(LifeSiteNews) — The global banking crisis reared its ugly head again today as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) took over failed First Republic Bank and sold off its assets and deposits to JPMorgan Chase, America’s biggest bank and the largest in the world by market cap.
First Republic’s downfall marks the second worst bank collapse in U.S. history, also making it the biggest lender to fail since 2008 and the third large-scale bank to founder in just two months, NBC reported.
The FDIC announced the takeover and sale in a Monday morning statement.
To protect depositors, we entered into an agreement with JP Morgan Chase Bank to purchase and assume all deposits and assets of First Republic Bank. Read more ➡️ https://t.co/8KCKgJ2ZWR. pic.twitter.com/FRrIZk5aBY
— FDIC (@FDICgov) May 1, 2023
“First Republic Bank, San Francisco, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver,” the FDIC said. “To protect depositors, the FDIC is entering into a purchase and assumption agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, Columbus, Ohio, to assume all of the deposits and substantially all of the assets of First Republic Bank.”
The FDIC noted that First Republic “had approximately $229.1 billion in total assets and $103.9 billion in total deposits,” nearly all of which will be acquired by Chase.
According to the statement, depositors can continue banking with their existing branch until JPMorgan Chase “has completed systems changes to allow other JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, branches to process their accounts as well.”
“Our government invited us and others to step up, and we did,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement. “Our financial strength, capabilities, and business model allowed us to develop a bid to execute the transaction in a way to minimize costs to the Deposit Insurance Fund. This acquisition modestly benefits our company overall, it is accretive to shareholders, it helps further advance our wealth strategy, and it is complementary to our existing franchise.”
In comments to reporters, Dimon tried to allay fears of further banking woes, characterizing the American banking system as “extraordinarily sound.”
“Obviously, if going forward, you have recessions and rates going up and stuff like that, you’ll see some other cracks in the system, but that has to be expected,” he said. “The system is very, very sound.”
RELATED: Silicon Valley Bank and gov’t bailouts: Is the global economy doomed?
The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) has described assisted suicide as sometimes being the “greatest common good concretely possible” contrary to the Catholic Church’s strenuous condemnation of the practice.
This betrayal of the Catholic faith by Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia is not for the first time, with the PAV repeatedly causing scandal under his watch by:
- recently appointing a notorious pro-abortion atheist to the organization
- claiming contraception and artificial insemination are sometimes acceptable
- insisting that priests could accompany people through assisted-suicide, and
- that Italy’s pro-abortion law is a “pillar” of the country’s social life.
SIGN: Pope Francis must remove Abp. Paglia from the Pontifical Academy for Life
“Personally, I would not practice suicide assistance,” Archbishop Paglia told an Italian journalism conference last week, “but I understand that legal mediation may be the greatest common good concretely possible under the conditions we find ourselves in.”
Accepting an anti-life Italian court ruling that specified when assisted-suicide is permitted, the archbishop claimed “it is not to be ruled out that in our society a legal mediation is feasible that would allow assistance to suicide under the conditions specified by Constitutional Court Sentence 242/2019…”
From the outset of his presentation in Perugia, Paglia also undermined the authority of the Catholic Church on matters of faith and morals, stating: “First of all, I would like to clarify that the Catholic Church is not that it has a ready-made, prepackaged package of truths, as if it were a dispenser of truth pills.”
SIGN: Abp. Paglia must be removed from the Pontifical Academy for Life
The PAV issued a statement on Monday trying to clarify the archbishop’s remarks, insisting that Paglia “reiterates his ‘no’ towards euthanasia and assisted suicide, in full adherence to the Magisterium”.
However, far from denouncing Paglia’s words, the PAV unsurprisingly supported its president. Referencing the Italian court ruling which partially decriminalized euthanasia by outlining exceptions to its illegality, the PAV stated it was in the context of this ruling that Paglia had made his comments.
In this precise and specific context, Msgr. Paglia explained that in his opinion a ‘legal mediation’ (certainly not a moral one) in the direction indicated by the Sentence is possible, maintaining the crime and the conditions under which it is decriminalized, as the same Constitutional Court has asked Parliament to legislate.
The PAV’s fudging of the issue was met with consternation from several Catholic commentators, with liturgist Matthew Hazell, who had highlighted Paglia’s original comments, asking “How hard is it for the @PontAcadLife to just say ‘sorry’ for scandalising the faithful? Indeed, how hard is it to actually adhere to the teaching of the Church on life issues? Are you so incapable of reading the signs of the times & interpreting them in the light of the Gospel?”
The Pontifical Academy for Life has tried & failed to explain @monspaglia‘s remarks. Paglia had spoken about the “accompaniment” needed for the dying, saying “in this context, it is not to be ruled out that in our society a legal mediation is feasible …” https://t.co/C3LU601aA2
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) April 24, 2023
Sorry guys, not good enough. Nowhere near good enough.
Archbishop Paglia’s “opinion” on the possibility of “juridical mediation” regarding euthanasia is still contrary to the Catholic faith, as has been explained already. https://t.co/qMATq0UZrL pic.twitter.com/W8s4zLvkj7— Matthew Hazell (@M_P_Hazell) April 24, 2023
Archbishop Paglia’s comments about assisted suicide being “feasible” are wrong and harmful. It’s the kind of “crack in the wall” that opponents of human life will run with to promote their agenda. The teaching of the Church is clear: Euthanasia is “morally unacceptable.” Period.
— Bishop Thomas Tobin (@ThomasJTobin1) April 24, 2023
SIGN: Abp. Paglia’s presidency of the Pontifical Academy for Life is untenable
It’s vital that the Church and PAV push back against the culture of death, rather than trying to accommodate it and accept a world that where the vulnerable are helped to kill themselves.
Be part of pushing back against the tide and making it clear that there is no room for confusion or betrayal when it comes to the sanctity of human life and the infallibilty of Catholic teaching on the matter.
SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION WITH FRIENDS & FAMILY
MORE INFORMATION:
Abp. Paglia defends assisted-suicide as ‘greatest common good possible’ for dying people – LifeSiteNews
The latest casualty in the banking crisis, the failure of First Republic came after the March collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank spooked depositors, leading First Republic to suffer a first-quarter loss of almost 40% of its overall deposits. In the past month alone, the San Francisco-based bank saw its stock plummet by more than 75%.
The Daily Wire reported that First Republic “saw customers withdraw their funds in recent weeks as the recent implosions of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank rattled account holders, prompting FDIC officials to secure insured and uninsured deposits at the two failed companies to decrease the risk of bank runs at other institutions.”
The Monday news comes after the Biden White House has sought to tamp down worries about the ongoing banking crisis, claiming after the first major bank tumbled that Americans had nothing to worry about.
“Americans can rest assured that our banking system is safe. Your deposits are safe,” Biden said after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in March. “Let me also assure you we will not stop at this. We will do whatever is needed on top of all this.”
However, tech mogul Elon Musk last month warned there was “serious danger with the global banking system” in an interview with now-former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, LifeSiteNews previously reported.
READ: Elon Musk warns of ‘serious danger with the global banking system’ in Tucker Carlson interview
In the April interview, which also touched on topics related to artificial intelligence and the dangers of plummeting birth rates, Musk said that rampant inflation was at least partially caused by the government pumping money into the economy during the COVID lockdowns. He said the problem is likely to get worse this year unless curbed by a reduction in the interest rates by the Federal Reserve.
“It’s not that the canary in the coal mine has died, but the miners are starting to die too,” he told Carlson. “Silicon Valley Bank collapsing overnight is one hell of a big canary. It’s more like a turkey. It’s not like some small fry thing.”