Career
Pacelli also served as an unofficial link between the Vatican and the Italian government. Papal historian John Pollard calls him the "first of the great laymen to be associated with the finances of the Holy Secretary"
Pacelli"s involvement in the Vatican began when he secured financial compensation for Leo XIII from the Italian government in the aftermath of the collapse of the Banco Romano, the former bank of the Papal States. Lai speculates that this may have contributed to a perception of Gasparri as nepotistic in the 1922 papal conclave.
Banco di Roma
Due to the legal uncertainty of papal assets during the period of the Roman Question, several papal properties and stocks were nominally held by Pacelli"s name, in no small part because of his position in the Banco di Roma.
Following massive public withdrawals from the bank in early 1915, under the spectre of World War I, in March of that year Benedict XV arranged a salvage package to the tune of ₤ 9 million—guaranteed by the Vatican"s shares in the bank—from Credito Nazionale, a subset of the Catholic Banking Federation. This action further aggravated Italian police informants within the Vatican, who in November 1915 began reporting that Benedict XV planned to transform the bank into an essentially Catholic "confessional" institution, and Pacelli was replaced by Carlo Santucci in 1916 as president of the Banco di Roma.
By April 1916, the bank"s confidence crisis worsened, and Benedict XV authorized Pacelli, who was deeply indebted to the bank, to hand over 425,000 shares to the bank (purchased for ₤425 million but worth less than ₤15 million at the time), which had been held by Pacelli on behalf of the Administration of the Assets of the Holy See (ABSS). Gasparri then authorized Pacelli to hand over another 90,000 shares in return for the proceeds from the sale of Pacelli"s villa.
Following these handovers, the Vatican no longer controlled any significant shares in the Banco di Roma, although it did still retain deposits.
Catholic media
In September 1907, Pacelli set up—through the Banco di Roma—the Società Editrice Romana (Society for Epidemiologic Research ) with ₤150,000 of the bank"s capital to bail out the Catholic daily Il Corriere d"Italia. Society for Epidemiologic Research would later bail out other Catholic dailies such as L"Avvenire d"Italia in Bologna, L"Italia in Milan, Il Momento in Turin, Il Messaggero Toscano in Pisa, and Louisiana Sicilia Cattolica in Palermo. In November 1907, Pacelli founded Società Tipografica Editrice Romama, also to provide financial assistance to Catholic presses, but with ₤100,000 of the company"s ₤150,000 in start-up capital coming directly from the ABSS.