Part I — A Vision, a Church and the Laundry | by @SaysDana

7 min readFeb 21, 2019

Part I — A Vision, a Church and the Laundry

How a simple vision started a chain of events that became the Vatican and its connection to corruption.

A Vision

This story begins around 312 AD and involves an Emperor and a lowly Priest. The Emperor was Constantine I (1), the current ruler and the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius and the Empress Helena (2).

The Priest was Miltiades (3), a simple Christian man who practiced his Christian faith during the time that pagan’s ruled Rome. The simple act of being a Christian during this time was considered dangerous to one’s life and when Miltiades was summoned to the palace of the Emperor Constantine by the Palace guards, I would suggest that he feared for his life.

It’s important to note, that there are varying degrees of information about the wars and battles fought during this period. Whatever those battles were, it seems Constantine won many of them. It was during the Battle of the Milvian Bridge that it’s been said that Constantine had a vision. Historical records show that he “had a vision or a dream in which he saw with his own eyes in the heavens, a trophy of the cross arising from the light of the sun, carrying the message, In Hoc Signo Vinces” (“with this sign, you shall win”).

In subsequent battles after, he used the trophy of the cross when he rode into battle and between 312 AD and 320 AD he helped Christianity grow while leaving pagan worship behind.

When Miltiades arrived at the palace that day, Constantine told him of his vision and how it changed him. He was so convinced of this vision that he presented a purple robe of the pagan high priest to Miltiades which was what other conquered rulers had given to him. Miltiades was unable to accept these robes as they were contradictory to God’s humble teachings of poverty and service. The robe represented wealth and power which he knew was wrong.

After more discussion, Miltiades decided to accept what Constantine offered in the hopes of growing God’s Church. Two worlds collided that day and forever changed the way the Church would operate.

A Church

With Constantine’s support, Miltiades began performing public Church services, given the title of Chief Priest or “pontifex maximus” once given to Caesar and became the 32nd Bishop of Rome. Those delivering services were referred to as Cardinals and the faith grew. With pagan gods set aside, the citizens in Italy gave their wealth to the church which ultimately became known as the Church of Rome. Constantine built a basilica and gave Miltiades the Lateran Palace and forged the Edict of Milan (5)to secure that commitment.

By the Sixth century, the church was immense. Rome, Naples, Calabria and Sicily were part of it, and it became “The Holy See” or holy seat. It continued to grow over the centuries and by 777 AD, the citizens of Rome conferred upon the Pope supreme authority to rule over all its citizens. Ironic, isn’t it, that the vicar of Christ is now the new Caesar?

As the Church entered the 1920’s, is was a far different church. While the Lateran Palace had remained a church property, it was now filled with rats, had no electricity, the sewer was failing, and it had little or no money to help fix its own infrastructure.

This Pope was Pope Pius XI (4). He was 71 and very afraid for his church because it was running out of money.

By 1922, the threat of communism and fascism was on the rise. Mussolini, Hitler and even Franco, were beginning to take control of the citizens of Europe with marches and violence. King Emmanuel of Italy was so shaken by what he was seeing in Italy that he allowed Fascists to create their own government. There were many groups forming at this time, but the Pope told his clergy not to engage with any of these political factions and to keep the Church out of it.

As Fascism continued to grow, so did Mussolini. He knew that without the Church, he could not grow his base of support and so he began grooming the Church. What he did was simple: he helped outlaw freemasonry, helped provide State funds to the church to help them with their debt and cash flow and exempted the clergy from taxation. Mussolini knew it would take time, but he needed to win over Pope Pius XI.

By 1923, the Pope sent a letter to his clergy, that the Church would support the Fascist Party.

By 1925, Mussolini was exerting more control of Italy by trying to control all aspects of life; moral, political and economic. What Mussolini needed, more than anything else, was the support of Roman Catholic citizens and the Church needed a partner.

Mussolini presented a proposal to the Pope that would help both sides. He wanted the Church to say they supported Mussolini and in return the Church would receive $90 million dollars, sovereign status for the Vatican, tax-free property rights, and guaranteed salaries for all priests throughout the country from the Italian government forever. Just like dealing with rats in the Lateran palace, the Pope knew he was going to have to deal with the devil. He needed a partner with money and was willing to look the other way for the blood money they would receive, for the sake of the Church.

The signing of the Lateran Treaty in 1929 helped Pope Pius XI change the immediate future of the Holy See. On the day after the Treaty was signed, two things happened that changed the church and its direction for the 2nd time in history:

#1 — The Pope created, within the Holy See, an organization called the Special Administration of the Holy See. Its sole purpose was to safeguard the money received from Mussolini for the Vatican.

#2 — He appointed Bernardino Nogara (6), a brilliant, low key, financial wizard to oversee it. Nogara would be in complete control of this money and his sole job was to grow the Church income and to restore the Church to a position of wealth and power.

Years later, Cardinal Francis Spellman, in the U.S., would say that the greatest thing that ever happened to the church was Bernardino Nogara and I wonder why a U.S. Cardinal would make such a comment.

The Laundry

Nogara came from a family of priests but chose to work in mining and banking, became fluent in 8 languages, had a photographic memory and was a computing machine. Because of his contacts around the world in those businesses, he became well known in global finance.

Once the Special Administration of the Holy See was created, Nogara convinced Mussolini to include the Banca di Roma, a bank Nogara controlled, in the new IIR (Institute for Industrial Reconstruction) treaty. The function of the IIR was to capitalize on industrial companies which were needed in Italy and If the bank got a piece of those companies and they grew, the Church would grow as well.

A seemingly good investment, it conflicted with the Church teachings because now they would be involved in Usury; a grievous sin. Nogara talked with the Pope on the importance of this investment for the church and Pope Pius XI chose to “look the other way”. Once he received approval from the Pope, Nogara began to invest in State secured businesses like Italgas, Societa Generale Immobillaire (Construction) and other manufacturing businesses for the Church.

By the time World War II started, the Church was invested in companies that made bombs, tanks, toys, hotels, furniture and even contraceptives. What they condemned at the pulpit served to enhance their investment portfolio. When Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935, most of the weapons came from a plant owned by the Holy See.

By 1935, the Holy See owned over 40 million square feet of land, acquired medium sized and rural banks and controlled interest in others. It’s pure capitalism at it’s best: control the flow of revenue and you can determine the success of economic enterprise.

As money poured into the Vatican from around the world, it opened scrutiny from the outside. Every investment was supposed to flow into the Special Administration Fund Nogara oversaw, however, he had to put the excess revenue into Swiss banks. The closed books would help conceal what the Church was doing behind a cloak of secrecy.

By 1939, the $90 Million-dollar investment from Mussolini was now worth $2 Billion. Pope Pius XI passed on and Pope Pius XII was installed. Bernardino Nogara stayed on.

The Church created the Vatican Bank and named the Pope as CEO during this same time. The church controlled every aspect of everything within the walls of the city. The Pope is answerable to no one and can’t be challenged by anyone or removed from office; an absolute monarchy. They can’t control armies, but they can control wealth and the Vatican had a perfect partner to grow with.

Upcoming — Part II

The War, a Holocaust and Blood Money

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the others. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Matthew. 6:24

“There is an entire, second global economy — built on vice. It was imagined in 1918 and first constructed in 1920 — only to solidify by 1934 and grow. It is not taxed. The mob doesn’t spend money to make money. They steal and extort. They don’t invest. They launder.”

@LincolnsBible — Twitter 4:29 PM — 2 Feb 2019

References:

Money, Murder, And the Mafia. The Vatican Exposed by Paul L. Williams

God’s Bankers. Gerald Posner

Written by @SaysDana