Bernardino Nogara - Director of The Special Administration - Under Pius XI

Under Pius XI

Nogara's tenure at the Special Administration came on the heels of the 1929 stock market crash, and its many after-effects in Europe. Nogara immediately restructured the holdings of the Holy See, moving approximately 100 million lire in gold reserves and moving aggressively into real estate as an entrepreneur rather than an arms-length investor. Nogara created many companies, and appointed equally many chief executive officers to firms that still exist today. Grolux, the holding company for the profits of the Special Administration between 1932 and 1935, was housed in Luxembourg due to its dearth of public disclosure laws.

Nogara became a board member of many Italian firms due to the Vatican's controlling interests, including Assicurazioni Generali, Italy's largest insurer (and one of the largest in the world), and Societa Generale Immobiliare, the largest construction company in Italy (which went on to become one of the largest in the world). The Mafia's interest in these activities is fictionalized in the 1990 movie The Godfather Part III.

Nogara was a party to the negotiations on the reorganization of Italy's banks, which followed 1929 legislation bailing out the banks. With this inside information, Nogara knew exactly which industries and firms would benefit from the bailout and purchased large positions in these companies.

Nogara's seat on the boards ensured that he could direct the firm toward the interests of the Vatican and the other equity holders. Nogara, through shrewd investing in stocks, gold, and futures markets, vastly increased the Roman Catholic Church's financial holdings. By 1935, Nogara had vastly expanded the Vatican treasury in a sum estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars (the Holy See kept the exact amount confidential).

Nogara was a controversial figure with the Roman Curia because many of his investments were perceived to violate the church's doctrines. For example, Nogara purchased a controlling share in Istituto Farmacologico Serono di Roma, Italy's largest manufacturer of birth control products. Nogara also invested in Italy's munitions plants and other war industries, including direct loans to Mussolini's government prior to his invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. However, Nogara was highly regarded by many cardinals for bolstering the church's finances, which had been declining since 1870.