Marcinkus Affair (1970s–80s): The Vatican Banker Who Danced With the Mafia

Archbishop Paul Marcinkus turned the Vatican Bank into a playground for mobsters, spies, and dirty money.

By: Vatican Threads

The “Godfather” in the Vatican

In the 1970s and 1980s, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, an American prelate and close aide to Pope Paul VI, ran the Vatican Bank (formally known as the Institute for Religious Works). But instead of holiness, he brought scandal. Nicknamed “The Gorilla” for his imposing size and bullying tactics, Marcinkus forged ties with Italian bankers and, according to prosecutors, opened the Vatican’s doors to mafia-connected money laundering.

By the mid-1980s, the Vatican Bank was deeply entangled in the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, Italy’s largest private bank, which left a staggering $1.3 billion black hole. Investigators found Vatican signatures, Marcinkus’ authorizations, and a money trail leading straight back to the Holy See.

Mafia, Masons, and Missing Millions

Italian prosecutors alleged that Marcinkus used the Vatican’s unique “sovereign immunity” status to funnel mafia profits, kickbacks, and slush funds through the Vatican Bank. According to The New York Times (1982), Marcinkus personally signed letters of credit worth hundreds of millions, enabling mafia financiers like Roberto Calvi to operate above Italian banking law.

The scandal widened to include Propaganda Due (P2), a secret Masonic lodge tied to the Italian deep state, military, and organized crime. Vatican money was mixed with mafia heroin profits and political bribes, all under Marcinkus’ watch.

The Death of “God’s Banker”

When Roberto Calvi, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano and known as “God’s Banker”, was found hanging under London’s Blackfriars Bridge in 1982, suspicion immediately turned to his Vatican connections. His death, staged to look like suicide, was later ruled a murder by mafia-linked groups. Calvi’s widow openly accused Marcinkus of betraying her husband, while prosecutors suggested Calvi was silenced to protect Vatican secrets.

A Vatican Above the Law

Despite warrants issued by Italian authorities, Marcinkus escaped trial thanks to Vatican immunity. The Holy See simply refused to hand him over. Instead, he lived quietly inside Vatican City, shielded from justice, until retiring to Arizona, where he played golf and gave occasional interviews.

When asked about the scandal, he infamously said:

“You can’t run a church on Hail Marys.”

That one sentence summed up the Vatican’s financial rot: faith was the façade, but money was the real god.

The Legacy of Corruption

The Marcinkus Affair left lasting damage:

• The Vatican paid $244 million in settlements to Ambrosiano’s creditors in 1984.
• It cemented the Vatican’s reputation as a safe haven for dirty money.
• It revealed how spiritual authority was weaponized to cover financial crime.

As The Guardian (2003) later wrote, Marcinkus transformed the Vatican Bank into “a sovereign laundromat for the mafia and political elites.”

A Warning Ignored

Marcinkus died in 2006, never tried, never punished. His ghost still haunts Vatican finances. His era showed the world how the Vatican could shield criminals under a cloak of holiness and how the blood of financial victims stained the robes of the so-called servants of God.