The Vatican published its first financial report in its 125-year history Tuesday, amid allegations of money laundering and other financial scandals. The aim, insiders say, is to increase transparency at the secretive institution.

The Institute for Religious Works (IOR), the Vatican bank, rose more than four-fold in 2012 as net trading income rebounded from a loss in 2011, the report said. The IOR said it earned a net profit of $117.2 million in 2012, as compared with its 27.4 million net profit in 2011. More than $67.7 million of its 2012 profit was given to the pope for his charitable works.

The picture may not be so rosy for 2013, with rising interest rates cutting into profits and millions of dollars earmarked for the IOR's ongoing transparency process, which has involved hiring outside legal, financial and communications experts to revamp its procedures, review its client base and remake its image.

"Overall, we expect 2013 to be marked by the extraordinary expenses for the ongoing reform and remediation process, and the effects of rising interest rates,” bank president Ernst von Freyberg said in a statement.

Aside from earnings, the 100-page report published Tuesday provided some fascinating reading about the secretive institution. For example, last year the IOR held $55.9 million in gold, metals and precious coins, owned a real-estate company and was bequeathed two investment properties worth $2.5 million. It also made some $34.9 million in loans in 2012.

The Vatican has long insisted that the IOR isn't a bank, but a unique financial institution aimed at managing assets for religious or charitable works – a distinction that presumably helped it avoid typical banking regulations. Yet in the past year, the IOR has slowly revealed itself to work very much like a bank, making loans and providing asset-management services to its clients, earning some $16.5 million in fees and commissions for doing so in 2012.