Paul Marcinkus
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- For other people with the surname of Marcinkus, see Marcinkus.
Paulius Casimir Marcinkus (January 15, 1922 – February 20, 2006) was born in Cicero, Illinois, in the United States. He is best known for his controversial term as President of the Vatican Bank between 1971 and 1989
[edit] Early life
Marcinkus was the son of an immigrant window washer who arrived in Cicero in 1914. His Lithuanian father, Mykolas, had left Lithuania to escape possible induction into the Russian army. Moving to the United States, he briefly lived in Pittsburgh before heading to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin to help a cousin whose farm needed workers. He moved to Cicero after he then found work in a Chicago steel mill. By the time his fourth son, Paulius, arrived, he had started washing windows for the Leo Sheridan Co., a job he would hold for 30 years.
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 far south side. By 1949, he had been appointed to the archdiocese's matrimonial tribunal, which processed applications to have marriages annulled.
Arriving in Rome in 1950 to study canon law at Gregorian University, and began to accept special assignments from the Vatican. Upon earning his degree in 1953, he was asked to stay with the Vatican on a full-time basis, and became friends with Giovanni Battista Montini, who would be Pope a decade later. Enrolling in the two-year diplomatic school, Marcinkus headed to Bolivia in 1955 and Canada four years later, serving as secretary in the Vatican nunciature in both instances. The titles were the equivalent of a secretary at a foreign embassy.
In December 1959, he returned to Rome to work in the office of the secretariat of state, and had learned enough Italian to serve as an occasional interpreter for Pope John XXIII. With the ascension of Pope Paul VI to the papacy, Marcinkus became the prime English translator, and also helped handle the arrangements for the pontiff's overseas trips. In addition, his height and muscular build helped him serve as a bodyguard for Paul VI, earning him the nickname, "The Gorilla."
[1] On January 6, 1969, he was ordained to the episcopate as Titular Archbishop of Horta and Secretary of the Roman Curia. His ferocious protection of the Pope remained in evidence two months later when he refused to allow Secret Service agents in a private meeting between the pontiff and U.S. President Richard Nixon, saying, "I'll give you 60 seconds to get out of here or you can explain to the President why the Pope could not see him today."
In 1979, Marcinkus was reportedly targeted by the infamous Red Brigade terrorist group for possible kidnapping or assassination after his address and other documents were found in the apartment of two group members.
On September 26, 1981, Marcinkus was appointed Pro-President of Vatican City, making him the third most powerful person in the Vatican, behind Pope John Paul II and the secretary of state. He resigned that position on October 30, 1990.
Marcinkus was the president of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione or the Vatican Bank from 1971 to 1989. 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 Roberto Calvi for a number of years). He was also involved with Michele Sindona, who had links with the Mafia.
The scandal widened after the body of financier Roberto Calvi, whose Banco Ambrosiano had dealt with Marcinkus,was found hanging under London's Blackfriars Bridge the previous month. Adding to the troubles, a journalist investigating Marcinkus, the Vatican Bank and ties to organized crime was also found dead. Ultimately the decision was made not to indict Marcinkus (New York Times "U.S. prelate not indicted in Italy bank scandal" April 30, 1989).
However, he stepped aside as head of the Vatican Bank soon after, with a board of laymen taking control of the bank. (Wall Street Journal Western Edition,"Vatican gives control of bank to board of laymen, as archbishop steps aside" June 21, 1989, page A17). Eventually, the Vatican paid £145 million as settlement to creditors, with Marcinkus observing in 1986 that: "You can't run the Church on Hail Marys" (quoted in the May 25, 1986, Observer, London).
He returned to the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1990 before retiring to Arizona where he lived as a parish priest, refusing to discuss his role at the Vatican. (see[2]). Marcinkus died in Sun City, Arizona, aged 84, of undisclosed causes.
[edit] See also
- Propaganda Due
- Banco Ambrosiano scandal
- Emanuela Orlandi, whose "disappearance", in which Marcinkus may have been involved, may have been intended to press the Pope to free Mehmet Ali Ağca, who tried to assassinate the Pope in 1981.
