Friday, March 31, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home News World News

Vatican’s real estate a source of income and scandal

AFPbyAFP
February 21, 2021, 7:10 pm
in World News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

Prestigious addresses in Paris, London and Geneva and 3,000 properties across Rome: the Vatican has revealed more details of its real estate empire, a source of income — and scandal.

Nunzio Galantino, who was brought in two years ago by Pope Francis to centralise the Vatican’s assets, says he is tired of “sensationalist” stories about the riches of the papacy.

“When people say that most real estate in Rome belongs to the Catholic Church and the Vatican, it’s simply not true,” the bishop, who heads the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), told AFP.

Yet the extent of the properties held by the Vatican are still eye-watering, while the management of one particular London development sparked a major scandal in the heart of the Catholic Church.

The investments date back to 1929, when the Vatican City State was founded as an independent territory in a deal with Italy that included compensation for lands seized from the former Papal States.

ADVERTISEMENT

Among the church assets taken was the huge Quirinale palace, once home to 30 popes but now the residency of the Italian president.

Then pope Pius XI decided to use the money to invest in property, including abroad, “to ensure the freedom and independence of the Church”, Galantino said.

APSA has for years managed 737 properties in the heart of Paris, around the boulevard Saint-Michel, Odeon or the Champs-Elysees, covering almost 56,000 square metres and worth an estimated 595.5 million euros ($722.1 million).

In London, it has 27 properties — among them addresses in St James’s Square, Kensington and New Bond Street, covering some 4,600 square metres and worth about 108.5 million euros ($131.4 million).

Meanwhile in Switzerland, notably in Geneva and Lausanne, the Church has 140 properties covering 16,000 square metres and worth more than 91 million euros ($110 million).

Priceless Italian assets

Back in Rome, the Vatican constructed entire buildings, notably on two main streets converging on St Peter’s Square, including the famous Via della Conciliazione.

Today, APSA also directly manages the rental of 2,400 apartments and 600 offices and shops in Italy, which brought in 99 million euros ($119.9 million) in 2019.

Some 15 percent are let on the open market, 30 percent at subsidised rates, notably to staff and pensioners, and the rest are occupied by Vatican institutions or loaned out for free to schools or universities.

One of Galantino’s goals is to improve “the performance” of the Vatican’s property assets, noting that some apartments are empty and others dilapidated after years of use.

But he insists that far from being mercantile, the Holy See recently allotted a property for the pope’s charity work, noting that one sumptuous building on one of Rome’s most sought-after hills is used for training for the clergy.

Galantino says it is hard to put a value on the Vatican’s Italian holdings, not least because buildings such as St Peter’s Basilica are priceless, but it is likely to stretch to several billion euros just for the properties on the rental market.

In addition there are hundreds of apartments managed by a ministry overseeing the Church’s missionary activities, bringing in another three to four billion euros ($3.6-4.8 billion), according to economic daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

APSA is still drawing up an inventory of its Italian holdings, which Galantino hopes to complete by spring.

Pope Francis has also recently brought under the control of APSA the London properties acquired by the powerful Secretariat of State — the central administration of the Vatican — in circuitous deals through Italian intermediaries.

They notably include 60 Sloane Avenue, in the heart of London’s exclusive Chelsea district, bought in two stages from 2014.

An Italian financier who acted as a Vatican intermediary in the deal was arrested last year on corruption charges, although subsequently released.

The previous year, Vatican police launched an extraordinary raid on the Secretariat of State’s offices.

And last year, a senior official in charge at the time of the deal, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, was abruptly fired.

The Church was also embarrassed after the Malta-based investment fund that manages another of its London property portfolios, comprising five luxury apartments, used the proceeds to invest in a film about gay music star Elton John, “Rocketman”.

The pope has said he wants to withdraw from these investments as quickly as possible, to minimise any risk to the Church’s reputation.

Property scandals are nothing new.

Last month, the Vatican courts sentenced a former head of the Vatican Bank, the IOR, to nine years in prison for embezzlement and money laundering relating to corrupt real estate deals.

Tags: GenevaLondonParisPatrimony of the Apostolic SeeRome
ADVERTISEMENT
AFP

AFP

Related Posts

Trump indicted, 1st US leader to face charges

byAFP
March 31, 2023, 6:25 pm
0
8
Trump praises Putin, revives election lies at conservative forum

New York – A New York grand jury on Thursday indicted Donald Trump over hush money payments made to a...

Read more

One year on, Ukraine remembers Bucha victims of Russia ‘genocide’

byAFP
March 31, 2023, 6:20 pm
0
8
One year on, Ukraine remembers Bucha victims of Russia ‘genocide’

Bucha, Ukraine – Ukraine on Friday marks one year since Russia withdrew from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, leaving the...

Read more

Deaths in India temple collapse up to 35

byAFP
March 31, 2023, 6:15 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

New Delhi – The death toll after a floor collapsed at a Hindu temple in India had risen to 35...

Read more

Blinken affirms US-Israel ties, warns on peace after PM spat

byAFP
March 31, 2023, 6:10 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Washington – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday pledged enduring ties with Israel but warned against inflaming tensions...

Read more

Thai firefighters battle forest blaze northeast of Bangkok

byAFP
March 31, 2023, 6:05 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Nakhin, Nayok Thailand – Hundreds of Thai firefighters and soldiers battled a forest blaze less than 100 kilometres (60 miles)...

Read more

After rough US visit, Taiwan’s Tsai heads to Central America

byAFP
March 31, 2023, 6:00 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Guatemala City – Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen began a visit to Guatemala and Belize on Friday to shore up ties...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Water salute
  • ‘No’ to militarization
  • Gov’t prepared for El Niño, says water board exec
  • Bill allows religious sects to legalize annulments
  • Padilla ‘sad’ over impending failure of Cha-cha moves
  • Arrested BARMM general says conscience is clear
  • SC affirms hikes in LRT, MRT fares
  • Panel aims to finish PNP vetting process

Advertisement

Latest News

Arrested BARMM general says conscience is clear

byNash B. Maulana
March 31, 2023, 10:15 pm
0
8
QC expands free testing program for COVID-19

The police general who was arrested by authorities on Thursday over charges of syndicated estafa said he had prior disengaged...

Read more

SC affirms hikes in LRT, MRT fares

byRey E. Requejo
March 31, 2023, 10:10 pm
0
8
SC junks suit against Comelec over ‘13 polls

The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the validity of the 50 to 87 percent fare increases imposed in 2014 for...

Read more

Panel aims to finish PNP vetting process

byManila Standard
March 31, 2023, 10:05 pm
0
8
Fugitive Korean falls in Muntinlupa

The five-member advisory body looking into the possible involvement in illegal drugs of senior officers of the Philippine National Police...

Read more

Vermosa tickles investors’, communities’ fancy

byManila Standard
March 31, 2023, 10:00 pm
0
8
SM Prime expands commercial footprint

Vermosa, Ayala Land’s fourth largest estate, is in intense growth mode in 2023. The next financial and commercial center down...

Read more

Keyed up real estate market awaits 11th canto of PropertyGuru Philippines

byManila Standard
March 31, 2023, 9:55 pm
0
8
SM Prime expands commercial footprint

After celebrating its milestone 10th edition in 2022, the PropertyGuru Philippines Property Awards returns in 2023, on the heels of...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App