The Catholic Weekly 17 January 2021

$2 THE AUSTRALIAN govern- ment’s financial intelligence agency says it is carrying out a “detailed review” of its data on money transfers from the Vatican to Australia in re- cent years, amid questions about how and why AU$2.3 billion dollars could have possibly have been sent. Doubt has arisen in re- cent days as to whether the figure the agency, AUS- TRAC, reported to a parlia- mentary estimates commit- tee in December accurately reflect transfer instructions from Vatican City to this country. Vatican officials told na- tional media that the stag- gering amount said to be transferred from the Vatican City to Australia in 47,000 transactions over about the past six years was “signifi- cantly” over-estimated. The reassessment comes as Italian media revealed that the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Paro- lin, was involved directly in efforts to get Vatican Bank funding for the mortgage of a London building at the centre of the Vatican finan- cial scandal. New information shows that Cardinal Parolin was involved in attempts to force through a €150 million loan from the Vatican Bank, in or- der to cover the mortgage of 60 Sloane Avenue, for which the Secretariat of State paid hundreds of millions of eu- ros, the newly-launched Pillar Catholic news website reported. The official request for funding was made by the Secretariat of State’s deputy head, or sostituto, to the di- rector general of the bank. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Money trail review Questions around Vatican-Australia transfers and a London property scandal continue tomultiply 17, January, 2021 CHINA, FAITH AND THE FUTURE LEBANESE CLERGY TO BE BEATIFIED P4 Cardinal Pietro Parolin. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING Bishop Terry Brady, fellow clergy and Sisters of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor gather outside St Brigid’s Church in Coogee last week to honour the young woman they hope will one day become Australia’s next official saint. PHOTO: GIOVANNI PORTELLI A CENTURY after she died, Sydney’s homegrown order, Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor, gathered on Sunday to mark the passing into eternal life of their foundress, Servant of God Eileen O’Connor. Both the Sisters and many Catholics are hoping the Serv- ant of God will become Aus- tralia’s next official saint after her cause was officially opened by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP in February 2020. Due to the ongoing pan- demic, the centennial was sub- ject to restrictions which ruled out the traditional prayers at her tomb at the Sisters’ convent in Coogee. The Mass at St Brigid’s Par- ish in Coogee was celebrated by Bishop Terry Brady, Broken Bay emeritus Bishop David Walker, Fr Phillip Hicks MSC and other clergy. Sr Clare Nolan RSC, congre- gational leader of the Sisters of Charity and for Eileen’s Nurses for the Poor told The Catholic Weekly that although many could not attend because of a pandemic the occasion was still amajor success. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 ¾ David Ryan Fans mark Eileen’s milestone New reporting shows that Cardinal Parolin was involved in attempts to force through a €150 million loan from the Vatican Bank, in order to cover the mortgage of 60 Sloane Avenue.” P14