Word: vatican
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...investigators unraveled Calvi's tangled financial affairs, they kept running across the name of Archbishop Marcinkus. The Vatican Bank has long owned 1.58% of the Banco Ambrosiano, but now there is suspicion that it actually holds much more. In addition, Marcinkus until very recently had sat on the board of the bank's Nassau-based subsidiary, Banco Ambrosiano Overseas Ltd., which helped arrange the questionable overseas loans...
...most damaging of the disclosures were documents that directly implicated Marcinkus in the loan scheme. The archbishop had signed "letters of patronage" for the dozen Panamanian ghost companies that received the loan money from the Banco Ambrosiano. The letters stated that the companies were controlled by the Vatican Bank and were apparently intended to serve as references or guarantees for the lender. Investigators are not sure at this point where the $1.4 billion went or what it was used for. It is believed that some of the money, perhaps as much as 10%, was used to buy stock in Banco...
...same time that the letters were signed, Calvi secretly absolved the Vatican Bank from any responsibility in the transaction. The effect was to render the letters legally worthless. This has bewildered police investigators...
...weeks ago, three officials appointed by the Bank of Italy to take over Banco Ambrosiano's affairs after Calvi's death visited Marcinkus at his Vatican Bank headquarters. The archbishop told them that he had only done what Calvi had requested. He then showed the officials out the door, saying that he was not required to answer questions by Italian authorities, who have no jurisdiction over the bank because it is located in Vatican City...
...archbishop-banker had previously enjoyed an unusually successful career in the Catholic Church. Born in Cicero, Ill., he attended a Chicago seminary and was a parish priest before going to Rome in 1950 to study canon law. Once there, he started working his way up the Vatican hierarchy by serving as a diplomat. His administrative skill, as well as his commanding height (6 ft. 3 in.) helped him land a job as bodyguard and advance man for Pope Paul...