It’s one of the most famous and historical religious sites in the world. What secrets does the Vatican really have? Jamie Theakston’s Forbidden History s4e2, Yesterday 2017
Vatican Accused Over Mafia Links. ibid. The Daily Times headline
The most controversial pope of modern times was Pius XII who took over in 1939 and was labelled Hitler’s Pope. ibid.
‘This is an evil empire.’ ibid. Lynn Picknett
The story of an Italian banker: for a while he had the Midas touch; he masterminded a financial empire. It enriched fascists and priests. Bankers and swindlers. When it all crashed, the scandal reached even to the inner sanctum of the Catholic church. Tonight: the story of the man called God’s Banker. Panorama: God’s Banker ***** BBC 1983
Calvi’s Italian bank was in big trouble. ibid.
It’s a puzzle to which we have some of the pieces … Power, politics and the Catholic church … The investigation was triggered by the death of Roberto Calvi. ibid.
Calvi was inducted into an illegal cell of Italian Freemasons … ibid.
It was the Vatican’s cash assets Calvi helped to manage. ibid.
This is the headquarters of Calvi’s bank in Nassau. [Archbishop] Marcinkus was a director of the bank: very unusual for an Archbishop. ibid.
Gelli was also the Grandmaster of an illegal ultra-secret political society of Italian Freemasons. In the 1970s he inducted almost a thousand of Italy’s most powerful men in clandestine rituals here in Rome’s Excelsior Hotel. Gelli created an organisation of the radical right, a state within a state, taking in government ministers, generals, heads of corporations and major banks like Calvi. Even the head of the Italian secret service. They called themselves Propaganda Due, and when they were uncovered in March 1981 the scandal brought down the Italian government. ibid.
Gelli persuaded Calvi to to buy 40% of Italy’s largest and most prestigious newspaper the Corriere Della Sera. ibid.
Calvi invested heavily in extreme right-wing anti-communist newspapers in Uruguay and Argentina. Gelli’s closest contact in South America was the Argentinian dictator Juan Peron. ibid.
P2 and the ultimately respectable but also secretive Vatican were using Calvi’s bank to move money for political purposes. P2 was exposed in March 1981. ibid.
Italian authorities became suspicious of Calvi’s deals on the Milan stock exchange. ibid.
Too much was becoming public and Calvi began to fear for his life. ibid.
We don’t know why Calvi was taken to London. ibid.
A year ago when the cardinals descended on Rome to elect a new pope they all understood what was at stake. This was one of the shortest conclaves ever. On the evening of the next day white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine chapel confirmed that 1.2 billion Catholics had a new pope. Frontline: Secrets of the Vatican, PBS 2014
He knew a lot about filth in the Church. For 24 years as prefect of the congregation of the doctrine of the faith Cardinal Ratzinger had been responsible for matters of theology and discipline; many serious cases of priestly abuse crossed his desk. ibid.
He [Ratzinger] was in a bind: Jean-Paul’s public celebration of [Father Marcial] Maciel made it very difficult for him to take action, and all the while Maciel’s activities went unchecked. ibid.
So when the clergy’s sexual abuse scandal exploded into an international crisis on his watch, Pope Benedict seemed unable to take charge. ibid.
Benedict was leaving behind him a Church in crisis. ibid.
‘The view is amazing. It’s true.’ Inside the Vatican s1e1, inside the Pope’s quarters, BBC 2019
This is the Vatican as it’s never been seen before. From the lives of the highest ranking officials to the men and women working every day to keep this unique city-state running. ibid.
In its attempts to reform, the Catholic Church has faced some of its biggest challenges for a generation. ibid.
For centuries Pope have lived in the Apostolic palace. ibid.
They prepare to welcome ambassadors from around the world … The Vatican is one of the world’s oldest diplomatic institutions. ibid.
The Catholic world’s biggest theatre of faith. ibid.
Not everyone is as impressed by the new informality. Inside the Vatican s1e2: Cleaning the Sphinx
2,600 people work inside the Vatican. They’ve had to adapt to this individual pope’s management style. ibid.
The Vatican has its own football league. ibid.
‘What sort of world do we want to pass on to those who will come after us?’ ibid. pope
Church attendance is falling sharply. ibid.
July 2019: The Vatican has opened up two tombs inside a tiny cemetery in the hopes of solving a 36-year-old disappearance of a teenage girl. Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi I, TV news, Netflix 2022
Many Italians remain convinced there is a cover-up going on. ibid.
A man had approached her outside school saying he represented Avon. He offered her a small job handing out leaflets and advertising Avon’s cosmetics line. ibid. woman
We suddenly realised this girl was a Vatican girl. ibid. reporter
The secret service was at our house. ibid. Family
No-one could ignore the posters. Not even the Vatican. ibid. reporter
The pope was talking [from balcony] about Emanuela. ibid.
Two days after the Pope’s appeal we got another call. On the other end of the line was the voice of a man who is Italian with a foreign accent. I remember my uncle said it’s a foreigner, sounds American. ibid. Family
‘Don’t worry. Officials will be in contact very soon.’ ibid. phone call from ‘the American’
The family waiting for something which never came. Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi II, reporter
Suddenly, after the pope dies a new witness emerges. ibid.
Sabrina Minardi, ex-lover of crime boss Enrico de Pedis, has confessed that she herself held Emanuela hostage in an apartment in the centre of Rome. ibid. news
Roberto Calvi could be directly connected with the kidnapping of of Emanuela [Orlandi]. It seems that the two crimes were carried out by the same people, the Mafia. The same target, the Vatican, and the same message, Give back our money. ibid. reporter
We have this Vatican girl in our hands. So give us our money back. ibid.
You have to understand the significance of this: since Emanuela disappeared thirty years before there was not a single piece of evidence related to her. This which seems to be Emanuela’s flute, the most famous symbol of this Vatican girl. Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi III, reporter
A second girl whose name is Mirella Gregori. ibid.
There was no trace of DNA [on the flute] ibid. expert
So many Italians remain profoundly convinced there’s still a cover-up going on. Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi IV, US TV news
Pope Benedict: ‘Emanuela is in Heaven’. ibid. investigator
Then she was taken secretly to another country – to England. Taken to what was probably a Catholic environment. ibid.
That tip-off said she was buried just a few hundred metres from their home. ibid. Vatican lawyer
Finally these tombs were being opened. ibid.
The tombs are empty. ibid. Vatican press
For what reason did the Vatican do this … Why was Emanuela Orlandi kidnapped? Why her specifically? ibid. reporter
A cardinal had ‘bothered’ her.
A sexual secret like this one … or there’s the theory that it’s about financial scandals, the Vatican bank and the Mafia … or maybe the Soviet Union was behind the disappearance … ibid.
The Gestapo has been ordered to seize and execute 310 hostages. Play for Today: A Choice of Evils by Jim Allen, BBC 1977
Any intervention on our part would cause the Germans to re-examine their attitude to us and threaten the territorial rights of the Vatican. ibid. Papal intermediary to Cardinal Volponi