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.
Reading this confirmed something I had been suspecting about the topic, and a look at hypercartarena pushed that confirmation toward greater confidence, content that lines up with independently held intuitions earns a special kind of trust and I will return to writers who consistently land that way for me without overselling positions.
Quality you can feel from the first paragraph, the writer clearly knows the topic and how to share it, and a quick look at echoaisleemporium confirmed the same depth runs throughout the rest of the site as well which is rare and worth pointing out when it happens online for any reader passing through.
Now feeling the rare pleasure of trusting a source completely on first encounter, and a look at zenhold extended that initial trust into something more durable, the calibration of trust to evidence is something I do informally and this site has earned high trust through the cumulative weight of multiple consistently good posts already.
Honestly enjoyed not being sold anything for the entire duration of the post, and a look at adnudge kept that pleasant absence going across more pages, content that exists for its own sake rather than as a funnel to a paid product is increasingly rare and worth supporting where I can find it.
Now feeling slightly more committed to my own careful reading practices having read this, and a stop at dawnpost reinforced that commitment, content that models the kind of attention it deserves is content that calibrates the reader and this site has clearly raised my own bar for what to bring to good writing today.
Most blog writing on this subject reaches for the same handful of arguments and this post avoided them, and a look at silkdash continued the original treatment, content that finds its own path through territory other writers have flattened is content with real authorial energy and this site has plenty of that distinctive energy.
Useful reading material, the kind I can hand off to someone newer to the topic without worrying about confusing them, and a quick look at mintsquad confirmed the same beginner friendly tone runs throughout the site which is great for sharing with people just starting their learning journey on this particular topic.
A genuine pleasure to find a site that publishes at a sustainable cadence rather than chasing the daily content treadmill, and a look at petaforge confirmed the careful publication rhythm, sites that prioritise quality over frequency are rare and this one has clearly chosen the slower pace which I appreciate as a reader.
Skipped breakfast still reading this and finished hungry but satisfied, and a stop at grandport kept me past breakfast time, content that displaces basic biological needs is content with serious attentional pull and the writers here are clearly capable of producing that level of engagement which is genuinely impressive these days.
Decided to write a short note to the author if there is contact info anywhere, and a stop at elitetrendcenter extended that intention, the urge to thank the writer directly is a strong signal of content quality and this site has triggered that urge in me today which is a fairly rare event for my reading.
Came across this looking for something else entirely and ended up reading it through twice, and a look at tidydeal pulled me deeper into the site than I planned, the writing has a way of holding attention without resorting to manipulative cliffhangers or vague promises that never get delivered later down the page.
Reading this site over the past week has changed how I evaluate content in this space, and a look at linkpivot extended that recalibration, the standards I bring to reading on the topic have shifted upward as a direct result of regular exposure to this kind of work and that shift will outlast any single reading session.
Quality work here, the post reads cleanly and the points stay focused throughout, and a stop at juniperbrookdistrict kept the standard high, you can tell the writer cares about the final result rather than just hitting publish for the sake of having something new on the page to feed the search engines.
My friends would appreciate a few of these posts and I will be sending links accordingly, and a look at aurorastreetgoods added more pages to my share queue, content that earns shares to specific people in specific contexts is content with social utility and this site is generating those targeted shares from me consistently lately.
Top tier post, the kind that makes you want to share the link with friends working in the same area, and a stop at threadthrive only made me more confident in doing that, this site is one of the better resources I have seen on the topic recently across both new and older posts.
Reading this prompted me to send the link to two different people for two different reasons, and a stop at silkgain provided ammunition for a third share, content that suits multiple audiences without being generic enough to be useless to any of them is genuinely valuable and this site has that multi audience quality clearly.
A particular kind of restraint shows up in the writing, and a look at dusksave maintained the same restraint across pages, knowing what not to say is just as important as knowing what to say and this site has clearly developed strong instincts on both sides of that editorial line throughout pieces I have read.
Liked that the post acknowledged complications rather than pretending they did not exist, and a stop at plasmabox continued that honest framing, sites that handle complexity with care rather than papering it over with simplifying claims are doing real intellectual work and this one is clearly in that category based on what I have read.
Just want to recognise that someone clearly cared about how this turned out, and a look at modernwin confirmed that care extends across the broader site, you can feel the difference between content shipped to hit a deadline and content released because the writer was actually proud of the result for once.
The way the post stayed on topic throughout without going on tangents was really refreshing, and a look at gridprobe kept that focused approach going, discipline like this in writing is rare and worth recognising because most writers cannot resist wandering off into related subjects that dilute their main point and confuse readers along the way.
Once I had read three posts the editorial pattern was clear, and a look at adrally confirmed the pattern from a fourth angle, sites where the underlying approach reveals itself through accumulated reading rather than being announced are sites with real depth and this one has that quality clearly visible across multiple pieces consistently.
My time on this site has now extended past what I had budgeted, and a stop at coralbrookdistrict keeps extending it further, content that overstays its budget in my schedule is content that has earned the extra time and this site has been earning extra time across multiple visits to the point where my schedule needs adjustment.
Quiet confidence runs through the whole post, no need to shout to make the points stick, and a stop at nextgenpickhub carried that same restrained voice forward, content that respects the reader by trusting its own substance rather than dressing it up in theatrical language is what I look for online and rarely actually find these days.
A genuine pleasure to find a site that publishes at a sustainable cadence rather than chasing the daily content treadmill, and a look at tidywing confirmed the careful publication rhythm, sites that prioritise quality over frequency are rare and this one has clearly chosen the slower pace which I appreciate as a reader.
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A particular pleasure to read this with a fresh coffee, and a look at zensensor extended the pleasure across more pages, content that pairs well with quiet morning rituals is something I have come to value highly and this site has the kind of energy that fits naturally into a calm reading routine.
Really appreciate that the writer did not assume I would read every other related post first, and a look at epiccartcenter kept that self contained feel going where each piece can stand alone, accessibility for new readers is a sign of generous editorial thinking and this site has clearly invested in that approach.
A piece that did not lean on the writer credentials or institutional backing, and a look at advertex maintained the same focus on substance, content that earns trust through quality rather than through name dropping is the kind I find most persuasive and this site is clearly playing on the substance side of that distinction.
Once you start reading carefully here it is hard to go back to lower quality alternatives, and a stop at silkgroup reinforced that ratchet effect, the way good content raises standards is real over time and this site has clearly contributed to raising my expectations for what is possible in writing on the topic generally.
Came here from another site and ended up exploring much further than I planned, and a look at duskstand only encouraged more exploration, the kind of place where one click leads to another not through manipulative design but through genuinely interesting content is rare and worth highlighting when found like this somewhere on the open internet.
Got pulled in by the headline and stayed because the content actually delivered on the promise, and a stop at plushperk kept that trust intact, when a site lives up to its own framing it earns the right to keep showing up in my browser tabs going forward indefinitely from here on out really.
Most blog writing on this subject reaches for the same handful of arguments and this post avoided them, and a look at neogrid continued the original treatment, content that finds its own path through territory other writers have flattened is content with real authorial energy and this site has plenty of that distinctive energy.
Worth recognising the absence of the usual blog tropes here, and a look at hashaxis continued that fresh quality, sites that avoid the standard moves of the medium read as more original even when the content is on familiar topics and this one has clearly chosen its own path through the conventional terrain skilfully.
Closed the tab feeling I had spent the time well, and a stop at embergrovecurated extended that feeling across more pages, the test of whether time on a site was well spent is one I apply silently after closing tabs and very few sites pass it but this one passed it cleanly today afternoon clearly.
Bookmarking this for later, the kind of resource I want to keep nearby, and a quick look at azuregrovecrafts confirmed the rest of the site is worth the same treatment, definitely going into my reference folder for the next time the topic comes up at work or in conversation with someone who asks.
Thanks for putting in the work to make this approachable, plenty of sites cover the same ground but most do it badly, and a quick visit to leadmesh confirmed this one stands apart, simple language and useful examples without anyone trying to sell me anything along the way which I really appreciated.
Now placing this in the same category as a few other sites I have come to trust, and a look at agilebox continued the placement decision, the small category of fully trusted sites is one I extend rarely and only after multiple positive reading sessions and this site has earned the category placement methodically over time.
Reading this felt productive in a way most internet reading does not, and a look at tokennode continued that productive feeling, sometimes the open web feels like a waste of time but sites like this remind me why I still bother to look around rather than retreating to old reliable sources for everything I need.
Now adding this to a list of sites I want to see flourish, and a stop at leadquill reinforced that wish, the few sites I actively root for are sites that produce the kind of work I want more of in the world and this one has joined that small list based on what I have read so far.
Now feeling the small relief of finding writing that does not condescend, and a stop at freshcartcorner extended that respect for readers, content that treats its audience as capable adults rather than as people to be managed produces a different reading experience and this site has clearly chosen the respectful approach across all pieces.
Came here from another site and ended up exploring much further than I planned, and a look at freshcartarena only encouraged more exploration, the kind of place where one click leads to another not through manipulative design but through genuinely interesting content is rare and worth highlighting when found like this somewhere on the open internet.
Closed my email tab so I could read this without interruption, and a stop at dusktribe earned the same protected attention, when content is good enough to defend against the usual digital distractions you know it deserves better than the half attention most online reading gets in a typical busy day.
Generally my attention drifts on long posts but this one held it through the end, and a stop at portwire earned the same sustained focus, content that defeats my drift tendency is content with substantive pulling power and this site has demonstrated that pulling power across multiple pieces in a session that has now run quite long actually.
Closed the tab with a small sense of finality rather than the usual rushed exit, and a stop at netscout produced the same considered closing, when reading ends with deliberate satisfaction rather than impatient skip you know the time was well spent and this site is producing those satisfying endings consistently across what I read.
Just want to record that this site is entering my regular reading list, and a look at emberstonecourtyard confirmed it deserves the spot, my regular reading list is short and well curated and adding to it requires meeting a fairly high quality bar that this site has clearly cleared without much effort apparently.
Now thinking about whether the writer might publish a longer form work I would buy, and a look at hashboard suggested the same depth would translate, content that makes me want to pay for related work in other formats is content that has earned commercial trust as well as attention trust and this site has both clearly.
If I had encountered this site five years ago I would have been telling everyone about it, and a look at nextgenstorefront extended that retrospective enthusiasm, the version of me who used to recommend favourite blogs frequently would have made sure friends knew about this one and that earlier enthusiasm is partially returning to me here.
Found something new in here that I had not seen explained this way before, and a quick stop at zerodepot expanded the idea even further, the kind of writing that nudges your thinking forward a bit without forcing the issue is exactly what I look for online today and rarely actually find anywhere.
Felt the post had been written without using a single buzzword, and a look at tokenware continued that clean vocabulary, content free of jargon and trendy phrases reads better and ages better and this site has clearly committed to a vocabulary that will not feel dated in three years which is impressive editorially.
Halfway through reading I knew this would be one to bookmark, and a look at digitaldealcorner confirmed that early intuition, when bookmark intent forms before finishing a post you know the writing has cleared a quality bar that most content fails to clear and this site has cleared it on multiple visits already.