NEWSDAY, Thursday, April 21, 2005
THE NEW POPE BENEDICT XVI
Neil Bush, Ratzinger co-founders
President's younger brother served with then-cardinal on board of relatively unknown ecumenical foundation
BY KNUT ROYCE AND TOM BRUNE
WASHINGTON BUREAU
April 21, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Neil Bush, the president's controversial younger brother, six years ago joined the cardinal who this week became Pope Benedict XVI as a founding board member of a little known Swiss ecumenical foundation. The charter members of the board were all well-known international religious figures, except for Bush and his close friend and business partner, Jamal Daniel, whose family has extensive holdings in the United States and Switzerland, public records show.
(snip)
Gary Vachicouras, a theologian and foundation official in Geneva, would not explain in a telephone interview yesterday why Bush, who has no clear public connection to religious causes, was on the first board.
(snip)
The foundation, based at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Geneva, is listed by Dun & Bradstreet business credit reports as a management trust for purposes other than education, religion, charity or research. But Vachicouras said the designation must be a mistake of translation to English because the foundation is a private nonprofit established under Swiss law. He said the foundation is being "relaunched" on its mission to publish the original text of the Bible's Old Testament in Hebrew, its New Testament in Greek and the Quran in Arabic.
Fatio, who left the board three years ago, said the foundation "never had any money." Vachicouras declined to discuss finances. He said, "We keep a low profile because that makes it easier to get work done."
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woch...