The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia Read Online Free PDF

palsy and his frame was so bent from a combination of
arthritis and osteoporosis that he faced the floor as he walked. The
appearance of Archbishop Pacelli, at fifty-two, was even more
remarkable. He was tall, slightly over six feet, and incredibly thin at
125 pounds. His eyes were large and black behind the gold-rimmed
spectacles that rested on his aquiline nose. Pacelli had long, tapering
fingers that were accentuated by meticulously manicured fingernails.
His voice was high and shrill, and he spoke with such painfully precise enunciation that he appeared to stammer. But the most striking
aspect of his appearance was the ashen pallor of his complexion. His
countenance was that of an invalid who had spent his life in a darkened bedroom.
    Pius XI told his two advisors that the agreement with the Fascists
must be modified in accordance with the audit of the Apostolic
Camera. Archbishop Pacelli reminded the pope that Mussolini, in
preliminary conversations for an accord, had pledged $50 million in
government bonds, in addition to the other benefits, including the
recognition of the Vatican as a sovereign state, a country unto itself.
But the pope insisted, there must be significant cash contribution not
only into the papal treasury but also into his private purse.16 Pius XI
went on to express his concern for the source of Church revenue for
the next years, the next five years, the next ten. He mentioned that
Cardinal Mundelein of Chicago had raised a twenty-year loan of $1.5
million, using Church property as collateral and that the money
already had been spent.37
    The pope next spoke of the predictions about the collapse of
Italy's economy that had been made by Bernardino Nogara, the Vatican financial advisor and chief administrator of the Inter-Allied Reparations Committee. The terms of the agreement, he said, must be
concluded immediately-before the start of the season of Lent. Once
the season of fasting and abstinence began, such negotiations would
be inappropriate.

    Cardinal Gasparri and Archbishop Pacelli, upon gaining leave of
the pope, sent urgent messages to Mussolini. For the sake of both
parties, Church and State, the Vatican Question must be settled
before Ash Wednesday, they said.
    Mussolini immediately agreed to the terms, and the signing ceremony was set for February 11, 1929, in the Lateran Palace, near the
room where Pope Leo III had crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman
Emperor in 800 C.E.
    Several days before the ceremony Pius XI granted Mussolini a private audience to bestow upon the dictator not a crown but a blessing.
Wearing the tiara and clutching his crosier, the pope remained on his
throne as Il Duce entered the room. He neglected to rise to meet his
guest, as popes customarily receive honored heads of state. But Mussolini seemed oblivious to this slight. The dictator rather fell to his
knees to kiss the pope's ring and his bared feet. Pius responded with
the mechanical blessing: "Benedicat to omnipotens Deus, Pater, et
Films, et Spiritus Sanctus." When Mussolini rose to his feet, the pope
was stunned by the dramatic change he saw in Il Duce's appearance.
On the bald head of the dictator, a huge cyst had emerged. For a
moment the Holy Father almost recoiled with horror. He thought of
the mark of the beast as foretold by the Book of Revelation. And
there were other changes. A large, dark mole had sprouted from
Mussolini's fleshy and thrusting chin. He also noticed for the first
time, that the teeth of the dictator were the color of old ivory and
widely separated, a sign of malevolence in his native Milan.38 Despite
Mussolini's attempt to radiate charm and good will, everything about
the Fascist seemed loathsome-including his eyes that seemed pale
and lifeless, the eyes (he would later say) "of a serpent."39
    The rain was incessant on the day of the ceremony. Mussolini,
dressed in carefully tailored morning clothes, signed on behalf of
the government; Cardinal