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So long as Marcinkus does not venture out of the Vatican, Italian authorities can do little but watch and wait. Nonetheless, they are very serious in their pursuit. "We could have washed our hands of this," says a Justice Ministry spokesman. "But we didn't want to." Last week Italian finance police missed Marcinkus when they went to deliver the warrant at Villa Stritch, home to many American clergy working in the Vatican, where Marcinkus also has a room.
In its statement, the Vatican cited as its defense Article 11 of the Lateran Treaty, which says "central bodies of the Catholic Church are free from every interference on the part of the Italian state." Italian authorities responded by citing Article 22, which obligates the Vatican to turn over fugitives in Vatican City for acts committed on Italian territory that are considered crimes in both states. There are no precedents for such a confrontation between Italy and the Vatican. Even during World War II, when hundreds of Jews and political refugees hid within the Vatican walls, the Fascist government did not try to get them out.
As he waits, Marcinkus may begin to resemble another "prisoner of the Vatican." In 1870 Pope Pius IX locked himself inside the Vatican after the Papal States collapsed and the Italian army entered Rome. He died eight years later, never having set foot outside.