Editing Vatican Bank (IOR) (section)

==Connection to Operation Gladio and the CIA==
[[Operation Gladio]] was a clandestine NATO and CIA-led “stay-behind” operation launched after World War II to counter a potential Communist invasion of Europe, particularly in Italy. It involved secret paramilitary units, numbering 5,000 to 15,000 operatives, funded initially by smuggled SS morphine and counterfeit British banknotes from concentration camps, and later through illicit channels like drug trafficking. Gladio’s tactics included false-flag terror attacks to discredit opposition groups, with operations extending to Latin America’s [[Operation Condor]].

The IOR’s alleged role in Gladio centers on its use as a conduit for “black funds” to finance these covert activities. Journalist Paul L. Williams, in Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance Between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia, asserts that the IOR laundered CIA funds, including drug money, to support Gladio’s anti-communist efforts.
===CIA Funding Through the IOR===
The CIA, under figures like William Colby, Rome station chief, channeled over $350 million through the IOR, including $65 million in 1948, to fund Gladio units and political groups like Italy’s Christian Democratic Party, which received over $20 million annually. The IOR’s lack of record-keeping enabled untraceable transfers to Swiss accounts.
===Vatican’s Anti-Communist Alignment===
The Vatican, led by figures like Cardinal [[Francis Spellman]], supported Gladio’s anti-communist goals, viewing communism as a threat to Catholic influence. Spellman approved operations in the pope’s name, and the CIA reportedly placed microphones in papal apartments until 1984. The IOR also allegedly stored sensitive CIA documents, including those related to nuclear weapons, as claimed in the 2006 Alperin v. Vatican Bank lawsuit by Holocaust survivors alleging the IOR held Nazi-looted gold from Croatia’s Ustasha regime.
===Key Figures and Networks===
[[Paul Helliwell]], a former OSS officer and CIA operative, devised schemes to launder drug money through the IOR and other banks, like [[Castle Bank & Trust]], for Gladio operations. [[Michele Sindona]], [[Licio Gelli]] (head of the [[Propaganda Due P2]] Masonic lodge), and Marcinkus formed a network linking the CIA, Mafia, and Vatican. The P2 lodge, tied to Italian military intelligence, was a key Gladio conduit, with members aware of terror campaigns like the 1970s Italian bombings blamed on leftists. Continental Illinois, under David Kennedy, facilitated CIA fund transfers to the IOR, often through Sindona and Vatican banker Massimo Spada.
===Latin American Operations===
The IOR’s role extended to [[Operation Condor]], a Gladio offshoot in Latin America, where the CIA and Vatican-backed [[Opus Dei]] supported coups, such as the 1973 overthrow of Chile’s [[Salvador Allende]]. The CIA funneled millions to Opus Dei’s Chilean Institute for General Studies, aiding Pinochet’s regime, which was responsible for thousands of deaths and widespread torture.