I have prepared several programs for “Vatican Insider,” and I urge you to tune in. I think you’ll really enjoy my conversation this weekend with Iraq-born Bishop Sarhad Yousip Jammo of the Chaldeans of San Diego. There is a fairly large Iraqi Chaldean community in southern California and Bishop Jammo has been the spiritual father there for a decade. We met during the ad limina visit of Eastern Catholic US bishops to Rome. He presides over the Eparchy of St. Peter The Apostle in El Cajon, the second diocese for Chaldeans in the U.S. created by John Paul II in 2002.

Bishop Jammo has a great passion for his community, for the history and tradition and liturgy of the Chaldeans and of all Eastern Catholic Churches. Too often we of the Latin rite do not know enough about and therefore fail to appreciate the richness, beauty and history of these rites and liturgies and very ancient traditions – traditions, for example, that use Aramaic, the very language of Jesus!!

Have a great Memorial Day!

VATICAN BANK PRESIDENT IS FORCED TO RESIGN

A bombshell struck the Vatican Bank on Thursday when President Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was forced to resign given a unanimous vote of no-confidence earlier in the day.

Thursday evening, Fr. Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See Press Office, issued a communiqué on that day’s regular meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) that said: “One of the topics on the agenda was, once again, the matter regarding the governance of the Institute. Over time this area had generated increasing worries among the members of the Board and, despite repeated efforts to communicate these concerns to Prof. Gotti Tedeschi, President of the IOR, the situation deteriorated further. Following discussion of the issues, the Board members voted unanimously in favor of a motion expressing no confidence in the President for not having carried out various responsibilities of primary importance regarding his office.

“On this basis, the following statement was issued: "During the regular meeting of the Supervisory Board … on May 24, at 14:00 this Board adopted a motion of no confidence in President Gotti Tedeschi and recommended the cessation of his mandate as President and member of the Board. The Board members are saddened by the events that led to this vote of no confidence, but believe that this action is important in order to maintain the vitality of the Institute. The Board is now looking ahead to the search for a new and distinguished President who can assist the IOR to regain effective and wider relations between the Institute and the financial community based on the shared respect of accepted international banking standards.

“On Friday the Commission of Cardinals will assess the consequences of the motion taken by the Board and decide on the most appropriate steps to be taken in the future.”

And today – in what some say is a related story - the Vatican said it has detained a person in possession of confidential documents as part of the “Vatileaks” scandal investigation. Some Italian media - without tangible proof - have identified Gotti Tedeschi as the source of the leaked papal documents, whereas Il Foglio named a person who is part of the papal household, but note that people close to this layman said it is “inconceivable” he is leaking documents. The Vatican investigation by a team of three cardinals named by the Pope as well as a team from the Secretariat of State continues. In this regard, Fr. Lombardi did not identity the person Friday, limiting his remarks to saying that Vatican judicial authorities are examining his case. He did not say whether the person involved is a layman or a member of the clergy but one media said their source identified the alleged leaker as a lay person.

The supervisory board consists of five lay people, including the recent president Gotti Tedeschi. The vice president, German Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz, a former Number Two at Deutsche Bank will take over duties at IOR, at least on an interim basis. The other three members are Italian Antonio Maria Marocco, owner of Antonio Maria Marocco e Notary Associates Studio in Turin, Spaniard Manuel Soto Serrano, a director of the Santander Bank and Carl Albert Anderson, head of the Knights of Columbus. Anderson is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia and is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Five cardinals are members of the Cardinal’s Commission that oversees the bank, including Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, commission president.

Media here are reporting that Cardinal Bertone – who backed Gotti Tedeschi in 2009 as IOR president but who has had a falling-out with the banker in recent months – communicated his decision of no-confidence in Gotti to the supervisory board on Thursday morning.

Gotti Tedeschi told the Italian news agency ANSA, “I would rather say nothing, otherwise I would only have ugly words to say.”

The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano” carried the story today on its back page.

Write to Joan at:
joansrome@ewtn.com