In November 2008, a London-based friar of the Franciscans of the Atonement, Fr. Michael Seed, using “American corporate strategist” Kalman Sporn as a go-between, approached Israeli arms dealer, Hezi Bezalel, promising Bezalel that he could arrange introductions to “influential Balkan politicians” including “the man who looks after all arms for the region.” Seed said this arms trader was a friend of Archbishop Eugenio Sbarbaro, the papal nuncio to Belgrade, who would handle the introductions. The cost to Bezalel would be a contribution to Sbarbaro’s charity.
As reported in today’s London Daily Mail, an email written by Sporn stated:
If you Hezi Bezalel make a sizeable contribution to the charitable efforts of His Excellency Eugenio Sbarbaro in Belgrade; then on a diplomatic level you will be introduced to certain heads of state in both [sic] Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia. A sizeable contribution is more than $75,000 [£47,000]. The Vatican can open certain doors for you....
Mr Sporn tried again soon after. Accusing Mr Bezalel of being “short-sighted”, he told him: “Within days you could be sitting with the Presidents of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro selling them technologies they want and need. To achieve direct access... surely 75,000 is a small fee.”
Later that day, Mr Bezalel replied by email: “I don’t like this approach. When I give to charity it’s because I want to and not under instruction. I’m trying to be as polite as possible. So please let’s forget about it.”
According to the Mail, Bezalel now has many other business interests. Sporn told the reporter, “Hezi was involved in the arms trade but for five years he has been a distributor for security technology for software companies.”
Other details provided in the article are also worthy of note.
Further illustrating the international character of the Catholic Church, the Fr. Seed met Archbishop Sbarbaro while Seed was a student in the early 1980s at the Catholic University of America located in Washington D.C. and Sbarbaro was the charge d’affaires at the Vatican embassy. Seed is also currently honorary chaplain to the International Committee on Human Dignity based at the European Parliament in Brussels.
In January 2011, the archbishop flew to London to help Seed celebrate the 25th anniversary of his ordination. Party guests included “millionaire benefactors who had flown in by private jet.” Seed admitted he lives for free in a London flat owned by Gregory King, a Scottish corporate money lender whose fortune is estimated at £200 million.
The Mail noted that Seed, “who regularly celebrated Mass for Tony Blair [recent Catholic convert and Bush ally in invading Iraq],” has many well-connected friends naming several other highly placed people. Among them is Xuelin Black, a Chinese national “developing business and political interests” in London and also an advisor to Lord Wei, who Tory Prime Minister Cameron appointed head of the British government equivalent of the U.S. Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Black accepted a check from Seed for £34,000 drawn from his religious order’s charity bank account and later deposited the money into Seed’s personal account.
Why it Matters
Today’s news article is about a little-known priest being able to facilitate an international arms trade through the country's papal nuncio. A Catholic charity would be used as "cover" for payment of the broker's fee. History tells us that the only thing remarkable is not what transpired but that it was found out and reported.
The partnership of Catholic officials, big money and rightwing politicos has been told for decades but few seem to be paying attention. To illustrate the power of this cabal, even when a journalist as respected as Pulitzer-prize-winner Seymour Hirsh noted the ties between members of the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command and two organizations of wealthy rightwing Catholics (Knights of Malta and Opus Dei) this past January, he was vilified for being "conspiratorial."
While the future of this nation hinges on the power of the Religious Right, perhaps we should start paying attention to these connections.