The Vatican Bank, central to the mission of the Catholic Church, largely operated outside the global financial regulatory system, but its culture of secrecy had gained notoriety for enabling financial irregularities. In 2012, Rene Bruelhart, a Swiss lawyer, was appointed as director of the Vatican’s financial regulator to address these concerns. As a relative outsider, what steps could he take to achieve organisational change at the tradition-bound Vatican?

On 9 March 2017, Preet Bharara, US attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), saw he had missed a call from US President Donald Trump. While not illegal, such communication was usually routed through senior intermediaries in the US Department of Justice to avoid political influence in law enforcement. Bharara wanted to avoid any impropriety, but he also knew that President Trump preferred to deal directly with subordinates. Should he return the president’s call?