The Vatican accused of being under the influence of Azerbaijan’s money – Swiss Catholic Portal

The Vatican has received large funds from Azerbaijan to restore holy places in Rome and Europe. The growing financial links between the Vatican and Azerbaijan make teeth cringe, Azerbaijan aimed at using its oil wealth to divert criticisms concerning its human rights violations and religious freedom, notes the American agency Religion News Service (RNS).

According to the “Investigation journalism Project Italy (IRPI)”, Azerbaijan spent around 640,000 euros to restore catacombs belonging to the Vatican (including recently the Catacombs of Saint-Calixte), masterpieces of the Vatican museums and many books and manuscripts of the Vatican library. Azerbaijan has also financed the restoration of a bas-relief adorning the Saint-Pierre basilica.

The money from the Heydar Aliyev Foundation

“The Heydar Aliyev Foundation has completed the restoration work of the bas-relief› Meeting between Pope Léon I the Great and Atilla, Emperor of the Huns’ at the Saint-Pierre Basilica in Rome. The project was implemented within the framework of an agreement signed in February 2019 between the Foundation and the Saint-Pierre Basilica, “reports the Azerbaijan State press agency (Azertac), citing the Gaydar Aliev Foundation, named after the former President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Armenian activists continue to sound the alarm concerning the growing financial links between the Vatican and Azerbaijan. They claim that this relationship is part of a strategy of influence of Azerbaijan. “They use their gifts and their money in the Vatican to whiten what they have done, to whiten the destruction of the Armenian heritage, to whiten the ethnic cleaning they have committed,” said Stephan Pechdimaldji, a strategist in Armenian-American communication.

Accused of looking forward to the violations of religious freedom

Pechdimaldji said that many Armenians, including those of the diaspora, feel “disappointment” in the face of acceptance by the Vatican of the Azerbaijan donations. “They do what other countries have made: to close their eyes because of Azerbaijan’s resources,” he said, recalling the fate of the Armenians of Haut Karabakh, victims of total ethnic purification.

In 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive and took control of Haut Karabakh, a mountainous region located on Azerbaijani territory but populated for centuries by an Armenian population and Azerie. Bakou has forcibly moved more than 100,000 Armenians in a few days and destroyed a number of Christian sites, including churches and cemeteries. The Azerbaijani authorities made believe that certain Armenian Christian sites, such as the Gandzasar monastery, were examples of the “Albanian heritage of the Caucasus” and accused Armenia of falsifying historical inscriptions. These allegations were disputed both by Armenian representatives and by those of UNESCO.

UNESCO closed their eyes to the destruction of Armenian heritage

Armenian voices also deplore that UNESCO closed their eyes to the destruction of the Armenian heritage in Nakhitchevan in 2005 and Haut-Karabakh (Artsakh for Armenians) in 2020.

While the declaration signed on August 8, 2025 by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia on the “Trump Route for Peace and International Prosperity”, which must connect Azerbaijan to its exclave from Nakhitchevan via the Syunik region, south of Armenia, is welcomed everywhere, it is far from being unanimous in Armenia. The Armenians recall that the Azerbaijani authorities carried out the systematic destruction of the Armenian monasteries, churches and cemeteries of the Nakhitchevan region, especially the destruction of the Jugha cemetery (Julfa) and its 10,000 medieval khatchkars in 2005. (Cath.ch/rns/be)