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The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The seeming miracle occurred on October 28, 312 C.E. Miltiades, a small, unassuming man of sixty-two years, was summoned from his hiding place within a..." (more)
Key Phrases: Vatican Bank, John Paul, Holy Father (more...)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Burdened by a lurid title, this is a short history of the politics and finances of the Vatican during the last hundred years. As in his Complete Idiot's guides to the Crusades and to the lives of the saints, Williams displays an ability to compress a great deal of information in a short, highly readable way. His main argument is that the current financial strength of the Roman Catholic Church as well as many of its problems began in 1929 with the signing of the Lateran Treaty, in which a financially besieged Pope Pius XI exchanged recognition and support of Mussolini's Fascist government for more than $90 million and the establishment of the Vatican as a sovereign state. Williams traces how the Vatican's new emphasis on financial stability led it into other morally questionable financial arrangements with Adolf Hitler, the fascist state of Croatia and reputed Sicilian Mafia financier Michele Sindona. He examines carefully the establishment and workings of the Instituto per le Opere di Religione, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, "an entity unto itself without corporate or ecclesiastical ties to any other agency within the Holy See." While parts of the book overlap with other recent works on the Vatican and the popes (especially on Pius XI's refusal to censure the brutal ethnic cleansing of Orthodox Serbs and Jews by Croatia's Ustashi regime), this is a surprisingly solid short look at the dubious financial dealings of the Vatican from the 1920s to the present.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist

On February 11, 1929, Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Mussolini's government, affirming Il Duce and netting him the political capital necessary for a secure Fascist future in exchange for $90 million in cash, a new tax-exempt papal state on Vatican Hill, government salaries for Italian parish priests, and the promise of both power and financial security. With it was formed the Vatican's Special Administration of the Holy See, the cleric-free investment arm of the Vatican, in the care of Bernardino Nogara, financial architect of the German Reichsbank. Thus ended the church's long-standing ban against usury and began a tradition of financially rewarding Faustian relationships with some of the twentieth century's most unsavory elements, including Nazi Germany and the Sicilian Mafia. Williams, a church historian who has also done FBI consulting, also investigates the suspicious death of reformer John Paul I and the shadiness of business as usual under John Paul II. This is a jaw-dropping book for Catholics and non-Catholics alike, and its straightforward manner and thoroughly documented evidence make it a compelling challenge for reform. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 264 pages
  • Publisher: Prometheus Books; First Printing. edition (May 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1591020654
  • ISBN-13: 978-1591020653
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #394,912 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Paul L. Williams
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
The seeming miracle occurred on October 28, 312 C.E. Miltiades, a small, unassuming man of sixty-two years, was summoned from his hiding place within a small house in an alleyway of the Trastevere district of Rome by two centurions. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Vatican Bank, John Paul, Holy Father, Holy Mother Church, Roman Catholic Church, New York, United States, Banco Ambrosiano, Vatican City, Pope Paul, Bishop Marcinkus, Michele Sindona, Catholic Center Party, Roberto Calvi, Christian Democrats, Licio Gelli, Papal States, Uncle Marty, Monitor Ecclesiasticus, Special Administration, Bernardino Nogara, Adolf Hitler, Banca Privata, New Croatia, Sicilian Mafia
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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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47 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great history book, July 26, 2005
By Newton Ooi (Phoenix, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Growing up in America, one of my favorite topics in school was history, be it American, Western, or world history. Never in all those classes did I come across anything like the tales told in this book. The author is a historian of Christianity, and in this book he gives an inside history of the Vatican, with an emphasis on the 20th century. Specifically, he tells the facts that the Vatican would not like people to know. The major events covered in this book are:

1. The Vatican's treaty with Mussolini and the Fascist Party in Italy whereby the Vatican would get its own land and country from Italy. In exchange, the Vatican would support the Fascists publicly and privately. This occurred in 1929, I think.

2. The Vatican's agreement with Hitler in the 1930s whereby the Vatican would pressure Catholics in Germany to not oppose Hitler. In return, the Nazis gave money to the Vatican in the form of a church tax levied on German Catholics.

3. The Vatican covering up for some of its officials who took part in the Holocaust.

4. The Vatican helping Nazi scientists escape to the US at the end of WWII. In return, the Allies kept secret knowledge about the Vatican's complicy in the Holocaust and private arrangements with the Axis powers.

5. The Vatican aligning itself with the Mafia after WWII to help secure inroads into foreign governments, and get good deals on investments world-wide.

All in all, this was a very impressive book. It is quite short, and probably as easy to read as a Harry Potter book, though shorter than a Potter book. The book is written in chronological order, and there are a lot of references to various primary and secondary sources.

I highly recommend this book.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Well done!, December 31, 2007
Murder in the Vatican: The Revolutionary Life of John Paul and The Vatican Murders of 1978

I found this book quite intriguing from start to finish. Williams does a really good job of outlining the politicking that goes on in the Vatican from the prewar period to the present. It is a must read for those interested in what goes on behind the closed doors of the Vatican. in the Two other must-reads in this category are David Yallop's `In God's Name' and Lucien Gregoire's `Murder in the Vatican. The latter probably does the best job of proving the Vatican's role in World War II and the Holocaust.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Notated History Book , July 14, 2007
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
Mr. Williams traces the dark history of the characters inside the Vatican from prior to WWII to the recently deceased Pope's time. The history is of the dark side from Pius XI's actions and inactions with the Hitler Regime to Pope John Paul II's Vatican Banking scandals. Other reviewers have criticized the author for dwelling on the dark side and have accused him of fantasizing. The notes are there to check. His intentions weren't to point out the benevolence of the Vatican - they were to point out the side that up to recent times have not been brought to light. If a reader is truly interested in history, one has to have all the facts. Some of the facts are contained within Mr. Williams' book and I commend him for bringing them to our attention. Also contained are Appendices of THE LATERAN TREATY OF 1929, a chronological listing of Popes from Peter to John Paul II, and THE CONCORDANT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND THE GERMAN REICH. The facts are noted within the chapters and the notes contained at the end of the book. One can use the notes as a further reading bibliography if desired. This book is 202 pages long and this reader read it in one Saturday sitting. If you're interested only in polemics, read something else. If you're interested in facts, even if they have warts, you need to read this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of "The Vatican Exposed"
This book is probably one of the Vatican's worst nightmares. It accurately exposes the various examples of financial corruption that the Vatican has been involved in, sometimes... Read more
Published 3 months ago by G. Gustin

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad, Disturbing History
This is a quick, easily-accessible, highly disturbing history of modern corruption inside the Vatican. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Thomas Fortenberry

4.0 out of 5 stars Baffling
As a catholic I was not aware nor did I expect that Vatican officials were prepared to compromise so much for earthly matters. Read more
Published on May 6, 2007 by GG

2.0 out of 5 stars Paul Williams (the author) is a "Church historian", not a Catholic-basher
Please ignore review which heaps emotive bashing on the author, Dr. Paul Williams, as if Williams was some kind of "Catholic basher" (he is actually a dedicated Roman Catholic... Read more
Published on May 15, 2006 by George Wearteborough

4.0 out of 5 stars a great book
In its expose of Vatican intrique, particularly as it pertains to pre-World War II, this book is exceeded only by Lucien Gregoire's "Murder in the Vatican. Read more
Published on August 6, 2005 by brent howell

1.0 out of 5 stars A Bigot Exposed!
This book (and yes, I read through it!) is a shameless pile of bigoted, anti-Catholic crap. The author bases his writing on information that is so slanted it is ridiculous. Read more
Published on March 27, 2005 by Chuckie M

5.0 out of 5 stars Vatican is worse than the mafia!
At least the Mafia does not pick on little boys and sexually abuse them.

This book is non-fiction, but is as entertaining as fiction. Read more
Published on December 31, 2004 by Eric Kent

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Look at Vatican Corruption
During the late 1970's and early 1980's, the Vatican's finances were in the hands of Cardinal Paul Marcinkus. Read more
Published on June 19, 2004 by Charles J. Rector

4.0 out of 5 stars Fact over Fiction
People often find it disheartening to be told that something they hold reverence too is not what it seems. Read more
Published on November 21, 2003 by Richard A Riemer

5.0 out of 5 stars A slight problem with 'image'
Genuinely shocking book if you are not up on the literature in this nook and cranny, dark and ominous--coreleonic. Read more
Published on November 7, 2003 by John C. Landon

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