High Vatican bank official to be tried in Italian court

July 23, 1982

The Vatican bank's highest-ranking lay official was ordered to stand trial with 25 other international bankers, including jailed financier Michele Sindona, for the 1974 collapse of the Banca Privata Italiana.

It was the second major controversy to hit the Vatican bank in two weeks, following allegations the bank had ties with another Italian bank now under investigation for fraud. Mr. Sindona is serving a 25-year sentence in the United States in connection with the collapse of the Franklin National Bank in New York the same year.