In God's Name

by David Yallop

  Like Casaroli, Baggio, Lorscheider and a number of other men, Garrone left a discussion with Luciani in complete awe. Returning to his office he chanced to meet Monsignor Scalzotto of Propaganda Fide and remarked: ‘I have just met a great Pope.’

  The ‘great Pope’ meanwhile continued to work his way through the mountain of problems left by Paul. One such was Cardinal John Cody, Cardinal of one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful dioceses, Chicago.

  For a cardinal, any cardinal, to be considered by the Vatican to be a major problem was unusual, but then Cody was a very unusual man. The allegations made about Cardinal Cody in the ten years before Luciani’s Papacy began were extraordinary. If even 5 per cent of them were true then Cody had no business being a priest, let alone Cardinal of Chicago.

  Before his promotion to the Chicago Archdiocese in 1965 he had run the diocese of New Orleans. Many of the priests who attempted to work with him in New Orleans still have the scars to prove it. One recalled: ‘When that son of a bitch was given Chicago, we threw a party and sang the “Te Deum” (Hymn of Thanksgiving). As far as we were concerned our gain was Chicago’s loss.’

  When I discussed the Cardinal’s subsequent career in Chicago with Father Andrew Greeley, a noted Catholic sociologist, author and long a critic of Cody, I observed that another Chicago priest had compared Cardinal Cody with Captain Queeg, the paranoid, despotic naval captain in The Caine Mutiny. Father Greeley’s response was: ‘I think that’s unfair to Captain Queeg.’

  In the years that followed Cardinal Cody’s appointment to Chicago it became fashionable in the Windy City to compare him with Mayor Richard Daley, a man whose practices in running the city were democratic only by accident. There was one basic difference. Every four years Daley was, at least in theory, answerable to the electors. If they could overcome his political machine, they could vote him out of office. Cody had not been elected. Short of very dramatic action from Rome he was there for life. Cody was fond of observing: ‘I am answerable to no one except Rome and God.’ Events were to prove that Cody declined to be answerable to Rome. That left God.

  When Cody arrived in Chicago he had the reputation of being an excellent manager of finances, a progressive liberal who had battled long and hard for school integration in New Orleans, and a very demanding prelate. He soon lost the first two attributes. In early June, 1970, whilst treasurer of the American Church he put 2 million dollars in Penn Central stocks. A few days later the shares collapsed and the company went bankrupt. He had illegally invested the money during the administration of his duly elected successor to whom Cody refused to hand over the account books until well after the loss. He survived the scandal.

  Within weeks of his arrival in Chicago, he had demonstrated his own particular brand of progressive liberalism towards some of his priests. In the files of his predecessor, Cardinal Albert Meyer, he discovered a list of ‘problem’ priests, men who were alcoholic, senile, or unable to cope.

  Cody began to spend Sunday afternoons arriving at their rectories. He then personally dismissed the priests, giving them two weeks to leave their homes. There were no pension funds, no retirement schemes or insurance policies for priests in Chicago in the mid 1960s. Many of the men were over seventy. Cody simply tossed them out on to the street.

  He began to move priests from one part of the city to another, without consultation. He took similar action with regard to closing convents, rectories and schools. On one occasion, by order of Cody, a wrecking crew began to demolish a rectory and a convent while the occupants were bathing and having breakfast.

  Cody’s basic problem would appear to have been a profound inability to recognize the Second Vatican Council as a fact of life. There had been endless talk at the Council of power sharing, of a collegial style of decision making. The news never reached the Cardinal’s mansion.

  In a diocese with 2.4 million Catholics, the battle lines began to be drawn between factions for and against Cody. The majority of Catholics in the city were in the meantime wondering what was going on.

  The priests formed a Trade Union of sorts, the ACP (Association of Chicago Priests). Cody very largely ignored their requests. Letters asking for meetings were not answered. Phone calls found the Cardinal constantly ‘unavailable’. Some stayed to continue the fight for a more democratically run Church. Many left. In a decade, one third of Chicago’s clergy left the priesthood. Throughout these massive demonstrations proving that there was something very rotten in the State of Illinois, Cardinal Cody continued to insist that his opponents were ‘merely the highly vocal minority’.

  The Cardinal also pilloried the local Press, declaring them hostile. In truth the Chicago news and television media were extraordinarily fair and tolerant during most of Cody’s reign.

  The man who fought for integration in New Orleans became known in Chicago as the man who closed the black schools, claiming that the Church could no longer afford to run them; this in a diocese with an annual revenue approaching 300 million dollars.

  Like much else that Cody did, many of the school closures were effected without reference to anyone, including the school board. When a cry of ‘racist’ went up, Cody defended himself by stating that many of the blacks were non-Catholics and that he did not consider the Church had a duty to educate middle-class black Protestants. But the label of racism was a hard one for him to throw off.

  As the years passed, the charges and allegations against Cody increased tenfold. His conflict with large sections of his own clergy grew bitter. His paranoia blossomed.

  He began to tell tales of how he had been employed on secret espionage work for the US Government. He recounted his contributions to the FBI. He told priests that he had also undertaken special assignments on behalf of the CIA which included flying into Saigon. The details were always vague but if Cody was telling the truth he had been involved in secret service activities on behalf of the Government since the early 1940s. It would seem that John Patrick Cody, the son of a St Louis fireman, had lived many lives.

  The reputation for financial astuteness which he had brought to Chicago, a reputation which was rather dented by the 2 million dollar Penn Central debacle, took a further knock when some of Cody’s opponents began to dig into his earlier, highly colourful career. In between his real or imaginary flights over enemy territories he had unwittingly succeeded in bringing some of the Church to a state of poverty, though not quite in the manner envisaged by Albino Luciani. He had left the diocese of Kansas City, St Joseph, 30 million dollars in debt. He had performed the same feat in New Orleans, which gave added significance to the Te Deum of thanks when he departed. At least he left a permanent memento of his stay in Kansas City, having spent substantial amounts of money to gild the dome of the restored down-town cathedral.

  He began to monitor the day-by-day movements of priests and nuns he suspected of disloyalty. Dossiers were assembled. Secret interrogations of friends of ‘suspects’ became the norm. What all of this had to do with the Gospel of Christ is unclear.

  When some of the activities described above became cause for complaint to Rome by the Chicago clergy, Pope Paul VI worried and agonized.

  It would seem abundantly clear that the most senior member of the Roman Catholic Church in Chicago had demonstrated by the early 1970s that he was unfit to preside over the diocese, yet the Pope, with a strange sense of priorities, hesitated. Cody’s peace of mind seemed to weigh more heavily than the fate of 2.4 million Catholics.

  One of the most extraordinary aspects of the Cody affair is that the man controlled, apparently without reference to anyone, the entire revenue of the Catholic Church in Chicago. A sane, highly intelligent man would be stretched to control with total efficiency an annual sum of between 250 and 300 million dollars. That it should be placed in the hands of a man like Cody defies explanation.

  The total assets of the Roman Catholic Church in Chicago were by 1970 in excess of one billion dollars. Because of Cardinal Cody’s refusal to publish an annual
certified account, priests in various parts of the city took to holding back sums of money, which in happier days would have been destined for control by the Cardinal. Eventually in 1971, six years after his despotic rule had begun, Cody deigned to publish what passed for a set of annual accounts. They were a curious affair. They did not reveal real estate investments. They did not include the share portfolio investments. With regard to the revenue from cemeteries they did give, at last, some evidence of a life after death. The movement of the profit was very lively. Six months before the figures had been published, Cody had confided to an aide that the figure was 50 million dollars. When the accounts were made public this had dropped to 36 million dollars. Perhaps for a man who could simultaneously be in Rome, Saigon, the White House, the Vatican and the Cardinal’s mansion in Chicago, misplacing some 14 million dollars’ worth of cemetery revenue was child’s play.

  Sixty million dollars’ worth of parish funds were on deposit with the Chicago chancery. Cody declined to tell anyone where the money was invested, or who was benefiting from the interest.

  One of the Cardinal’s most notable personal assets was the large number of influential friends he assiduously acquired within the power structure of the Church. His pre-war days in the Roman Curia, working initially in the North American College in Rome and subsequently in the office of the Secretariat of State, reaped rich dividends in times of need. Cody was from a very early age a man with both eyes to the main chance. Ingratiating himself with Pius XII and the future Paul VI, he established a formidable power base in Rome.

  The Vatican’s Chicago connection was by the early 1970s one of its most important links with the USA. The bulk of Vatican Incorporated’s share investment on the US Stock Market was funnelled through Continental Illinois. On the Board of the bank along with David Kennedy, a close friend of Michele Sindona, was the Jesuit priest Raymond C. Baumhart. The large amounts of money that Cody funnelled to Rome became an important factor in Vatican fiscal policy. Cody might not be able to handle his priests, but he undoubtedly knew how to turn his hand to a dollar. When the Bishop controlling the diocese of Reno made some ‘unfortunate investments’ and the finances totally collapsed, the Vatican asked Cody to bail him out. Cody telephoned his banking friends and the money was quickly found.

  Over the years the Cody-Marcinkus friendship became particularly close. They had so much in common, so many invested interests. In Chicago, with its very large Polish population unwittingly aiding him, Cody began to divert hundreds of thousand of dollars via Continental Illinois to Marcinkus in the Vatican Bank. Marcinkus would then divert the money to the cardinals in Poland.

  The Cardinal took out further insurance by spreading Chicago’s wealth around certain sections of the Roman Curia. When Cody was in town, and he made over one hundred trips to Rome, he distributed expensive presents where they would do him most good. A gold cigarette lighter to this monsignor, a Patek Philippe watch to that bishop.

  Complaints continued to flood into Rome and outnumber Cody’s expensive gifts. In the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which acts as the Vatican’s policeman on matters of doctrinal orthodoxy and clerical morality, the pile of letters grew. They came not only from priests and nuns in Chicago, they came from men and women in many walks of life. Archbishop Jean Hamer, OP, in charge of the Congregation, pondered the problem. Moving against a priest is a relatively easy matter. After due investigation, the Congregation would merely lean on the relevant bishop requesting that the priest be removed from the area of contention. Whom do you lean on when the man you want to move is the Cardinal?

  The Priests’ Union publicly condemned Cody and stated that he was lying to it. Eventually it passed a vote of censure on him. Despite this Rome remained silent.

  By early 1976, Archbishop Hamer was not the only senior member of the Roman Curia who knew the problems that the Chicago connection was causing. Cardinals Benelli and Baggio had independently, and then jointly, decided that Cody must be replaced.

  After long consultation with Pope Paul VI a formula was evolved. When Cody made one of his numerous journeys to Rome in the spring of 1976 Benelli offered him a post in the Roman Curia. He would have a wonderful title, but absolutely no power. It was known that Cody was ambitious and believed he had the talent to climb higher than controlling Chicago. What the Cardinal had in mind was to become Pope. It is indicative of Cody’s arrogance, that a man who had caused such mayhem in Chicago could seriously consider his chances of the Papacy. With this ambition in mind, he would have been happy to exchange Chicago for control of one of the Curia Congregations which gave out money to needy dioceses throughout the world. Cody reasoned that he could buy enough bishops’ votes to place himself on the throne of Rome when the opportunity arose. Benelli was aware of this, hence the job offer, but it was not the job Cody was seeking. He declined. Another solution was needed.

  In January 1976, a few months before the Benelli/Cody confrontation, a delegation of priests and nuns from Chicago visited Jean Jadot, the Apostolic Delegate in Washington. Jadot had told them that Rome had the situation in hand. As the year progressed without any resolution, the battle in Chicago recommenced. Cody’s public image was by now so appalling that he hired a public relations firm, at the Church’s expense, in an attempt to obtain favourable media coverage.

  The irate priests and nuns began to complain again to Jadot in Washington. He counselled patience. ‘Rome will find the solution,’ he promised. ‘You must stop this public attack. Let the issue calm down. Then Rome will handle the problem quietly and discreetly.’

  The clergy understood. The public criticism abated, only to be provoked to new heights by Cody himself, when he decided to close a number of inner city schools. Baggio seized this issue in yet another attempt to persuade Pope Paul VI to act decisively. The Pope’s concept of decisiveness was to write a stiff letter to Cody asking for an explanation of the school closures. Cody ignored the letter and boasted openly that he had ignored it.

  Back in Chicago, goaded by the Vatican inactivity, more letters were sent to Italy. Among them were new allegations supported by depositions, affidavits and financial records. There was evidence which indicated that Cody’s behaviour in another area left something to be desired. These allegations concerned his friendship with a woman called Helen Dolan Wilson.

  Cody had told his staff in the Chancery that Helen Wilson was a relative. The exact nature of the relationship varied; usually he described her as a cousin. To explain her very stylish mode of life, the fashionable clothes, her frequent travelling, her expensive apartment, the Cardinal let it be known that his cousin had been left very ‘well fixed’ by her late husband. The allegations made to Rome were that Cody and Helen Wilson were not related, that her husband, whom she had divorced long ago, was very much alive at the time Cody had him in the next world, and that further, when the ex-husband did die in May 1969, he left no will and his only worldly goods were an eight-year-old car worth 150 dollars, which went to his second wife.

  These allegations, made in the strictest confidence to the Vatican, continued with proof that Cody’s friendship with Helen Wilson had lasted from a very early age, that he had taken out a 100,000 dollar life policy on which he paid the premiums, with Helen Wilson as the beneficiary, that her employment records of work done at the Chicago Chancery had been falsified by Cody to enable her to obtain a larger pension. The pension was based on 24 years’ work for the diocese which was demonstrably false. Evidence was also produced which showed that Cody gave his woman friend 90,000 dollars to enable her to buy a residence in Florida. The Vatican was reminded that Helen Wilson had accompanied Cody to Rome when he was made Cardinal – but then many other people came with Cody. Unlike Helen Wilson, however, they did not have the run of the Chicago Chancery or decide on the furnishings and fabrics for the Cardinal’s residence. It was also alleged that Cody had diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars of Church funds to this woman.

  As if this was not enough,
the allegations went on to itemize the large amounts of diocesan insurance business put the way of Helen’s son David. David Wilson had first benefited from ‘Uncle’ John’s largesse back in St Louis in 1963. As the Cardinal had moved, so had the insurance business. It was alleged that the commissions David Wilson had earned, by apparently monopolizing Church insurance business which Cody controlled, were in excess of 150,000 dollars.

  Baggio carefully studied the long, detailed list. Enquiries were made. The Vatican is unrivalled in the business of espionage: consider how many priests and nuns there are in the world, each one owing allegiance to Rome. The answers came back to Cardinal Baggio, indicating that the allegations were accurate. It was now late June 1978.

  In July 1978 Cardinal Baggio again discussed the problem of Cardinal Cody with Pope Paul VI, who eventually accepted that Cody should be replaced. He insisted, however, that it must be done with compassion, in a manner that would enable Cody to retain face. Most important, it must be done in a way that would minimize any possible scandalous publicity. It was agreed that Cody was to be told he must accept a co-adjutor – a bishop who would for all practical purposes run the diocese. Officially it would be announced that this was due to Cody’s failing health, which in reality was not good. Cody would be permitted to stay on as titular Head of Chicago until he reached the retirement age of 75 in 1982.