Merchants in the Temple by Gianluigi Nuzzi

very large amounts. I remain at your disposal and send my kind and most devoted regards.
    Paolo Mennini would leave his post on November 11, 2013, when his second five-year term expired. But Zahra interpreted his actions during his final days as a declaration of war. It all started with a note that Mennini left on Cardinal Calcagno’s desk on November 13, after a telephone conversation with Timothy Fogarty, “senior vice president—CBIAS—of Federal Reserve, New York,” as Mennini indicated in the document. In the one-and-a-half page note, Mennini emphasized that, to supply the cash, Fogarty would prefer to deal directly with APSA and not have to go through the Promontory consultants, who were working with the Vatican central bank in that period:
    Mr. Fogarty was happy to be able to speak with me. He confirmed receipt of the Swift message sent to him by APSA on November 5, 2013. With regard to the provision of hard foreign currency, he confirmed that the Federal Reserve usually provides banknotes to central banks, but prefers to guarantee this service only when it is difficult to find availability through commercial banks and financial institutions. He would like to be considered as a last resort. He told me that he would prefer to speak about this subject directly with APSA and, in addition, that he does not understand the exact role and need of Promontory’s mediation in this specific instance. This is because he considers APSA a central bank with a clear consolidated relationship with them … Going back to the issue of banknotes, Mr. Fogarty … told me that he will inform Ms. McCaul [Elizabeth McCaul of Promontory] by telephone that he would prefer to deal directly with APSA to arrange this type of service. He also specified that the banknotes would be delivered physically in their vault, so it will be up to APSA to arrange for transportation to the Vatican City. [He is] definitely able to provide APSA with the right contact required for this need. At the end of the conversation Mr. Fogarty mentioned with pleasure his visit to Rome a few years ago and in particular his visit to the Vatican museum and gardens.
    Paolo Mennini
    From the documentation in my possession, I am able to reconstruct that Zahra interpreted this note as a clear attempt to jeopardize the reform of APSA, and to discredit both the COSEA Commission and the activities of Promontory. He wrote to the coordinator of the Commission, Monsignor Vallejo Balda:
    Dear Father Lucio,
    Mennini is waging war … let’s speak about this later today. But he has to be replaced immediately.
    Joe
    The same policy was taken by another member of the Commission, Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, who wrote to the analyst Elizabeth McCaul and to Zahra:
    This is not a very satisfactory situation and I imagine that we should expect more and more of this type of “Scud missile” from Mennini as long as he is around. The sooner we are dealing with his replacement, the better. What should we do over there, Joe, to speed up the process [of change]? Of the two questions raised, I imagine we should not change in the least the strategy we have developed vis-à-vis the Fed, you, and Promontory.
    All the while Mennini continued to report to the office. On November 20 the McKinsey consultants, including Ulrich Schlickewei, remarked on his presence to Zahra:
    In the past few days, Mennini has continued to come to the office regularly for the transfer of his duties to Monsignor Mistò. For the moment no official successor has been appointed, but a date should be set for the final exit of Mr. Mennini.
    On November 22 the relations with the Federal Reserve were suspended. Calcagno wrote to Vice President Fogarty to indicate that Mennini was no longer an APSA official. In his immediate reply, the American banker tried to put this case and the embarrassment behind them:
    For more than seventy years the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has enjoyed