Paul Marcinkus

Paul Casimir Marcinkus (; January 15, 1922 – February 20, 2006) was an American archbishop of the Catholic Church and president of the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, from 1971 to 1989. Early life Marcinkus was born in Cicero, Illinois, the son of Lithuanian immigrants and the youngest of five children. His father worked as a window cleaner, among other occupations. After attending Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary and St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Paul was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 3, 1947, and served parish assignments with both St. Christina's and Holy Cross Church on the city's south side. By 1949, he had been appointed to the archdiocese's matrimonial tribunal, which processed petitions to recognize the nullity of putatively valid marriages. International career In 1950, Marcinkus began to fulfil special assignments for the Holy See and became friendly with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, later Pope Paul VI, while studying canon law at the Gregorian University. Upon earning his degree in 1953, he completed the two-year program for prospective diplomats at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and was assigned to Bolivia in 1955 and to Canada four years later, serving as secretary in the nunciature of the Holy See in both instances.