NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > News > Papal Nuncio left Ireland after vast sums of money found in his bank accounts

Papal Nuncio left Ireland after vast sums of money found in his bank accounts

Mystery funds were linked to South America by then-Irish government

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, September 22, 2012, 8:08 AM

Updated Saturday, September 22, 2012, 8:08 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

25 Comments

The Vatican

A former Papal Nuncio left Ireland under a cloud after vast sums of South American funded money were found in his bank account.

Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi left Dublin and the Vatican’s diplomatic service in 1989 after investigations into his financial affairs.

The Irish Times reports that the money originated in South America where Alibrandi had served as Papal Nuncio to Chile from 1961.

He led the Chilean delegation to the second Vatican Council, which opened in October 1962.

During a 20 year term in office in Ireland, from 1969 to ’89, Dr Alibrandi was involved in the appointment of 26 Catholic bishops.

The story came to light when former diplomat Sean Donlon spoke on Friday at University College Cork as part of the Dr Garret FitzGerald Memorial Lecture series.

A former secretary general at Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Donlon revealed the circumstances behind Alibrandi’s departure in an interview with the Irish Times.

Donlon said: “It came to our attention at the department that a substantial amount in three bank accounts in Dublin held by the Archbishop were way in excess of what was needed to run the Nunciature. The source of the money appeared to be South America.

“Because of its size, we thought it appropriate to ask if the funds belonged to the Holy See.”

The report states that when contacted for an answer, Dr Alibrandi ‘quickly answered no’ and claimed that they belonged to family.

he Cork lecture heard that when it was pointed out to the Papal Nuncio that the money was then liable under Irish taxation law to Dirt, he said he would ‘retire shortly and the accounts would be closed’.

Dr Alibrandi returned to his native Sicily shortly afterwards where he died in 2003 at the age of 89.

Donlon also revealed that Dr Alibrandi was a noted Provisional IRA sympathiser during his time in Ireland and had ‘a very testy relationship’ with Prime Ministers Jack Lynch, Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald.

He frequently intervened in disputes between the government and the Provisional IRA and also intervened in 1977 when an attempt was made to allow mixed marriages in Ireland.

Nster.com

E-mail

25 Comments

See all comments

KatieMurphy | Sep 24, 2012, 04:35 PM EDT

I have numerous links to how the vatican bank played all kinds of games. MOst involve money laundering , possibly involving the mafia. The vatican has gone off the rails. Maybe this is why I read somehwhere that the vatican is de-emphasizing the idea of hell...................AS if God doesnt know all.

Report abuse

hermitTalker | Sep 24, 2012, 09:39 AM EDT

We had neighbours in our summer home town who were products of a Ne Temere decree agreement; the boy was Protestant girl was Catholic. That was in the late 40s or so.

Report abuse

Collette2 | Sep 23, 2012, 10:22 PM EDT

I think the whole business is a damned disgrace. The sooner this house of straw blows away the better.

Report abuse

eiriamach | Sep 23, 2012, 06:53 PM EDT

But did the Irish government ever tax the large deposits of money that the Nuncio had in the Irish bank?

Report abuse

jacersagain | Sep 23, 2012, 01:21 PM EDT

A rare silly comment by Townie at 7.28am… The corollary would be that non-mixed “marriages” between men and men and between women and women, always work. Eh????

Report abuse

jacersagain | Sep 23, 2012, 01:13 PM EDT

Erm, not quite so, hermitTalker, about the father’s and mother’s religions. I think you might be mixing that up with the Irish tradition of naming boys after the father’s father and girls after the mother’s mother. “Mixed marriages” in Ireland, as understood in the context of questions by lawyer4, CitizenWhy and oldboreen below, meant Sacramental Marriage primarily between Catholics and Protestants and to a lesser extent, Catholics and people of other non-Catholic religions. As far as I remember, the Irish Catholic Church rule governing such ‘mixed marriages’ was that the non-Catholic (whether a man or a woman) had to CONSENT (as in a contract) to any children born within the marriage to be Baptised, raised and Confirmed as Catholics. A decision made under the 2nd Vatican Council rightly changed that to be that as hermitTakler says: It was no longer required of the non-Catholic to ‘contract’ to raise children as Catholics but to be AWARE that s/he had to do all possible to raise the children as Catholics. Vatican II changed the rules to be more shared-Christian between Catholics and Protestants and Christian-influenced between Catholics and people of other religions.

Report abuse

hermitTalker | Sep 23, 2012, 11:36 AM EDT

Mixed marriages were allowed in Eire decades ago, agreed that the males followed the father's and girls the mother's Church. Vatican 11 led to a decision that the Catholic party sign and the protestant party be AWARE that he/she was to do all possible to raise children RC. The basic principle was not to have mixed religion marriages. Mixed marriages in other circumstances refers to mixed race which used be banned in most US State laws.

Report abuse

Towngate | Sep 23, 2012, 07:28 AM EDT

Mixed marriages - you know! ... men and women! ( they never work!)

Report abuse

CitizenWhy | Sep 23, 2012, 04:57 AM EDT

What's all the fuss about the pope and his legates? The new pope in Ireland is the IMF. The papacy is minor league now.

Report abuse

CitizenWhy | Sep 23, 2012, 04:55 AM EDT

The papacy may have "sanctioned" mixed marriages after the second Vatican council but in many parts of Ireland local custom, often liberal, were followed. The old formula for children was to raise the boys in the father's faith and the girls in the mother's. But another formula was to raise the children in the religion of the parent with the strongest faith." Village churches seldom had side altars. In my own ancestry and among relatives inter-marriage with Jews and Protestants resulted in kids raised Jewish or Catholic or Protestant, no big deal.

Report abuse

connemaragirl | Sep 23, 2012, 12:51 AM EDT

What does he mean by mixed marriages ,I've never heard of this before,news to me what else don't we know about the Catholic Church in Ireland.By the way why would the money belong to the pope,South American money at that maybe some one gave him that money and he was just saving it tax free in the Church accounts,maybe his family were part of the Sicilian mafia lol.

Report abuse

Collette2 | Sep 22, 2012, 09:12 PM EDT

They all seem to leave with a certain amount of baggage, only to drop their bundles at the next port of call. Maybe without as much money as Alibrandi. I notice the previous one sent downunder with sex-abuse Commissions on his tail, only to be moved on from there in time to avoid another. I wonder what Israel will have to offer? Not enough clergy to get up to mischief there I suppose, all too busy dodging bullits.

Report abuse

mayoman | Sep 22, 2012, 08:25 PM EDT

How much exactly were these "vast sums"?

Report abuse

seanomelb | Sep 22, 2012, 07:21 PM EDT

"Mixed marriages" were sanctioned by the RCC after the second Vatican council but could only take place on a side alter. As a bigoted Jesuit said to a protestant friend of mine when trying to book his wedding at St. Francis church in Gardiner street "The pope maybe talking to you lot but we're not".

Report abuse

Curitiba | Sep 22, 2012, 06:01 PM EDT

As Father Ted would say; "That money was just resting in my account, Dougal". Dougal: "It was resting for quite a long time, Ted"

Report abuse