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Paul Marcinkus

Archbishop; president of the Institute for the Works of Religion; died 2006.

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Dates
until 20 Feb 2006
Legal records

Banco Ambrosiano warrants, 1987

  1. Feb 1987 Charged by Milan: arrest warrant: accessory to the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano 1234Warrant of 20 February 1987 (MilanoFinanza), issued in Milan by the prosecutors (Italian press report). English summary of the Italian sources: the warrant alleged complicity in the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano; he was never arrested or tried.
  2. 17 Jul 1987 Decision overturned by Italian Court of Cassation: arrest warrants invalidated for lack of Italian jurisdiction; the charges were not judged on the merits 14English summary of the Italian source: MilanoFinanza says the Court of Cassation agreed with the Vatican tribunal and the defence that Italian courts lacked jurisdiction, under Article 11 of the 1929 agreement between Italy and the Holy See, which bars Italian justice from reviewing the conduct of the Church's central bodies; prosecutors then challenged Article 11 and the Constitutional Court rejected the challenge as too late, without ruling on the merits. Catholic News Service: the Vatican tribunal said the treaty rules out Italian "interference" in central church agencies.

A charge is an accusation, not a finding of guilt.

Marcinkus was president of the Institute for the Works of Religion during the years it dealt with Roberto Calvi, and also ran the city-state’s administration. Italian magistrates issued warrants for him in 1987; the Court of Cassation invalidated them for lack of Italian jurisdiction. He was never tried. A press report on the Vatican’s papers says he resigned two years after 1987; the Los Angeles Times says he resigned in 1990.

Connections 8

head of

  • Vatican City 1981 head of the city-state's administration (vice president of the city-state) Scholarship & press 25
  • Institute for the Works of Religion president Scholarship & press 56

    TIME, 1982: put in charge of the bank in 1969. The London Review of Books (1983) says "President of the Vatican Bank since 1971".

charged by

  • Milan Feb 1987 arrest warrant: accessory to the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano Scholarship & press 1234

    Warrant of 20 February 1987 (MilanoFinanza), issued in Milan by the prosecutors (Italian press report). English summary of the Italian sources: the warrant alleged complicity in the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano; he was never arrested or tried.

decision overturned by

  • Italian Court of Cassation 17 Jul 1987 arrest warrants invalidated for lack of Italian jurisdiction; the charges were not judged on the merits Scholarship & press 14

    English summary of the Italian source: MilanoFinanza says the Court of Cassation agreed with the Vatican tribunal and the defence that Italian courts lacked jurisdiction, under Article 11 of the 1929 agreement between Italy and the Holy See, which bars Italian justice from reviewing the conduct of the Church's central bodies; prosecutors then challenged Article 11 and the Constitutional Court rejected the challenge as too late, without ruling on the merits. Catholic News Service: the Vatican tribunal said the treaty rules out Italian "interference" in central church agencies.

involved in

Timeline 4 dates
  1. 1981 Paul Marcinkus head of Vatican City
  2. Feb 1987 Paul Marcinkus charged by Milan
  3. 17 Jul 1987 Paul Marcinkus decision overturned by Italian Court of Cassation
  4. until 20 Feb 2006 Paul Marcinkus
Proof 6 sources
  1. Italian Court Invalidates Warrants For Three Vatican Bankers, The Georgia Bulletin (Catholic News Service), 23 Jul 1987. Scholarship & press Archived copy
    arrest warrants issued last February for U.S. Archbishop Paul Marcinkus and two other officials of the Vatican bank in connection with a 1982 banking scandal
    The ruling July 17 by the Court of Cassation, Italy’s equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court, specified that its decision was definitive, with no chance for further appeal.
    “I’m happy, and I still have faith in justice,” Archbishop Marcinkus told National Catholic News Service from the Vatican.
    It overturned a ruling by a lower appeals court
    Named in the warrants were Archbishop Marcinkus, Vatican bank president, and two bank administrators, Pellegrino de Strobel and Luigi Mennini.
    A Vatican tribunal earlier this month rejected a request by Italian authorities to extradite the bank officials.
    It also called the charges in the warrants "conjectural."
  2. Former Vatican bank chief Paul Marcinkus, 84, dies, The Seattle Times (Los Angeles Times), 22 Feb 2006. Scholarship & press
    The archbishop was charged with being an accessory to the bank's bankruptcy, which was found to be fraudulent. But he was not arrested.
    After leaving the Vatican bank, Archbishop Marcinkus kept his second job as vice president of the Vatican city-state.
    The archbishop, who was known for saying that "You can't run the church on Hail Marys," was kept a virtual prisoner in the Vatican for long stretches in the 1980s.
    The archbishop said Calvi had released him in writing from any such liabilities.
    "The Italians should have looked into their own banking system," he told reporters in 1990. "I have never done anything wrong."
  3. Famiglia Cristiana pubblica la lettera in cui il cardinale Martini chiede la rimozione di Marcinkus (press report on the Casaroli papers), Press report hosted by the Archdiocese of Milan. Scholarship & press
    Ma Marcinkus, colpito da mandato di cattura per bancarotta fraudolenta dalla Procura di Milano
  4. E' morto Mennini, finanziere dello Ior dell'era Marcinkus, MilanoFinanza. Scholarship & press
    Il 20 febbraio 1987, infine, fu colpito da un nuovo mandato di cattura, in relazione all'inchiesta avviata sull'insolvenza del Banco ambrosiano.
    Nel mese di luglio dello stesso anno, la Corte di cassazione annullò i mandati di arresto, convenendo con quanto sostenuto sia dal tribunale vaticano che dai legali degli imputati riguardo al difetto di giurisdizione della magistratura italiana.
    La Corte respinse la richiesta, giudicandola tardiva, ma evitò di pronunciarsi nel merito.
  5. Italy: The Great Vatican Bank Mystery (8 pages), TIME, 13 Sep 1982. Scholarship & press Archived copy
    Last year John Paul II gave Marcinkus the task of running Vatican City's administration
    Paul VI put him in charge of the Vatican bank in 1969.
    Marcinkus has remained inside the Vatican, where he cannot be questioned by the government.
    Marcinkus did not sign the letters, but he has taken full responsibility for them.
    In 1971, Sindona introduced Calvi to Marcinkus.
    Although the Vatican bank denies it had much to do with either Sindona or Calvi
    A few months after Sindona and Calvi set up the Bahamian bank in 1971, a "Mr. Paul Marcinkus" was listed as a director.
    Vatican officials flatly deny that the I.O.R. ever helped transfer funds abroad for Italians.
    Archbishop Marcinkus and his two principal lay assistants, Managing Director Luigi Mennini, 71, and Chief Accountant Pellegrino de Strobel, 70, are under investigation by Italian authorities in connection with the possibly fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano.
    Marcinkus' defense is that he was newly reconfirmed as president of Banco Ambrosiano, and the bank's balance sheet was approved at the end of 1981 by the Bank of Italy.
    So far no one has openly accused Marcinkus of any illegal acts.
  6. God's Godfather (review), London Review of Books, 6 Oct 1983. Scholarship & press Archived copy
    as President of the Vatican Bank since 1971
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