Friday, February 15, 2013

The Vatican announced to great fanfare on Friday that Pope Benedict XVI had signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy, approving Ernst von Freyberg as president of the Vatican's bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR).
The Vatican spokesman was caught off-guard when a journalist noted that the German shipbuilder von Freyberg chairs, Blohm + Voss, has a military component, AP reported.
The Rev Federico Lombardi demurred and defended the selection. He later issued a statement saying the company repairs and transforms cruise ships and builds yachts - and is currently part of a consortium that is building four frigates for the German navy.
Michael Brasse, spokesman for Blohm + Voss in Hamburg, said that von Freyberg is chairman of the executive board of Blohm + Voss Shipyards, a unit that concentrates on building civilian ships.
But before Blohm + Voss Shipyards and other non-military units of Blohm + Voss were sold in 2011 to Star Capital Partners, its military shipbuilding unit, Blohm + Voss Naval, had contracted with the German Defense Ministry for four new frigates. Blohm + Voss Naval subcontracted the actual construction of those vessels to Blohm + Voss Shipyards.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So much to read and consider. I can see how it would give pause for an financial operation called "Institute for Religious Works" to be linked to warships doubtless capable of delivering Nukes and mini Nukes designed to kill Human beings in the thousands and millions, and make war as well as to defend. Conflict of Interest perhaps anybody. Financing of war by an institute of religios works, whose President might be judged as predisposed to favour this consortium? I don't know. What I do know is that any trust or goodwill I harboured toward these megalomaniacal elites long ago evaporated: Therefore I view everything negatively at first. This included.