“The judgment concerns Mr. Paolo Cipriani and Mr. Massimo Tulli mala gestio [mismanagement] arranged with some investments of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione [IOR] between 2010 and 2013, and which proved to be immediately harmful as problematic and, in several cases, also illegitimate and subject to criminal proceedings,” the IOR statement said.
Upholding the 2018 first instance conviction, the Court demands the two former bankers to compensate the IOR for the damages caused – 35,740,587 euros by way of emerging damages, and 4,799,445 euros by way of loss of profit (therefore for a total of Euro 40,540,032, plus monetary devaluation and legal interest), and court costs, including those relating to the first instance.
Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli resigned from their positions at the head of the IOR in July 2013, a few months after the election of Pope Francis. A vast investigation into the functioning of the Vatican bank was launched in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI.
In a press release, the IOR explained, “The judgment follows a deep work of renewal and transformation of the Institute by the implementation of the important reforms of the Vatican financial sector and of the Holy See, thanks to which the Institute was able to identify the abuses committed against it and defend its assets, which then it is the patrimony of the Church. It was the first of its kind within the Vatican City State, which served as a forerunner to other similar cases, still ongoing.”
The former director-general of the Institute of Works of Religion (IOR), Paolo Cipriani, and his deputy director, Massimo Tulli, were sentenced on January 18, 2022 by the Vatican Court of Appeal to pay nearly 40 million euros.