Defendant’s Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Motion to Dismiss
Filed July 10, 2020.
Pope Francis Postpones Peter’s Pence Collection Amid Pandemic’s Economic Downturn
Pope Francis has postponed this year’s Peter’s Pence collection until next fall as the Vatican confronts the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The collection, which traditionally takes place in churches across the world on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, has been moved to October 4, the feast of St. Francis. … Read more
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Seeking Accountability for Deceptive Solicitation and Misuse of Charitable Donations
For immediate release Contact: Marc R. Stanley (214) 443-4301 Stanley Law Group (Dallas, TX) filed a class action lawsuit today in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island against United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for misleadingly soliciting millions of dollars in charitable donations that were diverted into private investments. … Read more
Catholics Should be Outraged at Peter’s Pence Bait-and-Switch
If you asked loyal Catholics to subsidize a film dramatizing the life of Elton John, you’d get a disappointing return. But ask them to contribute to the needs of the Holy Father, and you’ll see real generosity. If you ask Catholics to invest in the London real-estate market, or in a shady Italian bank, or … Read more
How the Vatican Spent Millions on Elton John’s Biopic
Just when you thought the Vatican‘s image problem couldn’t get any worse, what with endemic clerical child abuse and a near bankrupt American arm of the church, it does. A new report pulls back the red velvet curtain on a bizarre new tidbit about the Vatican‘s other dirty little secret: its finances. The latest twist … Read more
Vatican Uses Donations for the Poor to Plug Its Budget Deficit
Every year, Catholics around the world donate tens of millions of dollars to the pope. Bishops exhort the faithful to support the weak and suffering through the pope’s main charitable appeal, called Peter’s Pence. What the church doesn’t advertise is that most of that collection, worth more than more than €50 million annually, goes toward … Read more
Vatican Investments Linked to Global Money Laundering Investigations
A fund in which the Vatican’s Secretariat of State has invested tens of millions of euros has links to two Swiss banks investigated or implicated in bribery and money laundering scandals involving more than one billion dollars. The fund is under investigation by Vatican authorities. The fund, Centurion Global Fund, made headlines this week that … Read more
Leaked Documents Detail $200 Million Deal for Swanky London Property
Against the backdrop of a Synod of Bishops on the Amazon dedicated to the defense of some of the world’s most impoverished people, the Vatican finds itself rocked by yet another financial scandal after publication Sunday of seamy details about a $200 million purchase of a swanky 183,000-square-foot apartment building in the Chelsea district of … Read more