The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia (24 page)

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape
being condemned to hell? Therefore, I am sending you
prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you
will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon
you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed
on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood
of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered
between the temple and the altar.

Matt. 23:33-35

efore his death Pope Paul VI decided to put to task the col of cardinals by making the process of electing his successor as grueling as possible. Knowing that previous conclaves had
been "bugged,"' he left instructions that all cardinals swear a solemn
oath-under penalty of excommunication-not to divulge the results of the balloting to any outside sources or to discuss the results with
other princes of the Church. Swiss Guards were placed on guard outside every entrance and beneath every window, just in case one of the
octogenarian cardinals attempted to escape from a high tower.

Within the Sistine Chapel, where the conclave was held, the cardinals, who were accustomed to living in regal splendor within luxurious apartments, were assigned to single rooms-"cells," as Pope
Paul VI called them-without any amenities. Before entering the cells
the cardinals were searched by guards for "bugging" devices" or
other means of communication, including pencils and notepads.

At the start of the conclave, on August 25, 1978, the 111 cardinals
were marched in silence to the chapel. The presiding cardinal-the
"Carmelengo"-took roll call and ordered the purpled prelates to kneel
while beating their breasts and chanting the Latin hymn, "Veni Creator
Spiritus." Many members of the sacred assembly must have been disgruntled, if not outraged, to find that they were not treated like princes
of Holy Mother Church but rather as prisoners in San Quentin.2

To make matters worse, the conclave took place in the midst of
an oppressive heat wave. The temperature in Rome soared above
ninety-four degrees. The situation within the chapel must have been
sweltering, with every door locked and barred and every window
boarded and sealed. Small wonder that the traditionalists and the
progressives came to an immediate compromise and elected the mildmannered Albino Luciani as the new pope. It was one of the shortest
conclaves in history, lasting only a single day.

To the delight of the assembly, Luciani chose the name John Paul
I-John for John XXIII and Paul for Paul VI. This seemed to assure
the cardinals that the new pope would stay the present course,
without disrupting the workings of Vatican, Inc. The cardinals were
sorely deceived.

As soon as the election results were made known by the appearance of white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, the
Italian press asked the new pope to restore "order and morality" to
the Holy See. Il Mondo, Italy's leading economical journal, published
an open letter to ask John Paul a series of sharply pointed questions.
"Is it right for the Vatican to operate in markets like a speculator?" the journal asked. "Is it right for the Vatican to have a bank whose
operations help the illegal transfer of capital from Italy to other countries? Is it right for that bank to assist Italians in evading taxes?"

Il Mondo went on to question the Vatican's association with " the
most cynical financial dealers," such as Michele Sindona. The letter
asked: "Why does the Church tolerate investments in companies,
national and international, whose only aim is profit-companies
which, when necessary, are willing to trample on the human rights of
millions of the poor, especially in that Third World which is so close
to your heart?"

The letter, signed by the journal's financial editor, also offered
the following observations about Bishop Paul Marcinkus, president
of the Vatican Bank: "He is the only bishop who is on the board of a
lay bank, which incidentally has a branch in one of the great tax
havens of the capitalistic world. We mean the Cisalpine Overseas
Bank at Nassau in the Bahamas [later to become Banco Ambrosiano
Overseas]. Using tax havens is permitted by earthly law, and no lay
banker can be hauled into court for taking advantage of that situation; but perhaps it is not licit under God's law, which should mark
every act of the Church. The Church preaches equality but it does
not seem to us that the best way to ensure equality is by evading
taxes, which constitute the means by which the lay state tries to promote the same equality."3

Taking to heart such comments and criticisms, the new pope
decided to rectify matters and to transform Vatican, Inc. into the
apostolic church of the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul. On
August 27, his second day in the Holy Office, John Paul announced
to Cardinal Jean Villot, the Vatican secretary of state, his intent to
launch an investigation into all aspects of the Vatican's finances. "No
department, no congregation, no section is to be excluded," the
Holy Father said.'

Within a week John Paul received a preliminary report on the
workings of the Vatican Bank. The bank, which had been formed to
further "religious works," was now serving a distinctly secular purpose. Of the 11,000 accounts within its registry, fewer than 1,650
served an ecclesiastical purpose. The remaining 9,350 accounts served as "slush funds" for special friends of the Vatican, such as Sindona, Calvi, Gelli, and Marcinkus.s

On September 7 Cardinal Benelli conveyed to the Holy Father
even worse news. The Bank of Italy was investigating the links
between Roberto Calvi of Banco Ambrosiano and the Vatican Bank,
including Calvi's purchase of Banca Cattolica del Veneto and the
manipulation of the shares of Banco Mercantile of Florence. The
investigators already had dispatched a preliminary report regarding
the irregularities to Judge Emilio Alessandrini. The pope turned pale.
The report, he believed, would result in charges of criminal activity
not only against Calvi but also leading Vatican officials, including
Bishop Marcinkus, and his two close associates Luigi Mennini and
Pellegrino de Strobel. The pope knew that the matter required
immediate action.

The pope, no doubt, was unaware that the matter was already under
control. News of the investigation and report had been conveyed to
Licio Gelli and Roberto Calvi. The troublesome problem had received
what Sindona called "the Italian solution." Five gunmen murdered
Judge Alessandrini, when his orange Renault 5 stopped for a red light
on Via Muratoni in Rome.6 This action accomplished its purpose. The
investigation into Calvi and the Vatican Bank came to an abrupt halt.

The most appalling revelation occurred on Tuesday, September
12, when John Paul sat down at his desk to discover a copy of
L'Osservatore Politico. The newsletter, published by Mino Pecorelli,
contained a list of 121 leading Catholic clerics and laymen who were
members of Masonic lodges with alleged ties to Licio Gelli and P-2.'
If the list proved accurate, the pope would have to take drastic measures. Leading cardinals, archbishops, and bishops would be stripped
of their titles and offices and subjected to excommunication. The
matter would result in a pogrom of the papabili-the individuals
closest to the Holy Office.

As John Paul studied the newsletter, he shuddered. At the top of
the list was the name of his secretary of state, Cardinal Jean VillotMasonic name "Jeanni," Lodge # 041/3, enrolled in a Zurich lodge
on August 6, 1966.

The pope sought to see if the information was accurate by making contact with Italian officials through his close friends, Cardinal Pericle Felici and Monsignor Giovanni Benelli, whose names
did not appear in the newsletter. Since, as noted earlier, all secret societies must register the names of their members with the state, the
Italian officials were able to locate Italian masons of the Zurich lodge
who confirmed that Jean Villot, indeed, had been inducted into the
Order of Freemasonry.

Another name on the list was that of Villot's assistant, Cardinal
Sebastiano Baggio, Masonic name "SEBA," Lodge # 85-1640, initiation date August 14, 1967. Again, the pope, making contact with
the authorities, received verification that Baggio was a member of the
secret society.

By the end of the day John Paul was visibly shaken. He had
received similar confirmation regarding the membership of other top
Vatican officials in Masonic lodges: including Monsignor Agostino
Casaroli, his foreign minister; Cardinal Ugo Poletti, the vicar of
Rome; Monsignor Pasquale Macchi, Pope Paul's trusted secretary;
Monsignor Pasquale Macchi of the Vatican Bank; and last but not
least, Bishop Paul Marcinkus, who controlled the vast wealth of Holy
Mother Church.8

Shortly after Licio Gelli received word that the pope had read the
newsletter, Mino Pecorelli, the editor of L'Osservatore Politico, was
murdered outside his office on Via Orazio. The barrel of a gun had
been shoved down his throat and the trigger pulled twice.' As a
classic gesture of the Mafia's sassa in bocca, police officers discovered
a rock within Pecorelli's mouth as an announcement that the journalist never again would divulge a secret.

Throughout the week the pope received further results of his
investigation into the Vatican Bank. He learned of the import/export
schemes that had been devised by Sindona, the shell companies that
had been established by Calvi, the counterfeit securities scheme, and
the laundering of billions from the Mafia's drug trade.

As more and more of the inner workings of Vatican Inc. came to
light, Marcinkus knew that his days within the Holy See were numbered. "I may not be around here much longer," he told a colleague
at the Vatican Bank.

Marcinkus was not the only Vatican official who experienced distress by the actions of the new pope. The number of cigarettes that
Cardinal Villot smoked on any given day served as a gauge of his state
of nervous agitation. Since the coronation of John Paul, his daily
ration of sixty increased to eighty. By the end of September, cleaners
counted over one hundred butts in his ashtrays each morning.10

On Saturday, September 23, John Paul was installed as bishop of
Rome. During his homily the pope turned to Marcinkus and officials
from the Vatican Bank and said: "Although for twenty years I have
been bishop of Vittorio Veneto and Venice, I admit that I have not
yet learned the job well. In Rome, I shall put myself in the school of
St. Gregory the Great, who writes, `The pastor should with compassion be close to each one who is subject to him: forgetful of his rank,
he should consider himself on a level with the good subjects, but he
should not fear to exercise the rights of his authority against the
wicked."' Marcinkus and his associates appeared to squirm before the
pope's stare."

Stories of the coming purge in the Vatican spread far and wide.
Newsweek reported that John Paul had ordered a full report on the
Church's finances from Cardinal Villot and that a movement was
afoot to oust Bishop Marcinkus from the Vatican Bank.

By September 28 the pope was ready to make his moves. In the
morning he summoned Cardinal Baggio to his chambers. He spoke
of his awareness of Baggio's membership in a Masonic lodge and of
his intent to transfer the cardinal to the backwaters of Venice. Baggio
visibly trembled with rage and responded with screams of anger. The
pope, according to accounts, remained calm.12

In the afternoon John Paul sat down to chamomile tea with Cardinal Villot. He began with the subject of the Vatican Bank. Villot's
teacup began to tremble. Marcinkus, the pope said, must be removed
as the bank's president within twenty-four hours. He would be
returned to Chicago, where he would be installed as an auxiliary
bishop. All bank officials with ties to Marcinkus, Sindona, and Calvi
were also to be dismissed and reassigned to menial positions outside
the Vatican.13

The pope next turned to the subject of Baggio. Upon considera tion of the cardinal's complaints, he decided that Baggio should be
removed from the Vatican and reassigned, not to Venice, but to Florence. Venice, after all, was a city close to the heart of the pope. It
was a place where John XXIII, his beloved predecessor, had served as
bishop. No, John Paul reasoned, Baggio would be sent to Florence,
where he would find few Masonic friends and where he would wield
power and influence only in dealing with matters of the diocese.14