From the very Catholic Crux newspaper, July 15:
Undercover as priests, Italian cops bust $2 million fake cardinals scam
ROME – A group of con men who dressed up as cardinals to swindle victims out of millions of dollars have been caught by Italian police, in an undercover sting operation conducted by officers who were disguised as priests.
Members of the Carabinieri, the Italian military police who enjoy broad authority in Italy, set the trap at the Basilica of Holy Mary of Angels and Martyrs in central Rome after receiving complaints from two hotels that were scammed out of 20,000 euros ($23,631) and 75,000 euros ($88,616) in 2017.
Since 1988, the group of five con men, aged between 58-75, pretended to be priests, monsignors, and even cardinals, presenting themselves as “intermediaries of the Vatican” who could offer business owners in financial trouble, mostly in northern Italy, advantageous loans either from the Vatican bank or a non-existent Luxembourg financial company called “Eurozone,” without requiring personal financial guarantees.
It wasn’t difficult for the grifters to get the fake attire, since Rome boasts dozens of shops selling clerical garments, including some that specialize in cardinals’ outfits. No special status or identification is required to purchase the clothing, in part because it’s often customary for friends and family of a cardinal to buy the required garments for him.
To be credible, the fraudsters, who met at a café in the Centocelle neighborhood in southeastern Rome every morning to discuss potential scams, would set up various meetings and exchange emails and contacts with their marks....
....MUCH MORE
Which naturally enough reminded me of "‘Cashed-up’ Mother Teresa kept Vatican Bank afloat – journalist" which as luck would have it, popped up as the 2019 version of the story rather than the 2017 account. I say luck because the 2019 presentation included:
June 2017
Yesterday I Learned About ATMs
It started with Paul Murphy at Alphaville's Markets Live:...
...Which of course lead to the question "Do the Vatican Bank ATM's really have instructions in Latin?"
(I had heard that from a less-than-reliable-source)
As it turns out, the answer is:
Yes, Latin is one of the language options.
In fact there's even a TIL thread at reddit.
Which managed to stay on topic for about four comments:
Pope: Why do I have to push "1" for Latin? It should only be Latin! If you're gonna come here, learn the language! Foreigners!And from there it just descended into madness.
"And then they ask 'Are you sure you want to withdraw $DCXLII?'"
"$642? The ATMs in the Vatican give out ones!?"
Smallest note in the EU is €5 Maybe it's €640 and two Hail Marys?
"Romanes eunt domus."
The line is "People called 'Romanes' they go the house." "Romanes" is not a Latin word; he pluralized a second declension word as if it were third declension, so it doesn't translate to anything.
"Eunt?? What is eunt???"
3rd person plural present active of the verb 'eo, ire', meaning to go.
Until Il Papa decided to show off by making a withdrawal:
