Murder in the Vatican: The Revolutionary Life of John Paul and The Vatican Murders of 1978

Yes, I remember him. He was all that you say he was and much more. My hope for a more just Church and a better world died with him.

I happened to have been a young seminarian in the Vatican the night the Pope died. The next morning, as we chatted in the cafeteria - having witnessed a vibrant driving fireball of a man the day before - the assumption was murder and our conversations focused on the two Opus Dei bishops `Murder in the Vatican' implicates in the crime. The author presents compelling evidence that these two led a conspiracy that resulted in the deaths of John Paul and six of his closest friends in the fall of 1978. Both these bishops were promoted past 300 archbishops and cardinals who outranked them to two of the most powerful positions in the Church shortly after the death of John Paul I.

Yet, the legacy of this good man is his life and not his death. Particularly enjoyable to me is the recounting of the author's conversations with John Paul when he was Bishop of Vittorio Veneto. In recording his many recollections of his struggles as an impoverished child, as a rebellious seminarian, and as an outspoken priest and bishop, Gregoire has preserved for the world an important part of history - something the present rulers in Rome would rather be forgotten. The reason why the Vatican has never commissioned a biography be written of the 33-day pope.

Thank you for having had the courage to have written this important book. It will bring great comfort to many and will stand the test of time. The opening line of its `Preface' tells the story. "For those of us who knew him, who remember him, I bring nothing new. But for those of us who have allowed the Church's misrepresentations of what he was all about, who have allowed Rome's falsehoods to distort his legacy, I bring a treasure trove of yesterday." As enjoyable, yet, as informative a book can be.

A remarkable book about a remarkable man (4/5 people found this helpful)

This is the only biography of this remarkable man who could have returned the Christian Church to what it should have been, what Christ intended it to be. It presents what John Paul I was really like, and his quest for complete equality between all people regardless of their race, gendre, or sexuality, and his quest for the redistribution of all wealth as commanded by Christ himself. It is an eye opening story of the truth and I commend all to buy it. Lucien Gregoire has done a fantastic job, despite I imagine much opposition. It also helps that he actually met Albino Luciani as a bishop several times and so had a personal link, rather than in some biographies where the author had never met the subject.

The issue which particularly got me was his comments on rich and poor, for example, his comments on using a gold lever to flush the toilet. I have always been extremely angry by the ever-growing gap between rich and poor. The wealthy seem to be getting more so, the poor likewise getting poorer. It is things like these that have turned me into a socialist. John Paul has helped this. I live in a relatively Conservative (similar to US Republican) area and this shocks a lot of people that I am quite so outspoken in my cry for redistribution. When I once mentioned it to a friend, me looked at me in shock and bewilderment with the response that "you're not touching my money". Helping others was all very well so long as he did not lose anything despite him doing nothing to earn it whilst others slave away for nothing. It would be a very different church had John Paul managed to succeed in redistributing the church's excessive wealth. I was horrified at your description of the extravagance within the Vatican. His description of equality also touched me. It is of course, as he said, a necessity for democracy.Therewas recently a large debate in the UK over whether married homosexual couples should be allowed to adopt children. Single homosexual men may, but married men under the new Civil Partnership could not. The Catholic Church in England and Wales objected strongly and said that were the legislation passed they would be forced to close their adoption agencies. I am convinced that were John Paul alive today he would have been first to fight for the rights of the homosexuals and the parentless orphans. This all reverts back to the main point that sex is really no sin at all. If this had been told from the start in the west then we would not have had the two extremes of sexual repression followed by free-love, but sex would be celebrated and enjoyed as a good thing as it has always been valued in the Eastern religious traditions (traditions which produced of course the Kama Sutra as a sacred text). I am sure John Paul would want us to fight for all these injustices which are still taking place, including of course the new one, Global Warming.

This book has made a profound impression on me, and I keep referring back to it. Gregoire has created an amazing book. Thank you and congratulations, Mr Gregoire. I will try and keep John Paul as my hero and guide in life and follow his example, and whenever that v comes up in the road will try and ask myself what Jesus would do in this situation, just as he did. Thank you so much for introducing me to this wonderful man. It has been to me over the last few months one of those remarkable few books which I have kept referring back to. Whenever I am trying to argue a point out, I will refer back to what John Paul I said on something, and have been continually picking it up on an almost daily basis.

A remarkable book about a remarkable man with a princely dream. Complete equality in every form. The fulfillment of Christ's message. If only he had lived. Still, we can learn from this wonderful man. I am happy to recommend this book to everyone.

A Princely Dream (9/10 people found this helpful)

This book is the compilation of originally published actions of the 33-day pope and not as they have been republished by Rome. So outlandish and revolutionary - particularly for his time - are many of them, and so ingeniously and beautifully does the author weave them into the record, one could get the impression from time-to-time that one is immersed in a princely dream. That is, if one ignores the footnotes. Being a doubter, I researched a few dozen of these references both on the Internet and in library microfilm and was unable to poke a hole in them. Still, I find it hard to believe that a man's life, so well documented in the world press, could have been so effectively snuffed out by his enemies who survived him and - as the author contends - murdered him for his liberal ideology. Concerning Vatican intrigue and the political infighting that goes on when a pope is elected, this book is the best sourced and most informative book I have ever read.

Yet, its more important part is its biographical message - the only existing record of where he stood on the issues of his day. Here is the record of a revolutionary-activist whose deeds and words were recorded in the press from the time he was twelve when he published an article in his school paper that reached all of Europe. Then, a non-conformist from the start, inspired by his atheist socialist father, he called upon the nations of the world to live up to their copyright laws and place a warning on the Old Testament, "This is a work of fiction. Keep away from children." Had he been successful - to the extent that Mein Kampf was inspired by the superiority of the Aryan race philosophy of the Old Testament - the world may have been spared WWII and the Holocaust. The press continued to follow him through his ministry. As a bishop, in defiance of a papal decree, he often ordered hospitals within his jurisdiction to allow long term loving partners of homosexuals into critical care units. The press followed him all the way down to that time, just a month before his election, when he cast his vote for genetic science - again in defiance of a papal decree. When all other cardinals condemned Louise Brown - the world's first artificially inseminated child as "a child of the devil," John Paul, then Archbishop of Venice, wrote her parents, "I congratulate you on the birth of your little girl. I (the Church) have no right to condemn you for what you asked the doctors to carry out. Be assured, there is reserved for both you and your child a high place in heaven." His public image continued to be pragmatic all the way down to his last proclamation the day before he died, "God is more our Mother than She is our Father," - a sitting pontiff who challenged the ancient assumption that God is a man.

So, like the DaVinci Code, there are things here that will infuriate the devout; hence look for lo-scores from enraged nuns and pretending `experts' who really don't want to dig him up. But, unlike the DaVinci Code, the critics of this book must contend with the proof of the pudding which is at the end of each chapter - footnotes - ironclad sources that define the integrity of this work. Pinch yourself - check them out - it's not a dream.

It speaks for itself (10/11 people found this helpful)

Tried to put the pen to this one, only to set it aside. This book speaks for itself. A bit of its text:

After he became pope, he was questioned by a reporter concerning rumors that Vatican treasures might be liquidated to annihilate poverty in the world. He reached into his hip pocket and pulled out his trump card, one that he often used to explain his actions. "When I was a teenager," he told the young man, "my father made me promise that I would live my life in imitation of Christ, and I have kept that solemn promise. Each time that the fork in the road has come up for me - often only minutes apart - I have asked myself, `Now, what would Jesus have done in this case?' And I have often pondered the possibility as to how much better the world would be if everyone were to do this." He then turned to the reporter and asked, "Now, what do you think Jesus would do in this case?"

A few days later following a general audience, referring to the solid gold lever with which he had flushed his toilet that morning, "Believe me, one day we who live in opulence while children are dying because they have nothing, will have to answer to Jesus as to why we have ignored His instruction, `Love thy neighbor as thyself.' We, the clergy of the Church, together with our congregations who substitute gold and pomp and ceremony in place of Christ's instructions, who judge our masquerade of singing His praises to be more precious than human life, will have the most to explain."

These `two books in one book' are twice the size of an average book. One would wonder why the author didn't choose to market them as two separate books. Answer: one cannot solve the mystery of his death unless one first understands the mystery of his life. For the first time, all of the facts, including all of the conflicting circumstances of the 33-day pope's mysterious death and six of his closest friends in the fall of 1978, have been brought together in one place. Gregoire presents compelling evidence that two bishops, who later attained high rank, masterminded these murders. The adventurous reader can get involved him/herself as most of what Gregoire has to say and more can be found on the Internet. Nevertheless, no one is going to walk away from this book without the absolute conviction that this good man was murdered. Follow his revolutionary life through his papacy, when the political infighting that goes on when a pope is elected turns to murder. True Life - True Crime at its best.

It speaks for itself (8/8 people found this helpful)

'Murder in the Vatican' is now available on Amazon UK in an updated June 2008 edition which presents compelling evidence that factions of Opus Dei and the CIA and British Intelligence collaborated in the deaths of John Paul and his closest friends in the fall of 1978. Search: The CIA, Opus Dei and the 1978 Murders on Amazon UK for the new 2008 edition. Like the outdated 2006 edition, the new 2008 edition includes a complete biography of the 33-day Pope. The following review also applies to the new 2008 edition.

Tried to put the pen to this one, only to set it aside. This book speaks for itself. A bit of its text:

After he became Pope, he was questioned by a reporter concerning rumors that Vatican treasures might be liquidated to annihilate poverty in the world. He reached into his hip pocket and pulled out his trump card, one that he often used to explain his actions. "When I was a teenager," he told the young man, "My father made me promise that I would live my life in imitation of Christ, and I have kept that solemn promise. Each time that the fork in the road has come up for me - often only minutes apart - I have asked myself, `Now, what would Jesus have done in this case?' And I have often pondered the possibility as to how much better the world would be if everyone were to do this." He then turned to the reporter and asked, "Now, what do you think Jesus would do in this case?"

A few days later following a general audience, referring to the solid gold lever with which he had flushed his toilet that morning, "Believe me, one day we who live in opulence while children are dying because they have nothing, will have to answer to Jesus as to why we have ignored His instruction, `Love thy neighbor as thyself.' We, the clergy of the Church, together with our congregations who substitute gold and pomp and ceremony in place of Christ's instructions, who judge our masquerade of singing His praises to be more precious than human life, will have the most to explain."

These `two books in one book' are twice the size of an average book. One would wonder why the author didn't choose to market them as two separate books. Answer: one cannot solve the mystery of his death unless one first understands the mystery of his life. For the first time, all of the facts, including all of the conflicting circumstances of the 33-day pope's mysterious death and several of his closest friends in the fall of 1978, have been brought together in one place.

The adventurous reader can get involved him/herself as much of what Gregoire has to say and more can be found on the Internet. Nevertheless, no one is going to walk away from this book without the absolute conviction that this good man and his many friends were murdered. Follow his revolutionary life through his papacy, when the political infighting that goes on when a pope is elected turns to murder. True Life - True Crime at its best.

Murder in the Vatican: The Revolutionary Life of John Paul and The Vatican Murders of 1978

Lucien Gregoire

Reader Reviews:

I, too, remember him . . . (9/10 people found this helpful)

A remarkable book about a remarkable man (4/5 people found this helpful)

A Princely Dream (9/10 people found this helpful)

It speaks for itself (10/11 people found this helpful)

It speaks for itself (8/8 people found this helpful)

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