EWTN News portal (May 1, 2026) reports that the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF) — the financial watchdog established by Benedict XVI in 2010 — received 78 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in 2025, of which 73 were linked to accounts at the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank. The report, presented on April 30, 2026, claims to demonstrate “the robustness” of the system for “the prevention of and fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.” Compared to 2024, when 79 reports were filed, the number decreased slightly, while cash flows through Vatican City State dropped from €27.8 million to €18.7 million. The ASIF forwarded 16 reports to the Office of the Promoter of Justice and emphasized strengthened international cooperation, including participation in Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body. The report notes a financial transaction of approximately €522,000 was suspended as a preventive measure. The entire narrative is presented as evidence of institutional “transparency” and “accountability.” Behind the bureaucratic language of financial oversight, however, lies a far more disturbing reality: the structures occupying the Vatican have transformed the Holy See into a node in the global financial system, subject to the same corruptions as any secular banking institution, while simultaneously abandoning its supernatural mission.
The “Vatican Bank” and the Profanation of Sacred Property
The very existence of an institution called the “Vatican Bank” — the Institute for the Works of Religion — is a scandal that would have been unthinkable before the conciliar revolution. The Church, established by Christ as a societas perfecta (perfect society), possesses spiritual authority and temporal goods only insofar as they serve the supernatural end of salvation. Pius XI, in Quas Primas (1925), proclaimed that Christ’s kingdom “extends not only to Catholic nations or to those who, by receiving baptism according to law, belong to the Church… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” The temporal goods of the Church exist solely for the support of divine worship, the propagation of the faith, and the relief of the poor — never for speculative financial activity. Yet the IOR operates as a full participant in the international banking system, holding accounts, processing transactions, and generating suspicious activity reports — all the trappings of a secular financial institution.
The 78 suspicious activity reports in 2025 — 73 of them from the IOR alone — are not evidence of “robust oversight,” as the report claims, but evidence of systemic contamination. The language itself reveals the depth of the problem: the structures occupying the Vatican have adopted the vocabulary of international banking regulation — “money laundering,” “terrorist financing,” “financial intelligence,” “cross-border cash transport” — as if the Holy See were merely another state subject to the same corrupt financial flows as any secular power. This is the logical consequence of the conciliar revolution’s abandonment of the Church’s supernatural identity. When the Church ceases to be the Kingdom of Christ on earth and becomes instead a “perfect society” in the sociological sense — a non-governmental organization with observer status at the United Nations — it inevitably becomes subject to the same corruptions as every other human institution.
St. Pius X, in Lamentabili sane exitu (1907), condemned the proposition that “the Church is not a true and perfect society, entirely free — nor is she endowed with proper and perpetual rights of her own, conferred upon her by her Divine Founder” (proposition 19 of the Syllabus of Errors). The post-conciliar structures have effectively implemented this condemned proposition by subordinating the Church’s temporal affairs to the standards and oversight mechanisms of the secular international order. Participation in Moneyval — a Council of Europe body — is not a sign of virtue but of capitulation. The Church does not need the approval of the Council of Europe to govern her own affairs; she needs only fidelity to the divine constitution established by Christ.
The Silence About the Supernatural Mission
The most damning aspect of this report is what it omits entirely. There is no mention of the purpose for which the temporal goods of the Church exist. There is no reference to the Mass, to the sacraments, to the salvation of souls — the sole reason for the Church’s existence. The entire document is written in the language of secular financial regulation, as if the Vatican were merely another micro-state managing its treasury. This silence is not accidental; it is symptomatic of the comprehensive apostasy that has overtaken the structures occupying the Vatican.
Pius XI, in Quas Primas, taught that “the Church, established by Christ as a perfect society, demands for itself by a right belonging to it, which it cannot renounce, full freedom and independence from secular authority.” Yet the post-conciliar structures have voluntarily submitted to secular financial oversight, participating in international bodies, adopting international standards, and — most damingly — reporting “suspicious activities” to the same global financial apparatus that serves the interests of the very powers that have persecuted the Church throughout history.
The €522,000 transaction suspended as a “preventive measure” is revealing. The report does not specify the date, the parties involved, or the intended purpose. This opacity — presented as prudence — is precisely the kind of secrecy that fueled the Vatican financial scandals of the 1980s and continues to erode whatever credibility the institution retains. The faithful are expected to trust that the system works, that the oversight is effective, that the “strengthening of collaboration” between authorities produces genuine accountability. But trust requires transparency, and transparency is precisely what is lacking.
The Symptom of Systemic Apostasy
The financial report must be understood not as an isolated administrative document but as a symptom of the comprehensive transformation of the Church into a secular institution. The conciliar revolution, inaugurated by John XXIII and consummated by the post-conciliar antipopes, replaced the supernatural mission of the Church with a naturalistic program of “dialogue,” “cooperation,” and “engagement” with the world. The financial dimension of this transformation is merely one aspect of a total revolution.
The 78 suspicious activity reports in 2025 join a long history of financial scandals involving the IOR — from the Banco Ambrosiano collapse in 1982 to the more recent investigations into the London property deal that led to the trial of Cardinal Becciu. Each scandal produces a new layer of “oversight,” a new authority, a new set of regulations — and each new layer further entrenches the Church in the secular financial system it was meant to transcend.
The comparison with previous years — 79 reports in 2024, 123 in 2023 — is presented as evidence of improvement. But a decrease in reported suspicious activities may equally indicate a decrease in vigilance, a normalization of previously unacceptable practices, or a reclassification of what constitutes “suspicious” activity. The report provides no basis for distinguishing between genuine improvement and statistical manipulation. What is certain is that the system continues to operate, the suspicious activities continue to occur, and the faithful continue to be told that everything is under control.
The Primacy of God’s Laws Over Human Regulations
The entire framework of “anti-money laundering” and “counter-terrorist financing” regulation, while not inherently evil, becomes idolatrous when it displaces the supernatural mission of the Church. The Church’s temporal goods exist for the service of divine worship and the salvation of souls. Any financial activity that does not serve this end is already a deviation; any financial activity that generates “suspicious activity reports” is a scandal that demands not better oversight but radical conversion.
Pius IX, in the Syllabus of Errors (1864), condemned the proposition that “the sacred ministers of the Church and the Roman pontiff are to be absolutely excluded from every charge and dominion over temporal affairs” (proposition 27). The Church has the right and duty to manage temporal goods for supernatural ends. But the post-conciliar structures have gone far beyond the legitimate management of temporal goods; they have integrated the Church’s finances into the global banking system, subjecting them to the same corruptions, the same suspicious activities, and the same secular oversight mechanisms as any other financial institution.
The 16 reports forwarded to the Office of the Promoter of Justice in 2025 — up from 11 in 2024 — suggest that the problem is not diminishing but intensifying. The “strengthening of collaboration” between the ASIF and the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps, presented as a positive development, is in reality an admission that the financial system of the Holy See requires the same kind of policing as any secular state. This is the logical endpoint of the conciliar revolution: the Kingdom of Christ on earth reduced to a micro-state with a financial police force.
Conclusion: The Bankruptcy Behind the Balance Sheet
The 78 suspicious activity reports of 2025 are not evidence of institutional health but of spiritual bankruptcy. The structures occupying the Vatican have so thoroughly assimilated the methods and mentality of the secular financial world that they can no longer distinguish between legitimate temporal administration and participation in a corrupt global system. The language of “transparency” and “accountability” is a smokescreen that conceals the fundamental betrayal of the Church’s mission.
The true measure of the Church’s financial health is not the number of suspicious activity reports filed or the volume of cash flows monitored. It is the fidelity with which temporal goods serve the supernatural end of salvation. By this measure, the post-conciliar structures have failed comprehensively. The IOR does not serve the Mass, the sacraments, or the missions; it serves the global financial system. The ASIF does not protect the Church’s supernatural mission; it protects the Vatican’s reputation in the eyes of secular regulators. And the 78 suspicious activities of 2025 are not anomalies to be corrected by better oversight; they are the natural fruit of an institution that has lost its supernatural identity and become, in the words of the Apocalypse, a dwelling place of demons (Apoc. 18:2).
The faithful must reject the entire framework of conciliar “reform” and return to the immutable Tradition of the Church — a Tradition that recognizes Christ as King, the Church as His Kingdom, and temporal goods as instruments of salvation, not objects of financial speculation. Regnavit a ligno Deus (God has reigned from the wood) — but only if the Church remains faithful to the wood of the Cross, not the wood of the banker’s desk.
Source:
Vatican detected 78 suspicious activities in its financial system in 2025 (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 01.05.2026