Vatican banker Roberto Calvi

Decided to research a bit into the suicide/murder of ex Vatican banker Roberto Calvi and as usual when it comes to conspiracies ive ended up with more questions than i started with.

For those who dont know Roberto Calvi, a Vatican Banker, was found hanging from scaffolding beneath Blackfriars Bridge in central London in June, 1982 with bricks in his pockets and $15,000 on his person.
More info: news.bbc.co.uk...

It was widely believed that Mr Calvi was murdered by the Mafia and then left hanging as a sign to others not to cross 'them'. But just who where 'them' ?

In 2003 Italian prosecutors concluded that the Mafia murdered Mr Calvi.
Calvi had worked his way up the corporate ladder to become director-general and president of the Banco Ambrosiano, which he transformed from a small regional bank into a major international player.

At the time of his death billions of lire was owed to the Banco Ambrosiano by several Panamanian companies which were linked to the Vatican's Institute of Religious Works.

The Vatican denied legal responsibility for the bank's downfall but acknowledged "moral involvement", and paid $241m to creditors.

The bank collapsed in a scandal that implicated the Mafia and international freemasonry.

In their report, prosecutors say they believe Calvi was murdered by the Sicilian Mafia and mainland Italian mobsters, the Camorra, as punishment for pocketing money they had asked him to launder.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk...

Indeed, what was the Mafia and the Freemasons involvement with the Vatican? I discovered a webpage that talked about the mysterious death of Pope John Paul I which you may find interesting:

The P-2 Lodge, as it was called, was founded in 1877 to provide for provincial Freemasons - known as Propaganda Due (P-2). It became a secret lodge in 1970 to recruit men of right-wing persuasion to prevent a Communist takeover. It was involved in a financial scandal and its offices were raided and membership lists were found. Many heads of the Italian State services, government officials, police chiefs, businessmen, journalists etc. were listed. This organization was disbanded but still operated secretly. In fact, they are still operating within Vatican circles to this very day.
Source: www.prose-n-poetry.com...

I would be interested in finding out more on this, does anyone have or know of any other related bits of information that they could share?


[edit on 27-11-2005 by freeradical]

pope john paul I had discovered that there were over 100 masons within the vatican. these ranged from cardinals to priests. canon law stated that to be a freemason ensured automatic excommunication. this caused the pope to strip these men of any power they may have had and put them into relatively harmless positions. the lodge that these men belonged to was p2.
it must be understood that p2 was an illegal lodge and was not recognized by official freemasonry. the grand master of p2 licio gelli, a master of blackmail and a one time oberleutnant in the ss in italy(a liaison officer for the nazis) was a rabid anti-communist. gelli joined a conventional masonic lodge in 1963. after attaining the third degree he was urged by giordano gamberini(grand master) to form a group of important people, who may(or may not) become masons. the group was to be useful in furthering the growth of legitimate freemasonry. the group was named raggruppamento gelli- p2.

[edit on 27-11-2005 by Nagell]

Thank you Nagell, very interesting. Ive read that P2 could have acted in the interests of both freemasonry and the Vatican, particularly in fighting communism in Poland. Conversely (puts on conspiracy hat) one wonders if the Vatican tried to damage the reputation of freemasonry by involving those that supposedly acted in the name of freemasons.

here is an article on gelli in relation to the calvi murder:mason indicted over murder of 'gods banker'

[edit on 27-11-2005 by Nagell]

benjji had a thread on this earleir in the year with the updates.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

"This happened between 1979 and 1980, and that is why I said that to find Calvi's assassins one ought to have investigated in Poland," Mr Gelli was quoted as telling the magistrates.

And then thats it? This guy must be some sort of liar and criminal. He knows this information all this time and doesn't bother telling anyone until he's called before a judge? He has other information that he is giving them and doesn't tell anyone? Odd indeed.


[edit on 28-11-2005 by Nygdan]

You have raised an interesting idea -- "conspiracy". OK, it's been dealt with before on these boards but a good idea/thread is still a good idea or thread.

One character that figures prominently in the Vatican Bank scandal is Bishop Marcinkus, the head of the Vatican Bank at the time that this took place. I'll admit that I should have done more research into this scandal as I have actually met Bishop Marcinkus before as a child (he was only a monsignor at the time I met him) and I feel actual remorse that I did not investigate this prominent figure in the scandal. I will, I promise, do so.

Thanks for getting me re-attached and involved....I will post some of my research when I have something compiled.

According to the book "Gas's banker, Calvi, the ehad of abnco Ambrosiano, was using the vatican to help rich Italians to convert their fortunes from the then plummeting lira, to foriegn currency. This was a 'circumvention' of Italian law.

Italy was tryign to avoid an ecomonic collapse, so the passed legislation against export of currency. Banco Ambrosiano had opened branches in South America, so you only had to open an account in Italy, and make a withdraw at the other end. A lot of money flooded out that way. According to the book, Calvi did this with the knowledge of some highly placed Vatican officials. He was reputed a member of the notorious P2, and was probably either pressured into it by them, or once he had started, was pressed into taking it to far by his secret society buddies.

There were a lot of spelling errors in that post. Please forgive. The name of the book was "God's Banker", and not "Gas Banker", though that might also be a good idea for a book.

[edit on 30-11-2005 by GrandCourtJester]