Pavestolen avviser historie om tvilsomme transaksjoner under 2. verdenskrig

Declaration by Holy See Press Office Director

VATICAN CITY, JUL 22, 1997 (VIS) - In response to questions by journalists regarding a news report that, during World War II, the Vatican accepted about 200 million Swiss francs from Croatia, Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls today made the following declaration:

"This news has no basis in reality. The supposed information - lacking any documentation - says it is based solely on 'an authoritative Italian source' which, if it did exist, remains unidentified and its authoritativeness is more than dubious."

OP/.../NAVARRO-VALLS                                          VIS 970722 (80)