The Octopus at the Vatican

# 3 - Castel Gondolfo

December 1974

Pope Paul VI was sunbathing under a big white wide-brimmed hat. There was hardly a sound, just a few birds singing and a helicopter in the distance. The last year hadn't been good. Oil prices had tripled. The Dow Jones had dropped by more than half. Sindona was bankrupt and on the run. France was legalizing abortion.

An empty coffee cup and yesterday's newspaper opened on page 13 stood on the coffee table next to the deckchair.

Corriere della Sera — In Switzerland, the body of a manager for Banco di Roma for Switzerland was found on the Lugano — Chiasso railway line. It could be a suicide as a letter to his wife was found in his pocket. This tragedy could be linked to the bank's enormous losses; half of the bank is owned by IOR and the other half by Banco di Roma.

I'm only the temporary trustee of Saint Peter's crown, Paul VI thought, the Church will outlast me, it's already gone through so much. Today's troubles can hardly touch it. Everything will be forgotten in a few years' time. But how will I stay in people's hearts? I'm the best traveled Pope. I was proud of it. But is this enough to be a great pope?

He went indoors where Father Macchi was waiting for him. He asked him for his advice on Sindona's fall.

"Well, he had too much leverage", answered Macchi.

Paul VI raised a questioning brow.

"Too many debts, not solid enough assets. When the price of wild investments falls and the debts don't move, it's bankruptcy."

"Can't one just wait for the markets to recover?"

"No. A snowball effect unleashes. The creditors also want their money back because they need to fill the gaps, too. And even if they have no gap to fill, they demand to be paid because they fear they won't be. Justifiably. See for yourself, Sindona Group blew up in mid-flight."

"Thank you Macchi. Blindingly clear. On a similar subject, the funds used by Sindona and still used by Marcinkus and Calvi could not be that clean. What are your thoughts?"

"Well, Holy Father, what is clean in finance? It is not a squeaky-clean activity in itself. Try to limit the damage, yes. But from there to throw out the baby with the bathwater."

"I'm reassured. Could you help me with remedial measures? Like verifying the . . . beverage . . . what do you call them?"

"Leverages, Holy Father. Sindona's crash is a warning shot. The lure of excessive profit leads to leverage abuse. Rules have to be set for the congregations who manage the Church's money. And competent controllers chosen. The management tools have become too sophisticated for the external auditors. They don't understand what they've come to inspect. Or when they do, it's too late."

"Should we appoint qualified controllers?"

"Yes, Your Holiness."

But his Holiness was already elsewhere. Macchi felt it and kept quiet.

Pope Paul was thinking, these money matters are secondary compared to other stakes. Just let Marcinkus, Calvi and their ilk get on with it. Each to his own sector. Mine are spirituality and politics, deeply intertwined. In 1939, Pie XII didn't fight the antichrist. In those days it was embodied in Nazism and Fascism. Today, I must be careful not to make the same mistake again. The devil is with the soviets, the gulag, the communists' attempt to control the world. I must fight the devil, the rest hardly matters. I'm not going to talk about this to Macchi or anyone else, but I finally understood that Sindona, Calvi, Marcinkus and company were in bed with the Octopus. Though one can never be sure in that area. Only with the tip of its tentacles? I even wonder if Andreotti himself isn't involved.

He drove his suspicion out, those rumors are only KGB fake news. To unsettle us.

Father Macchi, who had a rather sharper understanding of the papal thought, was thinking:

He knows, but doesn't want to deal with it. He understands the financial dealings and is not looking. He's more political than ethical. He's carrying on with what he did under Pie XII; he was a strong political element in the Curia at that time. Like Pie XII, he's a very Italian pope, de facto chief of Christian Democracy. Deep down, he's keeping the balance between the red menace and the mafia peril. So, he compromises with the latter to fight the first. The mafia is Italian, which means patriots to him; practicing Catholics who can get absolution after confession; anticommunists, so anti-Russian; maybe even underhandedly supported by the CIA; close to the right wing of Christian Democracy, the good one, Andreotti's Christian Democracy; and willing to become prosperous. A lot of common ground between Cosa Nostra and the Church. The pope must be saying to himself, 'the mafia is certainly rough, but you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.'