Free In God's Name by David Yallop

clear that Calvi and Sindona were highly favoured sons of the Church and were held in great esteem by Paul VI. The man Albino Luciani turned to was one who had become a close friend over the previous five years, Under-Secretary of State Monsignor Giovanni Benelli.
    Though Benelli was number two in the Secretariat of State under Cardinal Villot, to all intents and purposes he ran the department. And as Pope Paul’s troubleshooter Benelli not only knew where all the bodies were buried – he was responsible for the placement of quite a number of them.
    Benelli listened while the Patriarch of Venice told his story. Whenhe had finished the Monsignor gave his Eminence another cup of coffee as Luciani uttered a qualification.
    ‘I have not of course seen any documentary evidence.’
    ‘I have,’ responded Benelli. ‘Calvi is now the majority shareholder in the Banca Cattolica del Veneto. Marcinkus sold him 37 per cent on March 30th.’
    Benelli was a man who enjoyed reeling out facts and figures. He told the wide-eyed Luciani that Calvi had paid 27 billion lire (approximately $45 million) to Marcinkus; how the sale was the result of a scheme hatched jointly by Calvi, Sindona and Marcinkus, of a company called Pacchetti which had been purchased by Calvi from Sindona after its price had been grossly and criminally inflated on the Milan stock exchange, of how Marcinkus had assisted Calvi in masking the nature of this and other operations from the eyes of Bank of Italy officials by putting the Vatican bank facilities at the disposal of Calvi and Sindona.
    Luciani was bewildered. ‘What does all this mean?’ he asked.
    ‘Tax evasion, illegal movement of shares. I also believe that Marcinkus sold the shares in your Venice bank at a deliberately low price and Calvi paid the balance, a separate 31 billion lire deal on Credito Varesino.’
    Luciani became angry. ‘What has all this to do with the Church of the poor? In the name of God . . .’
    Benelli held up a hand to silence him. ‘No, Albino, in the name of profit.’
    ‘Does the Holy Father know these things?’
    Benelli nodded.
    ‘So?’
    ‘So you must remember who put Paul Marcinkus in charge of our bank.’
    ‘The Holy Father.’
    ‘Precisely. And I must confess I fully approved. I’ve had cause to regret that many times.’
    ‘Then what are we to do? What am I to tell my priests and bishops?’
    ‘You must tell them to be patient, to wait. Eventually Marcinkus will over-reach himself. His Achilles heel is his greed for Papal praise.’
    ‘But what does he want to do with all this money?’
    ‘He wants to make more money.’
    ‘For what purpose?’
    ‘To make more money.’
    ‘And in the meantime should my priests get out begging bowls and tramp through the Veneto?’
    ‘In the meantime you must counsel patience. I know you have it. Teach it to your priests. I’m having to apply it.’
    Albino Luciani returned to Venice and called his fellow bishops to his office. He told them some of what had transpired in Rome, enough to make it abundantly clear that the Banca Cattolica was now for ever lost to the diocese. Later some of them talked about it. They concluded that this would never have happened in the days of Cardinal Urbani. They felt that Luciani’s innate goodness had proved a useless weapon against the IOR. Most of them, including Luciani, sold what remaining shares they held in the bank to express their disapproval of the Vatican’s conduct. In Milan Roberto Calvi was gratified to note that his brokers had acquired on his behalf another small piece of the priests’ bank in Venice.
    Albino Luciani and many others in Venice closed their accounts at the Banca Cattolica. For the Patriarch of Venice to move the official diocesan accounts to the small Banco San Marco was an extraordinary step. He confided to one colleague, ‘Calvi’s money is tainted. The man is tainted. After what I have learned of Roberto Calvi I would not leave the accounts in his bank