“You can't build a church with prayer alone” - this is how Archbishop Marcinkus, who survived the three popes and all his friends, usually responded to journalists on accusations of money laundering and ties of the Catholic Church with the mafia. Esquire has sorted out the tangled history of Europe's most mysterious (and most godly) financial institution, the Vatican Bank.
Pope Pius XII.
1. Bankers
The Vatican Bank (Institute for Religious Affairs) was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII. The new structure was to unite the management of church assets around the world. The bank was obliged to report only to the Pope, the viceroy of Christ on Earth. There are 2.5 billion Christians in the world. Every third living person was born under the cross and will rest under the cross. Just over half of all Christians belong to the Roman Catholic Church. Every Catholic donates an average of ten dollars a week to the church, and the bank manages this money.
During the Second World War, the Vatican was inundated with agents of all intelligence services. The Holy See successfully maneuvered between the camps. On the one hand, Mussolini recognized the independence of the Vatican State and returned the lands in the center of Rome (Roman ducat) to him. On the other hand, the church desperately did not want to openly support the Nazis and fascists and negotiated with the allies. The bank was created, among other things, to preserve information about financial flows converging in the Vatican - banking secrecy was equated to the secret of confession.
Promotional video:
Papal Nuncio (Ambassador) to Germany Cardinal Cesare Orsenigo leaves the residence of Adolf Hitler after a diplomatic summit meeting.
The Vatican Bank did not give money for growth, but accepted any deposits - gold, jewelry, works of art. Nobody knew how much and from whom, including the Italian Ministry of Finance. All bank employees were citizens of the Vatican - temporary, since only popes of Rome have permanent Vatican citizenship. Accounts were opened simply: to get from Rome to the Vatican, from one jurisdiction to another, it was enough to cross the street. A modest, well-dressed bank clerk, flashing a cross on his lapel, counted valuables, entered them into bank books and locked them in a vault. Above the doors of the vault was the coat of arms of the Vatican - two crossed keys to paradise.
In 1945, ten trucks drove through Roman streets. They were met by a Catholic priest who spoke Croatian. All ten trucks were packed with crates of gold confiscated by Croatian dictator Ante Pavelic from Yugoslav Serbs, Jews and Roma. The independent state of Croatia, created in 1941 as a Nazi protectorate, ceased to exist - and its treasury changed owners. The gold of the Ustasha went to Rome, and Pavelic went to South America, where a network of Catholic monasteries and universities was spread. It was there that many Croatian war criminals and Catholic priests found shelter, blessing the murder and forced re-baptism of Yugoslav Serbs. Gold disappears without a trace, and Pope Pius XII encourages the war-torn world with a pastoral word.
The post-war Vatican is going through interesting times. The power of the old Italian families, who for centuries have elected popes from among their number, is weakening, more and more non-Italian cardinals appear in the Vatican. Most of the new high-ranking prelates are Americans; American dioceses, untouched by war, are rich and influential. The change of generations is painful, in Italy many Catholics (both ordinary and the most senior) are anxiously watching the changes. Patriots demand from the Holy See to fight for every Italian in the church, but American expansion continues. Victorious Americans settle down in Europe and do not forget about Italy: the CIA is establishing contacts with the ultra-right Italian parties and sponsoring them, hoping to oppose the Italian communists.
2. Bandits
In 1950, an American priest Paul Marcinkus arrived in Rome. After a close friend of Marcinkus, Cardinal Montini, becomes Pope Paul VI, Marcinkus takes over the organization of all the pontiff's trips abroad. The tall, muscular priest grew up in the gangster Chicago of the 1930s and was not only a translator, but also a bodyguard - behind his back he was called "the tame gorilla of the Pope." Before the meeting of Paul VI and Nixon, he even kicked out of the premises the president's guards: "I give you exactly 60 seconds to get out of here, or explain to Nixon yourself why the audience failed."
Paul Marcinkus.
In the Vatican, a group of very different, but invariably interesting people begins to gather around Marcinkus - the holy father (since 1969 - a bishop) is suspected of having links with the American mafia, Italian neo-fascists and very mysterious Masons. They even mention names: Michele Sindona, Roberto Calvi and Licho Gelli.
Michele Sindona.
Sindona, a Jesuit-trained Sicilian, has been advising organized crime on financial matters since the 1950s. He is not just an adviser - he has many acquaintances among the clergy, and Pope Paul VI became friends with Sindona when he was bishop of Milan. Sindona smuggles mafia money from the United States to Italy, meets with ambassadors and enters the home of the Gambino crime family.
Through Gelli, Sindona is associated with Propaganda Deu (P-2), a secret society rumored to include all self-respecting Italian politicians. In the 1980s, when the Italian authorities began to smash the P-2, among the records of Licio Gelli they will find a list of members of the lodge and a project for a new state structure in Italy, very similar to those of Mussolini. The list of members will also include the name of Silvio Berlusconi.
Roberto Calvi.
In 1971, Bishop Marcinkus becomes the head of the Vatican Bank. He obeys only the Pope and has the right to choose his own employees. Sindona and Calvi begin to cooperate with the bank. Sindona is based in America (he acquires Franklin National Bank in 1972), and Calvi holds senior positions at Banco Ambrosiano, Italy's second-largest privately owned bank.
P-2 Lodge membership card in the name of Silvio Berlusconi.
Paul Marcinkus gains tremendous influence in the Vatican. It is through his hands that all the money of the Catholic Church passes, it is his friendship that all Italian politicians are looking for. The church in his person is merciful and in no hurry to judge: Marcinkus accepts contributions from mafia families, and the most generous bandits receive letters of recommendation from the bishop, with which they are not ashamed to go even to the prime minister. One of these letters will surface in 1974, when the Vatican Bank survives its first major scandal - trying to save Franklin National Bank, which is on the verge of ruin, Sindona will transfer $ 30 million to his accounts at the Vatican Bank. Franklin National will go bankrupt soon.
The collapse of the Franklin National Bank caused a shock in Italy. Michele Sindona, friend of popes and cardinals, involved in fraud? Journalists are hunting for Marcinkus and his friends. Marcinkus disowns the old friendship.
Licho Jelly.
Apparently, doing business through Sindona becomes too expensive, and a new mafia liaison appears next to Marcinkus, Enrico de Pedis, nicknamed Renatino, one of the leaders of the "Gang della Magliana" - a small but respected Roman organized crime group, which became famous even in 1977 when the Duke della Rovero was kidnapped. The bandits demanded 1.5 billion lire for the duke, but, having received them, they still killed the hostage. Roman society appreciated the beauty of the gesture, and people with business proposals were drawn to Renatino. In 1979, gang members kill journalist Carmine Pecorelli, who was too interested in the connections of the then Italian prime minister with organized crime, and already in 1980, Renatino began to be seen in the company of Marcinkus and Roberto Calvi, by then the manager of Banco Ambrosiano; 10% of Ambrosiano is owned by the church.
In 1982, Banco Ambrosiano collapses, leaving behind $ 1.5 billion in debt. Capital withdrawn through the Vatican Bank. The Vatican refuses to accept responsibility to depositors, despite the fact that Calvi worked under the auspices and direct guarantees of Marcinkus. Shortly before the bankruptcy, Calvi wrote a panicky letter to John Paul II, threatening "a tremendous catastrophe that will inflict heavy damage on the church." Having received no answer, the banker flees to London, and soon his corpse is found under the Black Brothers Bridge. The choice of location is a cruel joke: frati neri, "black brothers" - this is how members of the P-2 lodge call themselves. In Calvi's pockets, they find 15 thousand dollars in cash in three different currencies.
Above: John Paul II kisses the land of Britain during a diplomatic visit. To his right is Archbishop Marcinkus.
It is not known who exactly hanged Calvi: people in black robes sent by Marcinkus, or people in black suits sent by Renatino. Both were summoned for interrogation, but Renatino simply did not appear, and Paul Marcinkus, by that time already an archbishop, categorically refused to testify and spent the next seven years in the Vatican, out of the reach of worldly justice. In a few years, the affected investors will receive £ 145 million in damages from the church. Marcinkus will never be charged. The banker-archbishop will give the only comment to the journalists who besiege him on all sides: "One cannot build a church".
3. The righteous
Marcinkus and Renatino were also involved in another strange and terrible story - the disappearance of 15-year-old Emmanuela Orlandi, the daughter of an employee of the Vatican Bank. The girl disappeared in 1983. The Orlandi family lived in the Vatican, Emmanuela studied flute at the Pontifical Institute of Church Music. On the day of the disappearance, the girl was supposed to be brought to school by her older brother, but he did not have time - Emmanuela went alone. No one saw her again.
The disappearance of Emmanuela Orlandi was investigated by police officers, the family of the disappeared, journalists, Pope John Paul II himself addressed the kidnappers during the sermon. Suddenly, an unknown person called the "American" got in touch with the Orlandi family - in Italian he spoke with an American accent, using a lot of Latinisms and church phrases. The American suggested that those wishing to look in the ballot box near the parliament building - there was a girl's school pass. Then he hinted at the break room at the Rome airport, where they found another copy of the pass. Sometimes, instead of the American, the Orlandi family, distraught with fear and grief, heard an audio recording of Emmanuela's voice - "I am Emmanuela Orlandi, I study at a music school" - and nothing more. John Paul II called on the kidnappers to release the child seven times, but in vain. Rumors spreadthat the girl's father tried to blackmail the bank with certain documents related to Sindona and his affairs with the mafia. They wanted to interrogate Marcinkus again - and the Vatican again refused.
Renatino was also under suspicion - his people had already been caught in ordered abductions. But it was not possible to interrogate him either - and in 1990 Renatino was killed by his comrades. For his services to the church, the bandit and murderer was awarded a burial in the tomb of the Church of Saint-Appolinare, next to the saints. It was believed that Renatino "helped the poor a lot." It is much more likely that his friend Cardinal Poletti, at that time the second person in the Roman diocese after the Pope, put in a word for the dead bandit. In addition, the widow of the deceased donated a billion lire to the church on time.
Archbishop Marcinkus walks through the Vatican shortly before his retirement.
In 2005, on the Italian TV show Chi l'ha visto? (“Who saw?” - an analogue of “Wait for me.” - Esquire) an anonymous well-wisher phoned and said on the air that Emmanuela's body was buried in Renatino's grave. The grave was opened only in 2012 - in addition to the bones of Renatino, unknown remains were found there, but the genetic examination showed that it was not Emmanuela Orlandi. After the autopsy, Renatino's grave was moved from the famous church, and a billion lire was wasted.
Paul Marcinkus stepped down as Governor of the Vatican Bank in 1990. He outlived three popes and all his comrades - Calvi was hanging under the bridge, Renatino was shot, Sindona was poisoned in prison with cyanide back in 1986. Marcinkus went home to the USA. After him there were no financial statements, but many questions remained: is it true that the Vatican Bank lent money to the Nicaraguan Contras? Is it true that the church financed the Polish Solidarity revolution? Is it true that Licho Gelli, Grand Master of the Propaganda Deu Lodge, went to prison in 1989 in exchange for freedom for Marcinkus? Is it true that Pope John Paul I was poisoned - and the first, accidental victim of this poisoning was the Orthodox Bishop Nicodemus, who drank coffee from the wrong cup at a meeting with the Pontiff?
Archbishop Marcinkus died in Arizona in 2006. In 2010, an investigation was launched against Ettore Tedeschi, the new head of the Institute of Religious Affairs, on suspicion of money laundering. In 2014, shortly after Pope Benedict was succeeded by Pope Francis, the Italian authorities arrested Monsignor Nunzio Scarano: the holy father flew to Switzerland in a private plane, accompanied by armed guards, and found $ 26 million in cash in his suitcases. Scarano claims that he intended to use the money to build a shelter for the poor. “I do not intend to disclose the names of the donors,” he told police and reporters. "For the Lord says: when you do alms, let your left hand not know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly."
Each Catholic donates an average of ten dollars a week to the church. Eight of these ten dollars remain in the jurisdiction of the diocese, an ecclesiastical area usually ruled by the bishop. The other two dollars are impossible to find - the Vatican Bank is watching.
