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Paul Casimir Marcinkus GCOIH (/mɑːrˈsɪŋkəs/; January 15, 1922 – February 20, 2006) was an American archbishop of the Catholic Church and president of the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, from 1971 to 1989.

Early life

Marcinkus was born in Cicero, Illinois, the son of Lithuanian immigrants and the youngest of five children. His father worked as a window cleaner, among other occupations.

After attending Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary and St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Marcinkus was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 3, 1947, and served parish assignments with both St. Christina's and Holy Cross Church on the city's south side. By 1949, he had been appointed to the archdiocese's matrimonial tribunal, which processed petitions to recognize the nullity of putatively valid marriages.

International career

In 1950, Marcinkus began to fulfil special assignments for the Holy See and became friendly with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, later Pope Paul VI, while studying canon law at the Gregorian University. Upon earning his degree in 1953, he completed the two-year program for prospective diplomats at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and was assigned to Bolivia in 1955 and to Canada four years later, serving as secretary in the nunciature of the Holy See in both instances.

Beginning in December 1959, he worked at the Secretariat of State in Rome and served on occasion as an interpreter for Pope John XXIII and as an English translator for Pope Paul VI. Under Paul VI, he helped manage arrangements for papal overseas trips. His height and muscular build served him well as an "informal bodyguard" for Paul VI, earning him the nickname "The Papón". On January 6, 1969, he received his episcopal consecration as Titular Archbishop of Horta.

In 1979, Marcinkus was reported as having been targeted by the Red Brigades, a far-left terrorist group, for possible kidnap or assassination after his address and other documents were found in the apartment of two group members, Valerio Morucci and Adriana Faranda.

In 1981, John Paul II promoted Marcinkus to archbishop and made him vice-president of the Governorate of the Vatican City state, in effect its governor.

In 1982, he allegedly thwarted an assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in Fátima, Portugal, when Juan Maria Fernandez y Krohn, a reportedly disturbed priest, attacked the Pope with a bayonet. In fact, several Portuguese police officers grabbed and disarmed the attacker, preventing the Pope from being stabbed.

Vatican bank tenure

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Paul VI appointed Marcinkus secretary of the Vatican Bank in 1968. He was named its president in 1971 at the age of 48, serving in that role until 1989. Although an able administrator, Marcinkus had no prior experience as a banker. Upon his initial appointment to the Vatican Bank, he underwent brief training and short (of days-to-weeks) observational periods at several financial institutions.

As early as April 24, 1973, Marcinkus was questioned in his Vatican office by United States federal prosecutor William Aronwald and Bill Lynch, head of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the United States Department of Justice, about his involvement in the delivery of $14.5 million worth of counterfeit bonds to the Vatican in July 1971, part of a total request of $950 million stated in a letter on Vatican letterhead. His name had arisen and the letter come to light during the investigation of an international gangster, who eventually served 12 years in prison. Marcinkus said "he considered the charges against him serious, but not based enough on fact that he would violate the Vatican Bank's confidentiality to defend himself...back in the States, it was agreed on the highest levels that the case against Marcinkus could not be pursued any further."

In July 1982, Marcinkus was implicated in financial scandals being reported on the front pages of newspapers and magazines throughout Europe, particularly the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano, in which Propaganda Due (aka "P2"), a Masonic Lodge, was involved. Marcinkus had been a director of Ambrosiano Overseas, based in Nassau, Bahamas, and had been involved with Ambrosiano's chairman, financier Roberto Calvi, for a number of years. He also was involved with Michele Sindona, who had links with the Mafia.

The scandal widened, after the body of Calvi, whose Banco Ambrosiano had dealt with Marcinkus, was found hanging under London's Blackfriars Bridge in June 1982. Marcinkus himself was never charged with a crime.

He stepped aside as head of the Vatican Bank soon after, with a board of laymen assuming control of the bank. The Vatican eventually paid £145 million in a settlement with creditors, with Marcinkus observing in 1986 that "You can't run the Church on Hail Marys." Marcinkus later said that he was misquoted, what he actually said was: "When my workers come to retire, they expect a pension; it's no use my saying to them 'I'll pay you 400 Hail Marys."

He resigned his Vatican position on October 30, 1990.

Unsubstantiated allegations

In 1984, Marcinkus was named by David Yallop as a possible accomplice in the claimed "murder" of Pope John Paul I; Yallop made allegations regarding a number of suspects, involving the Mafia and Freemasonry. For instance, Anthony Raimondi, who purports to be a nephew of Lucky Luciano, claimed in 2019 that he helped his alleged cousin Marcinkus murder the pope. Loris Serafini, director of a museum in Canale d'Agordo overseeing a collection covering John Paul I's life, refers to the purported murder as "an unshakable myth", and Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli, writing for the Washington Post, report that: "One papal doctor believed heart attack was the likeliest cause of death. Another doctor who'd previously treated the pope said there was "no clinical doubt" that the cause was circulatory... In her official work as postulator, Stefania Falasca, a journalist for the Italian newspaper Avvenire, and the lead investigator for the Vatican regarding the late pope's canonisation, quotes the conflicting medical opinions and does not try to weigh which was likelier.

As of 2008, a case of a missing person had been reopened after claims that Emanuela Orlandi, daughter of a Vatican employee, had been kidnapped and later killed on orders of Marcinkus were made by Sabrina Minardi, a former girlfriend of Enrico De Pedis, boss of the gang, Banda della Magliana. Members of Orlandi's family said they were skeptical of the claim, as Minardi had been treated for drug abuse. Investigators remained cautious but were reportedly impressed by the accuracy of some details, as reported by La Repubblica.

Later life and death

Marcinkus returned to the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1990 before retiring to Arizona, where he lived as an assistant parish priest at St. Clement of Rome Church in Sun City. He declined to discuss his role in the Ambrosiano scandal. Archbishop Marcinkus died in Sun City, Arizona, aged 84, of undisclosed causes.

In popular culture

Marcinkus was played by actor Rutger Hauer in the Italian film The Bankers of God.

In Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III, actor Donal Donnelly portrayed Archbishop Gilday. The character is widely perceived as based on Marcinkus.

In 2006, Marcinkus was played by actor Jacques Sernas in the 2006 Italian TV Series Pope John Paul I: The Smile of God.

Tom Flannery's one-man play Marcinkus (2006) played in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, Pennsylvania to positive reviews.

Marcinkus was portrayed by actor Randall Paul in Roberto Faenza's 2016 film La Verità Sta in Cielo ('The Truth Lies in Heaven').

Mentioned in the George Harrison song, "P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night)".

Honours

Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry, Portugal (2 September 1983)

See also

• Propaganda Due
• Banco Ambrosiano
• Emanuela Orlandi

References

1. ^ Fox, Margalit (February 22, 2006). "Archbishop Marcinkus, 84, Banker at the Vatican, Dies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
2. ^ Hirsley, Michael (March 12, 1989). "As Vatican Career Ebbs, Marcinkus Looks to Chicago". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
3. ^ Willan, Philip (2013). "Chapter Ten: The Gorilla". The Vatican at War: From Blackfriars Bridge to Buenos Aires. Uptin. pp. 145–169. ISBN 978-1-4917-0794-4.
4. Foglio Quotidiano staff writer (25 June 2008). "Marcinkus, come farsi un tesoro in terra (e forse pure in Cielo)". Il Foglio (in Italian). Archived from the original on 20 February 2010.
5. ^ Bernstein, Adam (February 22, 2006). "Paul Marcinkus, Indicted in Bank Scandal". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. A hulking 6-foot-4 rugby player, he served as bodyguard and "advance man" on the pope's historic diplomatic outreach trips abroad." ... "He studied canon law in Rome and by the late 1950s was assigned to the Vatican secretary of state's office. There, he befriended the future Pope Paul VI...
6. ^ McGarry, Patsy (10 July 2021). "Cardinal sins: Can Pope Francis clean up the Vatican's act?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 April 2022. Archbishop Marcinkus spent most of his clerical career at the Vatican, initially as English translator for Pope St John XXIII and Pope St Paul VI.
7. Cornwell, Rupert (February 22, 2006). "Priest at the heart of 'God's Banker' scandal dies at 84". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on March 24, 2007. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
8. Willey, David (October 16, 2008). "Film breaks usual Vatican secrecy". BBC News. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
9. Hugo Franco, "May 12, 1982: The failed attack on John Paul II told by the security guards who saved him" (translated title), Expresso, May 7, 2017.
10. Posner, Gerald L. (2015). "Operation Fräulein". God's bankers: A history of money and power at the Vatican (First ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 205–220. ISBN 9781439109861.
11. Coffey, Joseph; Schmetterer, Jerry (1992). The Coffey Files. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312929226.
12. Murphy, Walter F. (7 November 1982). "The Cop, the Con Men and the Cardinal". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022.
13. Riding, Alan (April 30, 1989). "U.S. Prelate Not Indicted in Italy Bank Scandal". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 31, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021. To the dismay of the public prosecutor, an American Archbishop was not among 35 former employees and associates of an ill-fated bank who were indicted on charges of fraudulent bankruptcy here this month. Instead, the American, Archbishop Paul C. Marcinkus of Cicero, Ill., is preparing to take up a new appointment at the Holy See after 20 years as president of the Institute for Religious Works, known as the Vatican Bank.
14. Wall Street Journal Western Edition, "Vatican gives control of bank to board of laymen, as archbishop steps aside" June 21, 1989, page A17.
15. May 25, 1986, Observer, London.
16. Andrews, Robert (2003). The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations. Penguin UK. p. 553. ISBN 978-0-14-196531-4. Citing The Observer (London) of 25 May 1986. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
17. Cornwell, John (1989). A Thief in the Night: The Death of John Paul I. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-68394-8.
18. Ridley, Charles (30 October 1990). "Archbishop Marcinkus resigns from Vatican service". UPI. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
19. Hofmann, Paul (8 July 1984). "BUNGLING AND SURMISES". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 2 Nov 2018.
20. Hamilton, Brad (2019-10-19). "Meet the mobster who claims he helped whack Pope John Paul I over stock fraud". New York Post. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
21. ^ Harlan, Chico; Pitrelli, Stefano (December 7, 2021). "John Paul I was pope for just 33 days. The story of his death is still evolving". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
22. Kington, Tom (24 June 2008). "Girl missing since 1983 was kidnapped on Vatican archbishop's orders, police told". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015. Retrieved 2 Nov 2018.
23. "Scandal-hit Vatican banker dies". BBC News. February 21, 2006.
24. "Marcinkus, of Vatican scandal, dies". New York Times. February 21, 2006. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
25. "Priest at the heart of 'God's banker' scandal dies at 84". The Independent. February 22, 2006. Archived from the original on March 24, 2007.
26. "Calvi, in un film l'Italia dei misteri". Central do Cinema (in Italian). Archived from the original on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
27. • Vankin, Jonathan (2004). The 80 greatest conspiracies of all time : history's biggest mysteries, coverups, and cabals (Expanded and updated ed.). New York: Citadel Press. pp. 178–179. ISBN 0-8065-2531-2.
    • Kurt Jensen; Catholic News Service (December 11, 2020). "'Godfather Coda' offers a recut version you might not be able to refuse". Catholic Philly. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
    • Day, James (20 November 2021). "The Godfather, Part III: The One Who Inspired It". Bright Lights Film Journal. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
    • Phillips, Gene D. (23 April 2014). Godfather: The Intimate Francis Ford Coppola. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 132–133. ISBN 978-0-8131-4671-3. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
    • McGarry, Patsy (10 July 2021). "Cardinal sins: Can Pope Francis clean up the Vatican's act?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
28. "Pope John Paul I: The Smile of God - Elenco". Eu Assisti (in Brazilian Portuguese).
29. Clisham, Kelly (November 3, 2009). "A Tale of Holy Intrigue". TheWeekender.com. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: The Times Leader Media Group/Avant Publications. Archived from the original on October 4, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
30. Luce Cinecittà; Ministero della Cultura. "La verità sta in cielo (2016): film usciti 2000–2021". Filmitalia (in Italian and English). Retrieved 5 April 2022.
31. "Jeff Lynne Song Database - Song Details".
32. "Cidadãos Estrangeiros Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas". Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas. Retrieved 28 January 2017.

Additional sources

• Malachi Martin - Rich Church, Poor Church (Putnam, New York, 1984) (ISBN 0-399-12906-5)
• J.G. Sandom - Gospel Truths, Bantam/Random House, 1992 & 2009 (ISBN 0553589970)

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• 1922 births
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