WORLD : Marcinkus Quits Vatican Service
Archbishop Paul C. Marcinkus, the burly American prelate implicated in Italy’s biggest postwar banking scandal, retired from Vatican service today.
The 68-year-old native of Cicero, Ill., said he plans to return to the United States and take up pastoral work in Chicago.
The Vatican said Pope John Paul II had accepted the resignation, after repeated requests from Marcinkus, from his post as deputy governor of the Vatican city-state.
The 6-foot-4 prelate, who acted as a bodyguard to the Pope during his early foreign travels, headed the Vatican bank, formally known as the Institute for Religious Works, for 20 years.
But in a sweeping restructuring of the scandal-tainted bank last year, the Vatican eliminated Marcinkus’ post as president.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
