1. Paul Casimir Marcinkus was an American Catholic prelate who served as president of the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, from 1971 to 1989.
19 Facts About Paul Marcinkus
1. 2.
Paul Marcinkus served as president of the Governorate for Vatican City State from 1989 to 1990, following eight years as vice-president.
3.
Paul Marcinkus's father worked as a window cleaner, among other occupations.
4.
Pope Paul VI appointed Marcinkus secretary of the Vatican Bank in 1968.
5.
Paul Marcinkus was named its president in 1971 at the age of 48, serving in that role until 1989.
6.
Paul Marcinkus's name had arisen and the letter come to light during the investigation of an international gangster, who eventually served 12 years in prison.
7.
In 1979, Paul 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.
8.
In 1981, Pope John Paul II promoted Marcinkus to archbishop and, in addition to his role with the Vatican Bank, made him vice-president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, in effect its governor.
9.
In July 1982, Paul 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, a Masonic Lodge, was involved.
10.
Paul 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.
11.
Paul Marcinkus was involved with Michele Sindona, who had links with the Mafia.
12.
The scandal widened, after the body of Roberto Calvi, whose Banco Ambrosiano had dealt with Paul Marcinkus, was found hanging under London's Blackfriars Bridge in June 1982.
13.
Paul Marcinkus stepped aside as head of the Vatican Bank in June 1989, with a board of laymen assuming control of the bank.
14.
Paul Marcinkus was then made president of the Governorate of Vatican City State.
15.
Paul 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.
16.
Paul Marcinkus declined to discuss his role in the Ambrosiano scandal.
17.
Paul Marcinkus died in Sun City, Arizona, aged 84, of undisclosed causes.
18.
Paul Marcinkus was played by actor Rutger Hauer in the Italian film The Bankers of God.
19.
Tom Flannery's one-man play Paul Marcinkus played in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, Pennsylvania to positive reviews.