René Brülhart

On November 18, 2019, René Brülhart officially stepped down as President of the AIF.[5] Though it was announced that he stepped down due to the expiration of his five-year term,[5] Brülhart's resignation also came weeks after Vatican police raided his office, as well as the offices of other AIF officials,[5] due to an ongoing corruption scandal.[5] One major scandal involved using Peter's Pence, which serves as the Pope's charity fund,[6] to buy luxury property in London as far back as 2012, when Brülhart first became a member of the AIF.[6][5] In 2017, it was also acknowledged that the Vatican Secretariat of State, which serves as the Vatican's central administration bureaucracy,[5] kept Swiss bank accounts, with the departments Prefect Pietro Parolin acknowledging that these accounts were used to hide charity money which was used to purchase the London property.[5] Both the AIF and Secretariat assisted each other in the purchase, with the AIF even selling the Secretariat a share of the London property in 2014.[5]

Pope Francis acknowledged the investigation during an interview while flying back to Rome on November 26, 2019.[6] He also stated that interrogations have been taking place and it has been confirmed that "There is corruption in the Vatican" as well.[6] On November 27, 2019, Carmelo Barbagallo, who previously served as head of the Bank of Italy's Supervision Office,[7] was appointed by Pope Francis to succeed Brülhart.[7]