The recent release of emails and documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein by the U.S. Department of Justice includes speculation about the Vatican Bank IOR and Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation.
In a February 21, 2013 email to economist Larry Summers, Epstein suggested in his distorted view that the most significant change in the Vatican was not Benedict XVI’s resignation, but a leadership shift at the IOR. He claimed the Vatican’s sovereign status exempted the bank from Italian and European Union transparency rules.
The email referred to the removal of IOR president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi in May 2012 amid Italian investigations into alleged financial misconduct. Epstein wrote that 47 dossiers were found at Tedeschi’s home and that intercepted calls showed he feared for his safety due to his knowledge of Vatican financial matters. Epstein wrote that by late 2012, Tedeschi was cooperating with Italian authorities.
Epstein also noted that German lawyer Ernst von Freyberg was appointed president of the IOR four days after Benedict XVI announced his resignation. The email was sent ten days after Benedict's announcement.
Epstein’s message mirrored almost verbatim an email, he had received an hour earlier from journalist and academic Edward Jay Epstein, indicating that the interpretation did not originate with Epstein.
Summers’ inclusion in the correspondence does not indicate involvement in Vatican affairs but reflects how such issues were discussed in certain U.S. financial and academic circles.
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