Pastadamus
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How the Vatican built a secret property empire using Mussolini's millions | World news | The Guardian
I'm surprised how few people actually know about this. The connections between the Catholic Church and the Far Right have always more or less been an open secret if not to the general public then to the academic world. It was the underpinning of the regimes of Mussolini in Italy, The National Catholicism of Francisco Franco, in Spain; The Parti Rexiste in Belgium; The Irish Blueshirts; The Croatian Ustae, the Nazi puppet government in Croatia, and ultimately, was the kind of Catholicism practiced by the Sainted Josemaría Escrivá, founder of the Catholic order Opus Dei.
This kind of relationship is even manifesting itself today although just less overtly in the way that the RC church is trying to extend its influence over not just social issues (which it certainly does) but also over the banking world.
Few passing London tourists would ever guess that the premises of Bulgari, the upmarket jewellers in New Bond Street, had anything to do with the pope. Nor indeed the nearby headquarters of the wealthy investment bank Altium Capital, on the corner of St James's Square and Pall Mall.
But these office blocks in one of London's most expensive districts are part of a surprising secret commercial property empire owned by theVatican.
Behind a disguised offshore company structure, the church's international portfolio has been built up over the years, using cash originally handed over by Mussolini in return for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929.
I'm surprised how few people actually know about this. The connections between the Catholic Church and the Far Right have always more or less been an open secret if not to the general public then to the academic world. It was the underpinning of the regimes of Mussolini in Italy, The National Catholicism of Francisco Franco, in Spain; The Parti Rexiste in Belgium; The Irish Blueshirts; The Croatian Ustae, the Nazi puppet government in Croatia, and ultimately, was the kind of Catholicism practiced by the Sainted Josemaría Escrivá, founder of the Catholic order Opus Dei.
This kind of relationship is even manifesting itself today although just less overtly in the way that the RC church is trying to extend its influence over not just social issues (which it certainly does) but also over the banking world.