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Papacy used offshore tax havens to buy real estate in UK, France and Switzerland.
London tourists would never guess that the premises of Bulgari, in New Bond Street, had anything to do with the pope. Nor indeed the headquarters of investment bank Altium Capital, on the corner of St James's Square and Pall Mall.
But these office blocks in one of London's most expensive districts are part of a secret commercial property empire owned by the Vatican.
Behind a disguised offshore company structure, the church's international portfolio has built up over the years, using cash handed over by Mussolini in return for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929.
In 2006, the Vatican bought 30 St James's Square. Other UK properties are at 168 New Bond Street in Coventry. It also owns blocks of flats in Paris and Switzerland.
The Vatican has gone to great lengths about the Mussolini millions. The St James's Square office block was bought by a company called British Grolux Investments Ltd, which also holds the other UK properties.
British Grolux Investments inherited its entire property portfolio from two companies called British Grolux Ltd and Cheylesmore Estates. The shares of those firms were held by a Swiss company, Profima SA - Vatican's own holding company.
The investments in Britain are currently controlled, with other European holdings and a currency trading arm, by a papal official in Rome, Paolo Mennini, who is in effect the pope's merchant banker.
While secrecy about the Fascist origins of the papacy's wealth might have been understandable in wartime, what is less clear is why the Vatican subsequently continued to maintain secrecy about its holdings in Britain, even after its financial structure was reorganised in 1999.
The Guardian asked the Vatican's representative in London, the papal nuncio, archbishop Antonio Mennini, why the papacy continued with such secrecy over the identity of its property investments in London and what the pope spent the income on. True to its tradition of silence on the subject, the Roman Catholic church's spokesman said that the nuncio had no comment.
London tourists would never guess that the premises of Bulgari, in New Bond Street, had anything to do with the pope. Nor indeed the headquarters of investment bank Altium Capital, on the corner of St James's Square and Pall Mall.
But these office blocks in one of London's most expensive districts are part of a secret commercial property empire owned by the Vatican.
Behind a disguised offshore company structure, the church's international portfolio has built up over the years, using cash handed over by Mussolini in return for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929.
In 2006, the Vatican bought 30 St James's Square. Other UK properties are at 168 New Bond Street in Coventry. It also owns blocks of flats in Paris and Switzerland.
The Vatican has gone to great lengths about the Mussolini millions. The St James's Square office block was bought by a company called British Grolux Investments Ltd, which also holds the other UK properties.
British Grolux Investments inherited its entire property portfolio from two companies called British Grolux Ltd and Cheylesmore Estates. The shares of those firms were held by a Swiss company, Profima SA - Vatican's own holding company.
The investments in Britain are currently controlled, with other European holdings and a currency trading arm, by a papal official in Rome, Paolo Mennini, who is in effect the pope's merchant banker.
While secrecy about the Fascist origins of the papacy's wealth might have been understandable in wartime, what is less clear is why the Vatican subsequently continued to maintain secrecy about its holdings in Britain, even after its financial structure was reorganised in 1999.
The Guardian asked the Vatican's representative in London, the papal nuncio, archbishop Antonio Mennini, why the papacy continued with such secrecy over the identity of its property investments in London and what the pope spent the income on. True to its tradition of silence on the subject, the Roman Catholic church's spokesman said that the nuncio had no comment.
