Vatican denies knowledge of $3.7b transferred to Australia
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican and the Australian Catholic Church have both denied knowledge of transfers worth $US1.8 billion ($F3.71 billion) which Australia’s financial watchdog says have been sent from Rome to Australia in the past seven years.
“That amount of money and that number of transfers did not leave the Vatican City,” a senior Vatican official with knowledge of the city-state’s finances said on Wednesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Vatican would be seeking details from Australian authorities on the specific origin and destination of the money.
“It’s not our money because we don’t have that kind of money,” he said.
“I am absolutely stunned.”
The figures were made public in December by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) in response to a parliamentary question by Australian Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, and first reported by the newspaper The Australian.
They involved about 47,000 separate transfers, according to AUSTRAC.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane told Reuters the Australian Church was not aware of any such transfers: “I can assure you that no diocese or other Church entity saw any of the money”.
Ms Fierravanti-Wells had asked what funds had been transferred to Australia “from the Vatican or any of its entities, or individuals associated with the Vatican or Vatican entities” since 2014.
The official in Rome said the Vatican had around 100 legal entities, including hospitals and the like, “but they don’t have that kind of money”.
AUSTRAC said the transfers ranged from yearly totals of $A71.6 million ($F113 million) in 2014 to $A581.3 million ($F921.19) million in 2017.
In an email to Reuters on December 24, AUSTRAC said it had no further comment.
On Thursday, in a further email, it said it could not comment on the specifics of this story before next week.