Rutger Hauer as Vatican banker
I'm learning some interesting stuff about contemporary church history. Latest tidbit - Paul Marcinkus. He was a Chicago priest who climbed the ckerical ladder to become the president of Vatican City, and then the president of the Vatican Bank from 1971 to 1989. This from Wikipedia ....
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, financier Roberto Calvi, for a number of years). He was also involved with Michele Sindona, who had links with the Mafia.
[...]
Upon the election of Pope John Paul II, Marcinkus was promoted within the Vatican bank and remained in office for several years before the scandal widened, after the body of Calvi, whose Banco Ambrosiano had dealt with Marcinkus, was found hanging under London's Blackfriars Bridge in June 1982. The death of Calvi was seen by some as symbolic, since Propaganda Due referred to themselves as the "Black Friars." Adding to the troubles, journalist Mino Pecorelli, who had been investigating Marcinkus, the Vatican Bank and ties to organized crime, was found dead in 1979. Marcinkus himself was never charged with a crime.
Who knew that this was so out there that a movie was made of it - The Bankers of God: The Calvi Affair - and that Rutger Hauer, of Blade Runner fame, played Paul Marcinkus.
You can read more about this from the BBC - Scandal-hit Vatican banker dies
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, financier Roberto Calvi, for a number of years). He was also involved with Michele Sindona, who had links with the Mafia.
[...]
Upon the election of Pope John Paul II, Marcinkus was promoted within the Vatican bank and remained in office for several years before the scandal widened, after the body of Calvi, whose Banco Ambrosiano had dealt with Marcinkus, was found hanging under London's Blackfriars Bridge in June 1982. The death of Calvi was seen by some as symbolic, since Propaganda Due referred to themselves as the "Black Friars." Adding to the troubles, journalist Mino Pecorelli, who had been investigating Marcinkus, the Vatican Bank and ties to organized crime, was found dead in 1979. Marcinkus himself was never charged with a crime.
Who knew that this was so out there that a movie was made of it - The Bankers of God: The Calvi Affair - and that Rutger Hauer, of Blade Runner fame, played Paul Marcinkus.
You can read more about this from the BBC - Scandal-hit Vatican banker dies
posted by crystal | 3:24 PM
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