Vatican completes sale of troubled London property (Vatican Press Office)

The Vatican has announced the sale of the London property at the center of a financial scandal.

APSA (the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See), the office that handles Vatican investments, sold the property at 60 Sloane Avenue to Bain Capital, at a price of about $225 million. The Vatican had paid about $370 for the property.

In announcing the sale, the Vatican said that the losses on the investment were absorbed by reserve funds held by the Secretariat of State, the office that had made the investment. The Vatican announcement emphasized that the losses were not drawn from the funds submitted by the faithful in the Peter’s Pence collection.

An internal Vatican investigation into the circumstances surrounding the London real-estate investment led to multiple criminal charges, which are now being heard by a Vatican tribunal.