American Prelate, Vatican Financial Head. His eighteen year stewardship of the Vatican Bank controlled by the Rothschilds did enormous harm to the reputation of the Catholic Church which was fully aware that Marcinkus never should have been in charge to begin with due to his lack of education.He himself even admitted he was not qualified for the job. By this he made the perfect cover and became the fall guy for the mafia. Banco Ambrosiano was the largest private mafia controlled bank in Italy which had close ties to the Vatican. The head of Banco Ambrosiano funneled more than one billion dollars into dummy accounts set up in various foreign countries, which could very well have been undetectable by Marcinkus. Its Chairman, Roberto Calvi, was found hanging from a bridge in London., all signs pointed to a mafia hit for his part of which the extent of all the troubles is unknown. Investigation found Mafia connections although his death was ruled a suicide. Which is mafia accusing mafia of being mafia. Ironic as this was it was quite common as the real players keep themselves in secrecy and always use a fall guy. The multi-billion dollar financial collapse was placed directly on Archbishop Paul Marcinkus who stated from the beginning he was to uneducated to qualify for the position. Which made him perfect. So beautifully set in place. Arrest warrants were issued by the Italian government charging accessory to fraudulent bankruptcy. He was an Archbishop of the Vatican which gives one immunity so no arrest was made and he refused to answer questions citing diplomatic immunity knowing full well if they hauled him in for questioning they would and could falsely arrest him. Make no mistake, the government was corrupt then as well. The Archbishop until his death denied wrongdoing, many misconceptions of him abounded. All proving to be false. All this malfeasance of others put a vast dent in the Vatican treasury which had gone on for eons and still is. The churches role was never officially determined but the Vatican denying involvement, paid $240 million dollars to creditors of the Ambrosiano bank. They tried to make good and that should be a good indicator that Paul Casimir Marcinkus was definitely being railroaded by the bad ones. He was born in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, the youngest of five children born to very poor Lithuanian immigrants, his father a window washer. He studied for the priesthood at Quigley Preparatory Seminary and finished at St Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois leading to ordination in 1947. He briefly was an assistant priest at a Chicago parish, St Christina's on the South side of Chicago before heading to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was on a temporary holiday relief job at the Vatican Secretariat of State and because he saved the life of the Pope, it turned into a permanent job. He would go on to serve a 30 year stint in the Curia of the church which led to becoming secretary of the Institute for Religious Works in 1969 and then president of the Vatican bank in 1971. His appointment was strictly political, based on his friendship from saving Pope Paul VI 's life as he had absolutely no banking expertise. His native English not withstanding, the Archbishop was fluent in Italian, French, Spanish and Lithuanian and this made him very skillful in organizing papal trips abroad. After the banking scandal, he largely led a quiet life living in the Vatican while avoiding comment and arrest. The Italian court eventually ruled he indeed had diplomatic immunity. Leaving the Vatican in 1990, he retired choosing to live in a gated golf course retirement community in Sun City, Arizona were his sister resided. He continued to serve the Phoenix Archdiocese with priestly duties. The people of St. Christina's parish never forgot this kind and gentle priest and still kept in touch with him. He visited with them every chance he got. The stories of him being an unusual chain smoker as he simultaneously smoked a pipe along with a cigarette is ridiculous as many of the slights against him were. He suffered from severe emphysema as any smoker would and was found dead in his modest residence at age 84., an unusual age to get to if he did indeed have severe emphysema. A memorial mass was held at St. Clement of Rome Catholic Church in Sun City, Arizona where he said mass several times a week before his death. His remains were transferred to Chicago for final disposition. A visitation and mass were celebrated at Holy Name Cathedral by Cardinal Francis George with interment beside his parents and parishioners of St Christinas who loved him, at St. Casimir Cemetery, the burial place of Catholic Lithuanians in Chicago. Legacy...because of his immense size, which is a typical Lithuanian stature (many play basketball because of their height) over six feet tall, with athletic abilities proficient in tennis and golf, the Archbishop often acted as a body guard during papal trip to various countries and was a familiar sight accompanying the Pope. He was instrumental in saving the live of Paul VI and putting his own life in danger when a deranged Bolivian painter lunged at him from a reception line with a knife at the Manila airport during a visit to the Philippines in 1970. During the struggle, he was disarmed and held for authorities by Archbishop Marcinkus. Although blood was visible on the tunic of the Pope, Vatican authorities denied any injury. Marcinkus was viciously portrayed by Rutgers Hauler in an Italian film, called "IL Blancher I Do, released in 2002. A book published in 1984, "In God's Name," by David Yallop, explored the unfounded guilt of the Archbishop and determined in his own mind that he was a criminal who should have served a long prison term for financial crimes. In a bit of trivia...He was nicknamed the "Gorilla" because of his burley, physical appearance, not uncommon though for a Lithuanian as they are very tall people and to the Italians they indeed would appear massive.