>>And so one of the most notorious figures in the history of the Catholic Church remains shrouded in secrecy.
>>Archbishop Paul Marcinkus was president of the Vatican Bank from 1971 to 1989.
>>He was considered by many to be the second most powerful man in the church.
>>He arguably held the most power in the Catholic Church of any American in the history of the church.<<
And now he lives quietly in peace, while his erstwhile local bishop, Thomas O'Brien, is under investigation for hit-and-run manslaughter! Why is Marcinkus immune and O'Brien is not? What kind of power does Marcinkus hold over the heads of the popes?
One pingy-dingy...
O'Brien was convicted of hit and run, and sentenced to 1000 hours of community service last year; he has been replaced with Bishop Thomas Olmsted who is a good and conservative bishop.
I don't know anything about the money guy you were talking about, but I feel like I just went through a time warp.
I wouldn't take too seriously the fact that Italian judges went after Marcinkus. It is pretty well known that Italian judges are a way-out-of-control bunch. They have gone after all sorts of people, including Berlusconi. There are no checks and balances in Italy, and the judges are all-powerful. I think the view of sober people is that Marcinkus was naive and incompetent and in over his head. There was a huge and complex financial scandal that involved vast sums of money and a sensational suicide. However, the Vatican Bank was only involved in a peripheral way, and there is no evidence that Marcinkus knowingly did anything wrong. Obviously Pope John Paul II was convinced of his innocence, because he didn't hand him over to the Italians.
The Vatican paid an enormous fine, while adamantly insisting upon their complete innocence. Never was there a better example of the importance of the need for the temporal independence of the Vatican. It prevented them from being persecuted by a bunch of left-wing conspiracy-mad nuts.
Marcinkus is "guilty" the way Bolton, Clarance Thomas, Senator Tower, Judge Bork, etc. etc. etc. were guilty.
A bad one whether it be earthly or beyond. Since Pope Benedict wants to stay alive for a few years so I think he'll defer to the Holy Ghost to render judgement on that fateful day.