Editing Vatican Bank (IOR) (section)

==Establishment and Early History of the IOR==
The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank, was founded on June 27, 1942, by Pope Pius XII and Bernardino Nogara, its first president, through a papal decree. Based in Vatican City, the IOR was created to manage and safeguard assets entrusted to it for religious or charitable purposes. As a sovereign entity under the pope’s direct authority, it operates independently of other Holy See agencies, with no obligation to disclose financial records externally. This autonomy, coupled with Nogara’s policy of destroying transaction records, earned the IOR its reputation as “the most secret bank in the world.”

The IOR’s financial foundation stems from the 1929 Lateran Treaty, which resolved the “Roman Question” between the Holy See and Italy, granting the Vatican sovereignty and a $90 million payment. This capital enabled diversified investments, including in Mussolini’s government during the Great Depression, marking the start of the IOR’s complex financial engagements.