of Vatican anti-semitism and connects all the way through Pope John Paul II’s failure to apologize at Yad Va’Shem in Israel a few years back. Specifically on the Child Sex abuse scandals, the link back to Vatican Bank is that two Popes hesitates to admit errors on behalf of the Church to avoid the risk of large settlement payments to other sovereigns. According to the author, the result was slow apologies, damage to the Church’s reputation, and an increased financial burden on the smaller dioceses, at least one of which went bankrupt in the process. No doubt, the Vatican does a lot of good for a lot of people. It offers a moral compass for one billion plus Catholics worldwide, distributes charity on a behemoth scale, and inspires hope in populations that need it (most recently John Paul II from Poland engaging Communist populations and the current Pope representing the growth of Latino and modern Catholics). The bank itself has largely filled its purpose of keeping the Vatican afloat and able to execute its mission. The book also ends on an up-beat tone praising the early days of Pope Francis’ administration as increasingly modern, flexible, and representative for new Catholics. In the end, each reader must balance the need to fund the Vatican’s social benefits against the evil and suffering it has endorsed or enabled. The author takes a critical approach emphasizing the latter. I tend to agree, with the caveat of not having heard counters to the authors’ claims.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Clear, Direct, Informative. Amazing Story.
*by O***E on March 19, 2015*

GODS BANKER A History of Money and Power Inside the Vatican Four Stars, Great Book. Clear, direct and informative. Well written. Halfway through the book, I had rated this book at 5 stars. Posner's straight forward writing style keeps it interesting. But the endless stream of despicable behavior, bureaucratic conniving and hypocrisy wore me down. Good overall history of the Vatican and the IOR (Vatican Bank), progressing from the early church believing lending money for profit was usurious to the Church running an international financial institution where anything for profit was acceptable. But, if your interest runs to a specific scandal, in example Nazi Gold or the Black Friar Bridge murder, Mob Money Laundering etc, then there are shorter more focused books dealing with each.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An insightful and necessary contribution to the literature on the Vatican, with important new disclosures
*by C***O on March 11, 2015*

God's Bankers came out just too late for my research (for the Kindle e-book, The Vatican's Challenges in the Balkans), but it would have made a great additional source. But it's not only a work for experts and analysts, it's also a rollicking good read for anyone interested in the Vatican, with some important new additions to the historical record, unique to Posner and his dedicated investigative work. This book tells in vivid detail the story of how the Holy See transformed itself, within a few short decades, from a declining institution almost distrustful of money into a financial powerhouse. Posner’s detailed investigation – some nine years in the making – tells a remarkable tale of how a small group of men at the highest levels of the Holy See created an unprecedented financial empire for the church, with portentous consequences for key events in modern history such as the World Wars, the Solidarity movement in Poland, and the various scandals within the church over the past two decades. In each case, it appears that greater world conflicts and political events have had a transformative effect on the Vatican’s institutions and indeed its very orientation to money and the ways and means of using it. It must be said that, while the Vatican as an institution has long been steeped in myth and legend, the actual facts as presented by Posner do not lead to the assumed conclusion that many might expect. Far from having control over a tightly centralized, ever-wealthier treasure chest for centuries, the Vatican has actually gone from boom to bust numerous times and did not even have a proper bank of its own until World War II. And, as the recent auditing efforts authorized by Pope Francis show, still cannot be completely sure exactly what it has, and where, as each successive investigation over the years has always found accounts that have been concealed, or simply forgotten within the vast global network or organizations with which the Vatican must relate. Indeed, what is perhaps most fascinating about the book is its depiction of an entertainingly chaotic world of Vatican bureaucracy in which funds could come, go, disappear or reappear, and in which some of the most marvelously inventive schemes for accomplishing this were pioneered by some very clever men. Posner provides a great service in introducing us to the various financial advisors who have kept the Catholic Church running for over a century... (Visit the Balkanalysis.com Vatican Bookshelf for the rest of this review)

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