The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia (16 page)

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him
in his own words. They sent their disciples to him along
with the Herodians. "Teacher, " they said, "we know you
are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of
God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed
by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.
Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay
taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus, knowing their evil
intent, said: "You hypocrites, why are you trying to
trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax."
They brought him a denarius and he asked them,
"Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?'
"Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to
Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

Matt. 22:15-21

ope John XXIII died of an inoperable carcinoma in 1963, after
_ having taken due precautions to prevent the Holy Office from
falling into the hands of reactionaries. He had stacked the college of
cardinals with progressives who now called for "collegiality"-a
sharing of ecclesiastical authority between the bishops and the
pope-and had groomed Giovanni Montini, the archbishop of
Milan, as his successor.

Montini appeared to be anything but a radical. He was mild-mannered, considerate, gentle, and exceptionally diligent in his duties.
Upon assuming the papal throne as Pope Paul VI, he traveled
throughout the world, often delivering nine speeches a day, and
receiving more than one million visitors a year. He was accessible to
everyone, including the press, and even answered questions about his
sexuality by candidly telling a reporter that he was not a homosexual.

But when John's death was announced, the thought of Montini
as the next pope filled the old guard, not to mention the U.S. State
Department, with horror. During the Eisenhower administration,
Alan Dulles, the head of the CIA and brother of Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles, had accumulated a thick file on Montini that was
marked with two colors, red and black, to indicate that he was a
Marxist sympathizer who posed a threat to the balance of power.'
The file showed that Montini, while serving as the papal undersecretary, had sent a furtive dispatch to Joseph Stalin. The contents of the
dispatch were never disclosed and no one knew if Montini was acting
at the express wish of Pius XII, but the contact with the Soviet dictator made him the subject of special concern to U.S. officials.2 The
concern intensified after Stalin's death when Montini, on his own initiative, sent a letter to Chairman Mao Tse Tung of Red China that
was returned unopened.

There had been other incidents regarding Montini, including his support of Communist forces in Spain in 1938 and rumors of his warning
Kremlin officials about Hitler's planned invasion of Russia in 1941.3

Montini's political leanings eventually led to his dismissal from
the Vatican in 1954 and his "exile" in Milan, where he served as archbishop with no opportunity to interfere in Vatican affairs or to obtain elevation to the college of cardinals. But the pink pope had changed
all that. He had recalled the "exile" and had granted Montini the red
hat that he had been denied.

The CIA fretted over the papal election of 1963 and attempted to
advance the candidacy of Cardinal Siri, who was pro-American in outlook. An American cardinal was given a tiny radio transmitter to relay the
developments within the conclave to Langley, Virginia. On June 21 the
news of Montini's election as Pope Paul VI was received at CIA headquarters before the puff of white smoke appeared from the chimney of
the Sistine Chapel. The conclave had been bugged.4

The concerns of the CIA were well founded. Paul VI (Montini)
proved to be even more radical and "progressive" than his predecessor. In his encyclical Populorum Progressio, the new pope condemned capitalism and the reliance on free trade in the world
economy by stating: "The superfluous wealth of rich countries
should be placed at the service of poor nations. The rule, which up
to now held good for the benefit of those nearest to us, must today
be applied to all the needy of the world. Besides, the rich will be the
first to benefit as a result. Otherwise, their continual greed will certainly call down upon them the judgment of God and the wrath of
the poor with consequences no one can foretell."5 He went on to
decry the profit motive and the concept of private property that
"does not constitute for anyone an absolute and unconditional
right."6 Upon its issuance, the Wall Street journal dismissed the papal
document as "warmed-over Marxism."7 Some thought the encyclical
smacked of hypocrisy. If "the superfluous wealth of the rich nations
should be placed at the service of poor nations," what of the superfluous wealth of the Church? What of the untold millions that were
locked away within the vault of the Vatican Bank?

Paul VI's actions were even more troubling than his words. He
favored Fidel Castro's Cuba and gave free rein to Marxist bishops,
priests, and nuns in America, Europe, and Africa. At the same time,
he refused to utter a word of protest over the persecution of
Lithuanian Catholics by the Soviets; the suppression of the faith in
Hungary, Romania, and Czechoslovakia; and the treatment of political prisoners in Cuba.

As an advocate of Communism, Paul VI spoke of the Church no
longer as the "Kingdom of God" but as the "People of God." This
new definition implied that the Roman Catholic Church was no
longer the "one true Church of Jesus Christ." It sanctioned the concept of religious pluralism and the abstention from all proselytism
and all missionary activity. It gave rise to the notion that people can
decide for themselves what to believe and how to believe. The role of
the Church, as "the People of God," was simply to minister to their
social needs and physical wants.

Yet Paul VI was not a revolutionary like his predecessor, who had
made swift decisions and called for immediate change. The new pope
deliberated over matters for days and often failed to take decisive action.
This was true of his handling of the theological crisis in Germany and
the strife in the Middle East. His lack of resolve made him unusual as a
pope. Vatican officials began to speak of him as "Hamletic."7

Often the pope appeared contradictory in ideology. Despite his
espousal of a People's Church and his support of leftist causes, Paul VI
retained an imperialistic view of the Holy Office. He refused to reform
the Curia by repealing the 1917 Code of Canon Law that upheld the
centralization of all ecclesiastical power in the papacy. For this reason,
the movement for collegiality came to a screaming halt. Vatican
observers couldn't understand how the Holy Father could be so progressive in matters of politics but so intransigent in matters of polity.

This intransigence came to the fore with his issuance of
Humanae Vitae in 1968. In preparation of the encyclical, the pope
consulted with no one-not even the members of a committee who
had been appointed by John XXIII to study the question of birth
control. He decided alone, as if the Second Vatican Council had
never taken place. Humanae Vitae condemned not only abortion and
sterilization but "any action, which either before, or at the moment
of, or after sexual intercourse is specifically intended to prevent procreation-whether as an end or as a means."

The pope was unprepared for the uproar that arose from the
encyclical. In England the Guardian labeled Humanae Vitae "one of
the most fateful blunders of modern times."9 The Economist said:
"Although it will become the focus of bitter controversy, the encyclical within days of its issue is intellectually deader than a Dodo."10 Even
the Catholic weekly, the Tablet, demanded to know: "Where is the
new and deeper reflection the Church had been promised?""

All hell seemed to be let loose against him. The pope who
espoused a "People's Church," where all had an equal voice, was now
faced with bishops who wanted autonomy, nuns who wanted to be
priests, priests who wanted to marry, lay folk who wanted to administer the sacraments, theologians who claimed academic freedom, and
homosexuals and divorced people who demanded acceptance of their
status on their own terms. The new people had been let loose against
the old church and the pope had no defense against them. Increasingly, he reacted with tears.

Then came a crisis that made all the other woes of Holy Mother
Church appear as incidents of minor significance. In 1969 the Italian
government, now a coalition of Christian Democrats, Socialists, and
Communists, decided to revoke the terms of the 1929 concordat
with Mussolini that granted the Vatican tax-exempt status on its
holdings throughout Italy. The Vatican would be treated as any other
business or financial institution. The prospects made Paul VI blanch.
The amount owed in taxes was estimated to exceed $720 million.12
The Vatican was faced not simply with spiritual turmoil but also
financial ruin. The Holy Father was forced to take the measure of last
recourse. He contacted with Michele Sindona, the banker for the
Sicilian Mafia.

Paul VI became acquainted with Sindona when he had been
serving as archbishop of Milan. In 1959 he had tried to raise $2.4
million for Casa della Madonnina, a home for the elderly. Sindona
stepped forward and raised the sum in a single day. The money came
from Mafia businessmen who were anxious to establish a working
relationship with the Holy See and, strange to say, the CIA.
Regarding the involvement of U.S. intelligence in the parochial
affairs of the Roman Catholic Church, former CIA operative Victor
Marchetti revealed the following: "In the 1950s and the 1960s, the
CIA gave economic support to many activities promoted by the
Catholic Church, from orphanages to missions. Millions of dollars
each year were given to a great number of priests and monsignors. One of them was Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini. It is possible
that Cardinal Montini did not know where the money was coming
from. He may have thought that it came from friends." 13

When Sindona appeared in the pope's private study on the fourth
floor of the Apostolic Palace late one spring night in 1969, the short,
slender, and well-spoken Mafiosi wore a meticulously tailored navy
blue suit, a white shirt with gold cuff links, and a silk tie. He appeared
fresh and confident. The pope was seated in one of his satin-covered
chairs. His body was bent forward and he appeared tired and ill. The
Holy Father did not offer his hand for Michele to kiss, instead they
greeted each other with the handshake of old friends.

"There is a terrible problem," Paul VI told Sindona, referring to
the parliamentary ruling regarding the removal of the Vatican's taxexempt status. If the Vatican allowed Italy to tax its investments, the
pope explained, it would serve as a signal for other countries to
follow suit until the vast wealth of the Church became wasted away.
"No matter," he said, "is of greater importance.""

Sindona replied by proposing a strategy to move Vatican
resources out of Italy and into the profitable, tax-free Eurodollar
market by way of a network of offshore tax corporations. This move
would not only cloak the Vatican's holdings in omerta-a quality that
the Vatican cherished as much as the Mafia-but it would also
demonstrate to other countries that the Roman Catholic Church was
strong and interference with the Vatican's finances could produce
dire consequences for national economies.is The proposal represented a venture of enormous magnitude, a venture that would grant
the Sicilian financier control of the vested assets of the Special
Administration and the Vatican Bank.

Upon hearing this proposal, Pope Paul handed Sindona an
agreement he had already prepared. The agreement was even more
than the Mafiosi had hoped for or dared to suggest. It named Sindona Mercator Senesis Romanam Curiam, "the leading banker of the
Roman Curia," and granted him complete control over the Vatican's
foreign and domestic investment policy. 16 In accordance with the
terms of the agreement, Sindona would work closely with Bishop
Paul Marcinkus, the newly named president of the Vatican Bank, and Cardinal Sergio Guerri, governor of Vatican City. But these officers
remained merely his advisors. The agreement placed the Vatican's billions at Sindona's disposal.

When the Mafia chieftain turned to the last page, he looked up at
the Holy Father and smiled. The pope already had signed and sealed
the agreement. It was the highest display of trust anyone could hope
to receive from the vicar of Christ.

After Sindona signed the document, he knelt before the pope and
pressed the Fisherman's ring to his lips. Paul, in turn, bestowed a
blessing. The "reign of Satan" was about to begin.