Vatican claims immunity in Nazi gold suit

Palm Beach Post Wire Services
Saturday, November 25, 2000

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Vatican's bank has asked a U.S. court to throw out a lawsuit charging it with laundering gold and other assets stolen by a Nazi puppet regime, arguing that the Vatican has immunity because it is an independent state, lawyers in the case said Friday.

Meanwhile, the Vatican itself has asked the U.S. government to intervene in the case, a move that lawyers for the plaintiffs say could signal a settlement, but one that others familiar with the case say does not.

The class-action lawsuit accuses the Vatican Bank along with the Franciscan Order and the Swiss National Bank of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in gold and other assets looted by Croatia's brutal Nazi-allied regime from 1941-1945.

The Franciscan Order has also asked the court to dismiss the case, while the Swiss National Bank has not yet been served.