VATICAN CITY –  The Vatican Bank has fired two employees whose recent wedding violates a newly-introduced ban on marriages between staff. In a statement published Wednesday, the Institute for the Works of Religion, as it is officially called, said it had made the “difficult decision” to fire the pair because “the formation of a married couple among the employees is in fact blatantly contradictory to the current regulations” at the bank.

“This decision, taken with deep regret, was dictated by the need to preserve transparency and impartiality in the Institute’s activities, and in no way intended to question the right of two people to be united in marriage,” it added.

The bank said that its policy is designed to prevent conflicts of interest at an institution with only around 100 employees, all of whom work at the same location. Laura Sgro, a lawyer representing the couple, who have not been named, said that they had told the bank of their intention to marry in February, but the new regulations banning marriage among employees were only adopted in May. Sgro said the couple, who have three children, were told that their employment had been terminated on October 1. Sgro added that she had “challenged and contested” the decision as she considers it “null, illegitimate and seriously detrimental to the fundamental rights of individuals and workers and, therefore, devoid of any effect.”

Sgro added that the couple had appealed for an exemption from the rules to Pope Francis and bank director Gian Franco Mammi. Neither responded to the request, she said. The Vatican Bank has a history of financial scandals and in 2013 Pope Francis set up an expert committee to recommend reforms to the economic and administrative structures of the Holy See to combat the problem.

It was part of the pope’s long running attempts to crackdown on financial corruption and bring transparency and accountability to the Vatican’s management of money.  Since then, investigations have resulted in convictions for high-profile figures. In January 2021, Angelo Caloia, the former head of the bank, was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison for money laundering and aggravated embezzlement, becoming the highest-ranking Vatican official to be convicted of a financial crime.

And in December, Giovanni Angelo Becciu was handed a five and a half year jail sentence after being convicted of several counts of embezzlement. He’s the first cardinal to be convicted and sentenced by a Vatican court. Becciu has denied the charges and his lawyer has said he plans to appeal the convictions. (CBC.BB)…[+]