OBIT: Former Vatican finances chief, Cardinal Giuseppe Caprio

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Cardinal Giuseppe Caprio
Intimate of Pope Paul VI who (briefly) ran the Vatican's finances
Published: 25 October 2005


Giuseppe Caprio, priest: born Lapio, Italy 15 November 1914; ordained priest 1938; Apostolic Nuncio to China 1959-67; Titular Archbishop of Apollonia 1961-79; Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to India 1967-69; Secretary, Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See 1969-77, President 1979-81; Substitute of the Secretariat of State 1977-79; named a Cardinal 1979; President, Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See 1981-90 (Emeritus); died Rome 15 October 2005.

For one who rose so high in the Vatican curia, few had much to say about his achievements. Cardinal Giuseppe Caprio was present at Pope Paul VI's death in 1978, addressed the first of the two conclaves that year, narrowly avoided appearing on video as a witness for Michele Sindona at the disgraced banker's trial in 1980 and was for the next decade in charge of Vatican finances.

Yet his reign as deputy head of the Secretariat of State - where he unwisely admitted he was overwhelmed by the many tasks imposed on him - was brief and his failure subsequently to dent the Vatican's mounting deficits led to his replacement in 1990 by the financially more astute Edmund Szoka.

The most exciting episode in Caprio's church career came in 1951 when, as secretary of the Vatican nunciature, he was caught up in the repression against the Catholic Church by China's new Communist authorities. He was held for three months in Nanchang before being expelled.
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article321990.ece