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JPMorgan cancels Vatican Bank account

VATICAN CITY/MILAN, March 19 (Reuters) - JP Morgan Chase is closing the Vatican bank's account with an Italian branch of the U.S. banking giant because of concerns about a lack of transparency at the Holy See's financial institution, Italian newspapers reported.

The move is a blow to the Vatican's drive to have its bank included in Europe's "white list" of states that comply with international standards against tax fraud and money-laundering.

The bank, formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), enacted major reforms last year in an attempt to get Europe's seal of approval and put behind it scandals that have included accusations of money laundering and fraud.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/vatican-bank-image-hurt-closed_n_1363432.html

There have been three high-level banking summits in recent years known as Basel I, Basel II, and Basel III, named after Basel, Switzerland, where these were held.

They are revamping the banking system largely according to the demands from the kings of the east. A large part of the change involves transparency to prevent money laundering, which has been going on largely unchecked for many decades.

Banks are now "Basel III compliant" if they have changed their rules to comply with the new system. The Vatican Bank has been trying to get on the "white list" for some time, but their reputation for money laundering is legendary in the banking community and among historians, dating back to its inception on June 27, 1942.

It was taken over by the P-2 lodge as early as the 1960's and was involved in huge scandals in the 70's and 80's, including the collapse of its Continental Illinois Bank and Franklin National Bank in New York. In 1978, when the new pope, John Paul I, was elected, his first task was to investigate the Vatican Bank. The night before his death, he had dinner with Cardinal Villot and explained to him the planned investigation. The pope did not survive the night but died after being pope just 33 days. His papers conveniently disappeared.

David A. Yallop tells the whole story in his book, In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I.

So today we see the Vatican Bank still on the black list, not in compliance with the transparency rules of Basel III. JPMorgan bank is now forced to separate from its cozy relationship with Vatican, Inc. as of March 16, 2012.

It appears that March 16 is a very important date. Last January I discovered the significance of March 16-20, 2012 when I saw that it was 16 x 414 days from "His Fulness" prayer campaign Jan. 27-30, 1994. The date of March 16, 2012 was the final 414th day of that cycle, reckoned inclusively, so that became our first watch date.

Because this is the end of a series of 414-day cycles, it also implies the start of a 76-day cycle of "cleansing" before we come to the completion of the positive side of it. (414 + 76 = 490.)

This will take us to June 1-4, 2012. It will be interesting to watch how God reckons the accounts during this time period.