The Vatican has a number of
skeletons in its cupboards, ranging from money laundering, drug
trafficking, sex scandals and paedophilia. Gerald Posner investigates
the death of Pope John Paul I, operations of the Catholic Church and its
nexus with politics and organised crime. God’s Bankers is more thrilling than Mario Puzo’s Godfather, writes KUMAR CHELLAPPAN
The Catholic Church is a subject of
interest to millions of non-Catholics all over the world mainly because
of the secrecy associated with the functioning of the world’s largest
religious congregation. The Iron Curtain which shields this church will
put both the former Soviet Union as well as the Italian Mafia to shame.
The Vatican City, world’s smallest sovereign country (area 110 acres and
population 842) and abode of the Pope, the spiritual head of the
Catholics, wields tremendous influence in global politics.