The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia (4 page)

It is a divinely revealed dogma that the Roman Pontiff, when he
speaks ex cathedra ["from the chair" of St. Peter], that is, when
acting in the office of shepherd and teacher of all Christians, he
defines, by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, a doctrine concerning faith and morals to be held by the universal Church, possesses through the divine assistance promised to him in the person
of Blessed Peter, the infallibility with which the divine Redeemer
willed His Church to be endowed in defining the doctrine concerning faith and morals; and that such definitions of the Roman
Pontiff are therefore irreformable of themselves, not because of the
consent of the Church."

On August 19, 1870, national troops of the united Italy took
possession of the patrimony of St. Peter, the Roman province itself.
Pio Nono, who held himself above reproach and correction, was left
governor of a proverbial postage stamp-480,000 square meters on
and around Vatican Hill. Stripped of his earthly holdings, the pope
shut himself within the apostolic palace and refused to appear, even
to bless his people.

After Pio Nono died on February 7, 1878, his corpse was transported from its provisional resting place in St. Peter's Cathedral to a
permanent tomb at San Lorenzo. When the funeral procession
reached the Tiber, a gang of anticlerical Romans threatened to
throw the Holy Father's remains in the river. Only the arrival of a
contingent of the Roman militia saved the body of Pio from this
final insult.16

The languid and seemingly emaciated Leo XIII (Gioacchino Vincenzo Pecci), known among American bishops as "bag of bones," attempted to recover the Papal States and the temporal power of the
Holy See by forbidding Catholics from participating in elections in
the new Italian state and by censuring the "American" concept of
separation between church and state.

With the loss of land came the loss of taxation. By 1900 the
annual budget of the Vatican was slightly less than $4 million and Leo
XIII was struggling to make ends meet.17

In the tradition of the two previous pontiffs, Pius X (Giuseppe
Sarto) imparted the papal blessing from the internal balcony of St.
Peter's, when he ascended to office in 1903. This was a gesture to
show that the pope remained a "prisoner" of the Italian government.

Pius X, in an effort to foment Catholic solidarity, issued a
decree-Sacrorum antistitum-forcing all Catholic priests to take an
oath against "modernism," still called "Americanism" by the Vatican,
a movement which represented "the synthesis of all heresies." The
oath required clerics to affirm that the existence of God can be
known and approved by reason; that miracles and prophecies are certain signs of revelation; that the Roman Catholic Church as an institution was founded by Jesus Christ; that there is a constant deposit
of faith in the Catholic tradition so that dogmas cannot change in
meaning from generation to generation; and that faith consists of an
assent of the will to things revealed by God.18

When he died at the outbreak of World War I, Pius X left instructions that his body should not be drained of blood and embalmed. This
had dire consequences for his remains and the remains of future popes
(Pius XII's nose fell off; John Paul I's face turned green; and Paul VI's
ears became black).19 Only Ratti himself would be embalmed, and this
procedure would take place under mysterious circumstances.

Decay was setting into the Roman Church-literally as well as
figuratively. Benedict XV (Giacomo della Chiesa; pope from
1914-1922) seemed to personify the situation within the Vatican by
his physical appearance. He had only one eye and one ear because of
a childhood accident. He appeared as a twisted figure with one
shoulder sharply higher than the other. His sinister appearance was
enhanced by the fact that he was impishly short, extremely thin, with
a bluish complexion and thin purple lips, and that he-in the manner of Richard III-walked with a "halting limp." The pope's detractors
called him by his nickname "Picoletto" ("tiny one").20

By 1919 expenses were outrunning income, and the Vatican was
forced to rely on its financial reserves. Benedict XV invested almost
all of the reserves in the once very profitable securities of the
Ottoman Empire. But with the empire about to dissolve, the securities lost much of their value.

The situation was becoming dire. Benedict XV could not live in
seclusion in the manner of his immediate predecessors. More than
half a million Italians had died in World War I, and the people were
turning to the Communist Party for solutions to their economic
woes. The pope himself, at first, had become somewhat enamored
with the movement and praised the Russian revolution as a "triumph
over tyranny."21 But Communism now posed a threat not only to the
parliamentary government of Italy but also to the Holy See. The platforms of the Communists called for the relinquishment of private
party, the redistribution of wealth, and the rejection of the teachings
of the Church (including the dogma of papal infallibility) that
"enslaved the people to intolerable socio-economic conditions." By
1919 bishops and priests were jailed and murdered throughout
Russia, churches were sacked and transformed into atheist museums,
and the Communist press began to vilify the Orthodox and Roman
Catholic teachings.22

In an effort to ward off the "Red Menace," the Vatican formed
the Catholic Populist Party in 1919. In a matter of months it became
the second largest political party in Italy, and the voice of the Church
was once again heard in corridors of power.

But the threat of Communism persisted among factory workers
who called for shutdowns of assembly lines, peasants who refused to
harvest the crops of the padrones, and revolutionaries who invaded
churches to deliver political harangues from pulpits. The Church had
become so weak and ineffectual that it could not safeguard its own
sanctuaries from the forces that advanced godlessness.

In January 1922, when Benedict XV died, the annual budget was
cut back to $1 million. To meet expenses, the Church was forced to
secure loans, mostly from German banks.23

But Ratti, upon becoming Pius XI, was determined to change
things. He appeared on the loggia above St. Peter's Square and gave
the people the solemn urbi et orbi ("to the city and the world")
blessing. It was an indication that he was resolved to end the papal exile
and to restore the Roman Catholic Church to a place of prominence in
worldly affairs. The crowd that had gathered cried out: "Viva Pio
Undicesimo! Viva Italia!" ("Long Live Pius XI!" "Long Live Italy!")24

The new pope immediately addressed the "Roman question"the fact that the Vatican received no payment for the temporalities
seized by the Italian government. He petitioned Parliament for reparation. He appealed to King Victor Emmanuel in the Quirinale
Palace. He made telephone calls to the king's ADC General Cittadini.
All this was to no avail. Italy, like the Holy Mother Church, was in
dire financial straits. The country had the highest birth rate in
Europe, and the Italian people, for the most part, lived in appalling
poverty. The inflation rate was second only to that of Germany.
Strikes were taking place on a regular basis. And public services were
breaking down.

But amidst the misery, the new pope saw the signs of a dawning
of a new day. Benito Mussolini was galvanizing the Italian masses
with his quasi-operatic orations in meeting halls and marketplaces
and with his call for a complete reform of the existing risorgimento
("regime"). "Our program is simple," Mussolini said. "We wish to
govern Italy."25

To demonstrate this intent, Mussolini unleashed his "action
squads" against the Communists throughout the Po Valley. In town
after town, every socialist cases del popolo ("home for the people") was
torched, and local prefects, who attempted to summon the local
police against the fascist condottieri (storm troopers), were forced to
resign from office.26

The Communists responded to this outbreak of violence by
calling for a general strike, but the strike was a disastrous failure that
only served to strengthen Mussolini's position. Clearly, the Fascist
leader was a force to be reckoned with. Unlike the leaders of the ineffectual Catholic Populist Party, Mussolini was a man of action-a man
who could crush the Red Menace under the boots of his Blackshirts.

But there was a problem. Mussolini was not a devout son of Holy
Mother Church. Far from it, in 1910 he published an inflammatory
pamphlet called God Does Not Exist and a sensational novel entitled The
Cardinal's Mistress. To display his contempt for traditional Catholic
values, Il Duce lived in common law with Donna Rachele, a former
Marxist, who bore him several children. Mussolini refused to subject
his children to the rite of baptism, shunned participation in liturgical
services, and boasted in public speeches of his 136 mistresses.27

But there had been a softening in Il Duce's view of the Church.
He came to realize that Catholicism could be used to solidify his own
political position. In 1920 the Fascist leader said, "I think Catholicism could be used as one of our strongest national forces for the
expression of our Italian identity in the world."28

The Catholic Populist Party, under Don Luigi Sturzo, sought to
prevent Mussolini from seizing power by forging an alliance with the
Socialists. Rank-and-file party members met with the Catholic clergy
to gain support for the proposed coalition. Rallies were held in parish
halls from Genoa to Naples, with the 107 deputies of the Catholic
Party pledging to oppose the creation of a Fascist state.

To address this development, Mussolini, with an olive branch
between his teeth, appeared before Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, the Vatican secretary of state. In the wake of this meeting, the Vatican issued
a circular letter to the Italian hierarchy, ordering the clergy not to
identify themselves with the Catholic Populist Party and to remain
neutral in political affairs.29 The order, dated October 2, 1922,
seemed incredible to faithful party members. Holy Mother Church,
it seemed, was abandoning its own sheep before a political wolf.

Two weeks later, on October 16, 1922, Mussolini led a march of
40,000 Blackshirts on Rome. Over 100,000 citizens took to the
streets to show their support for the Fascists. Old King Emmanuel, the
remaining regent of Italy, was so shaken by the sight that he immediately granted the Fascists the right to create a new government.

Overnight, Mussolini took over the ministries of the interior, of
foreign affairs, of the colonies, of corporations, of the armies, and of
public works. Within months the economic conditions improved
with a sharp increase in industrial productivity and a dramatic decrease in inflation. The strikes and shutdowns came to an end. The
Communists were silenced. The corrupt members of Parliament were
ousted from office. And the trains ran on time. "Catholicism," the
new dictator proclaimed, "is a great spiritual and moral power and I
trust that relations between the Italian State and the Vatican from
now on will be very friendly."30

To display his friendliness to the Church, Mussolini outlawed
freemasonry in Italy, allocated state fiends to help the nearly bankrupt
Church institutions, and exempted the Catholic clergy from taxation.
The Vatican responded promptly. On June 9, 1923, the leaders of the
Catholic Populist Party, including Sturzo, received a preemptory
order to disband from the Vatican. When several members refused to
acquiesce to this demand, the pope threatened them with excommunication and ordered all members of the clergy who supported the
Catholic Populist Party to resign.

In 1925, which Pius XI proclaimed a Holy Year, Mussolini began
to espouse his formula for the Fascist state: "Everything within the
state; nothing against the state; nothing outside the state." He saw
the Fascist state as a force that should control all aspects of lifemoral, political, and economic-within Italy. Indeed, he defined Fascism as "organized, concentrated, authoritarian democracy on a
national basis."31

But for the realization of this Fascist utopia, II Duce had to show
that he also controlled the support of the people. He saw himself as
a national rather than a party leader. In his meetings with foreign officials, Mussolini maintained that he governed by "consent" rather
than "force." In order to establish proof of his public mandate, he
called for a "national plebiscite" so the Italian people, once and for
all, could choose between the old parliamentary form of government
and the new Fascist state.

For any semblance of a great victory at the polls, Mussolini
needed the support of the Vatican. The vast majority of the populace
was fiercely devoted to the Church and obeyed the pope's pronouncements (as evidenced by their refusal to practice birth control).
Any questions from the Church about II Duce's purported atheism,
his moral integrity, and his early anticlericalism would result in a dem ocratic victory and an enormous setback for the man who envisioned
himself as a new Caesar.

To win the favor of the Holy See, the dictator had his marriage to
Donna Rachele sanctified by a Catholic priest. He began to attend mass
on feast days and holy days of obligation. He insisted that his children
receive the sacrament of baptism and swore as a God-fearing parent "to
renounce Satan and all his works." As further proof of his faith, Mussolini proposed a tax on childless couples, proscribed severe punishment for adultery, and made infliction with syphilis a crime. He also
ranted and railed against short skirts and revealing bathing suits and
called for all good Italians to abandon the "negro dances" imported
from the United States.32 His about-face was so complete that he
proudly announced to the people on several occasions the famous
dictum of Pope Gregory VII: "Whoever touches the pope must die."33

At last, Mussolini contacted Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, the Vatican's secretary of state, and expressed his desire to give a generous
gift to Holy Mother Church in reparation for the loss of the Papal
States. Pius XI disliked and mistrusted Mussolini. He saw through
the dictator's mask of piety and his charade as a devout son of the
Church. In private he often referred to the dictator as "the devil's
son."34 But now he gave in to the third and most terrible temptation.
He had to bow before the will of Il Duce and sanctify the Fascist state
for the sake of the world and all its riches. Christ could reject such an
offer but not his vicar. Such rejection would spell ruin. The pope had
just received the findings of an audit from the Cardinalitial Commission that had worked with the Apostolic Camera to assess the immediate financial situation of the Church.