It’s not surprising that the Vatican shows up in the Epstein files since Epstein kept tabs on every powerful entity on the planet. But one email claims Epstein actually lived in the Vatican with Pope John Paul II at some point.
An email from Brandon Thompson, who appeared to be a contractor working on refinishing and lime-washing columns in one of Epstein’s homes, outlined the intricacies of the project to Richard Kahn at HBRK Associates, Epstein’s accountant.
“He wants me to finish each column different, as when he was living with Pope John Paul the Second in Vatican, he looked at variety of different columns captured in wars,” wrote Thompson. “He told me that every Pope demanded to have a column from every concurred [SIC] country, so there is a collection of different columns in Vatican.”
Of course there is no proof that Epstein lived with the Pope, although he and Ghislaine Maxwell visited with him in 2003 during a public audience. Just how intimate Epstein was with the Vatican is unknown, but in 2011 he claimed to have nearly possessed the Codex Vaticanus, one of the oldest and most important Church relics containing a majority of the Greek Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. The Codex was famously seized by Napoleon in 1799 as a war trophy but was returned to the Vatican Library in 1815.
In an email to Boris Nikolic, who was a science advisor to the Bill Gates Foundation at the time and a close Epstein confidante, Epstein wrote, “I forgot to mention to Bill, that one of the first almost interactions with him was when I was the underbidder for the codex…The auctioneers told me that i shold drop out because if i owned them, no one would ever see them and they really should be in semi public hands.. I later had to settle for a present from the vatican of a special edition.”
One of the most revealing emails about Epstein’s alleged ties to the Vatican is a 2013 correspondence with Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, former Harvard President and former chief economist at the World Bank. Epstein writes, “The most important change in the Vatican may not be Pope Benedict XVI sudden retirement but the change in leadership at ‘the Institute for Works of Religion,’ the Vatican’s bank. Because of the Vatican’s status as a sovereign country, it is exempt from transparency rules of not only Italy— but of the European Union. This status allows its elite clients to evade any scrutiny in their money transfers.”
“Last May,” continued Epstein. “Vatican Bank President Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was fired after Italian authorities opened an investigation into a far flung bribery scheme in which he was allegedly involved. Then 47 dossiers, including compromising about “internal enemies” of his in the Vatican were found in a search of his home. They had instructions how they were used in case something happened to him. Tcdeschi’s intercepted calls futhcr revealed that his concern was that he would be assassinated because he knoew the Vatican’s secrets. By late 2012, he was cooperating with the ongoing Italian investigation, It was at this point that the all-powerful College of Cardinals, in one of the last acts in the Benedict papacy, appointed German lawyer Ernst von Freyberg as President of the bank. The came the extraordinary resignation of Pope Benedict.”
Freyberg had a short tenure as Vatican Bank president. He was named in June 2012 as an interim leader, then appointed president in February of 2013. Von Freyberg quickly began to open up the bank and adopted a zero-tolerance approach to suspicious activities, advocating transparency. He was dismissed in July along with the Vatican Bank’s entire senior management team as part of extensive reforms to the Catholic Church’s central government.
Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu has been chairman of Vatican Bank’s advisory board since July of 2014.
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Started reading and ended an hour later without realising the time had passed, and a look at abstractlya produced the same time dilation effect, when content makes time feel different the writer has achieved something well beyond the average and this site is producing that experience for me reliably across multiple readings.
Came away feeling slightly smarter than I was when I started, that is a real win, and a stop at fjordalmond added a bit more to that, the rare site that actually transfers some of its knowledge to the reader in a way that sticks rather than just creating an illusion of learning briefly.
Strong recommendation, anyone interested in this topic owes themselves a visit, and a stop at chaojibingwang extends that recommendation across more of the site, this is the kind of resource that makes me more optimistic about the state of the open web than I usually am these days actually for once which is genuinely refreshing.
Worth saying that this is one of the better things I have read on the topic in months, and a stop at ebifzou3 reinforced that ranking, the topic is well covered by many sources but few do it with this level of care and the few that do deserve to be flagged so other readers can find them.
Worth saying this site reads better than most paid newsletters I have tried, and a stop at copperpetalmarket confirmed that comparison, the bar for free content is often lower than for paid but this site clears the paid bar consistently and that says something about the editorial approach behind the work being published here regularly.
Genuinely well crafted writing, the kind that makes the topic look easier than it actually is, and a look at siskowin added even more depth, you can feel the experience behind every line which is something only writers who have been at this for a while can pull off with this level of grace.
Looking at this from the perspective of someone tired of generic content the contrast is striking, and a look at downrodeo maintained that distinctive feel, sites with strong editorial identity stand out against the bland background of algorithmic content and this one has clearly developed an identity worth recognising through careful attention.
Stands apart from similar pages by actually being useful, that is high praise these days, and a look at gracetutorial kept that standard going, you can tell when a site is built around the reader versus around metrics and this one clearly belongs to the first category for sure based on what I read.
If you asked me to point to a recent positive sign for the open web this site would be near the top, and a stop at grousecavern reinforced that designation, the few sites that serve as evidence the web can still produce quality independent content are precious and this one has clearly become one for me.
Even from a single post the editorial care is clear, and a stop at momentumchanneling extended that care across more pages, the kind of attention to quality that shows up in every paragraph is what separates serious sites from the rest and this one has clearly invested in that paragraph level attention across what I have read.
After several visits I am now confident this site is one to follow seriously, and a stop at globebeats reinforced that confidence, the gradual building of trust through repeated quality exposures is the only sustainable way to develop reader loyalty and this site is building that loyalty in me through patient consistent work consistently.
Honest take is that I will probably forget most of what I read online today but this post is one I will remember, and a stop at ethylbenzene kept that same memorable quality going, certain writing leaves a residue in the mind in a way most content simply does not manage.
Now recognising that the post handled the topic with appropriate technical precision without becoming dry, and a stop at 850550l continued that balance, technical precision and readability are often in tension and this site has clearly figured out how to maintain both at once which is one of the harder editorial achievements in the form.
Took longer than expected to finish because I kept stopping to think, and a stop at aswa9onlin did the same to me, content that provokes thought rather than just delivering information is in a different category and the team here is clearly working at that higher level rather than just cranking out posts.
Honestly this kind of writing is why I still bother to read independent sites, and a look at elmharborgoodsroom extended that broader reflection, the few sites that justify continued attention to non algorithmic content are sites like this one and finding them periodically is enough to keep my reading habits oriented toward independent rather than aggregated content.
Skipped the comments section but might come back to read it, and a stop at celibatea hinted at a quality reader community, sites where the comments are worth reading separately from the post are increasingly rare and signal a particular kind of audience that has grown around the editorial vision over time gradually.
Now adding the writer to a small mental list of voices I want to follow, and a look at kuma-ak reinforced that follow intention, the few writers whose work I actively track are writers who have demonstrated sustained quality and this writer has clearly demonstrated that sustained quality across the pieces I have sampled here today.
Found the section structure particularly thoughtful, and a stop at celerycivet suggested the same care across the broader site, structural choices guide the reader through the material in ways most people do not consciously notice but feel the absence of when those choices are made carelessly or not at all.