God's Banker

One more 'Vatican related' postscript to add.

Unfortunately with all the furore over the conclave and subsequent appointment of Pope Benedict, there was one story the world's media unfortunately didn't have space for last week.

Four people have been indicted by Italian police over the killing of Italian banker Roberto Calvi. Calvi's body was found hanging from Blackfriar's Bridge in 1982. His pockets were weighed down with bricks and $14000 cash. His close ties to the Vatican earned him the epitaph "God's banker"; unfortunately he was also believed to have ties to the mafia and the powerful P2 masonic lodge. The first inquest came to the laughable conclusion that he had killed himself (which would have required acrobatics hard for a fit man to perform let alone an overweight 62 year old)...the investigation was re-opened by City of London police and their Italian counterparts last September after the suicide-inquest verdict was overturned.

The four accused are believed to have mafia ties and the accepted wisdom among investigators is that Calvi, who before his death was the Chairman of Vatican controlled Banco Ambrosiano, was killed for pocketing money the Sicilian mafia and the Camorra (Italy's 2 major Mafia families) had asked him to launder and for fear that he might reveal the extent of mob involvement in Italy's religious and political establishment. The full criminal trial is expected to begin in October (although Italian courts are not the fastest of institutions).

A trial exposing Mafia money laundering at the heart of the Vatican's finances...not exactly what the newly ordained Pope Benedict is going to want as a curtain raiser to his Papacy. Let's hope his reputation for efficient management of dissent extends to the Italian judiciary !

Click here for the BBC coverage of the story.