The death has taken place of US Archbishop Paul Marcinkus who oversaw Roman Catholic Church finances for 18 years and was linked to a major Italian banking scandal.
Dr Marcinkus died aged 84 at his home in Sun City, Arizona.
His reputation was badly damaged by allegations that he was linked to the fraudulent 1982 collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, Italy's largest private banking failure.
Dr Marcinkus always denied he or the Vatican Bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works, were responsible for its downfall.
In the mid-1980s, Italian authorities tried to arrest him in connection with an array of financial crimes, but the Vatican claimed diplomatic immunity for him and shielded him from the investigations.
He denied any wrongdoing and was eventually allowed to return to the US and the diocese of Phoenix, Arizona.
