The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II's Vatican

This book is beyond praise and written in a flowing lucid style, even though full of facts and names.Yet again Yallop has done a great service to the ordinary man and woman in the world (I mean both Catholics and people of other faiths)by exposing what is surely, from his detailed research and naming of persons concerned, the truth about the self-serving, money grabbing, self-satisfied hierarchy in the Vatican.

I am not a Catholic but Church of England and, as such, have always been willing to respect the views and faith of others and had hoped that when Pope John Paul 2 was elected he would help to unite the various factions and differeing religious faiths - some vain hope, eh?

He absolutely ignored anything that really mattered, unless, of course it happened to chime with his moribund, narrow-minded beliefs, particularly in the area of human sexual needs.

I believe that Yallop is quite right in his main conclusion that this Pope did an excellent job in alienating many of the faithful, quite contrary to what he himself believed or SAID he believed. He, actually, right up until the end of his life, believed that the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults by various ranks of the Church was an 'American Problem' Very strange this, as why then is the Vatican still making payments all over the world to some of these people?

This man with, apparently, such a towering intellect never saw very much further than the end of his nose or, maybe, didn't want to; he was presumably more interested in charisma and glamour as he constantly toured the world.

What an indictment on the Catholic Church and such a terrible blow to those who are sincere and Godly believers. I must say that I am not very surprised and, it does strike me as VERY odd that his successor is one of his best friends, who, incidentally, at his election was three years over the age of clerical retirement!!??

Fantastic Insight on the Vatican (1/1 people found this helpful)

Absolutely brilliant book covering the "reign" of Pope John Paul II and his high handed authoritarian style. Why we should be surprised I don't know but it is still shocking to read of the corruption that is rife in this appalling organisation. Child abuse, money laundering, the Mafia, political interference, cover ups, downright lying, Nazi collaboration etc etc. There are some marvellous passages about the Churches attitude to wealth and how it's fine for them to be loaded at the expense of the congregations. Tony Blair has recently converted. Cormack Murphy O'Connor was the master of ceremonies for the event. I wonder if TB has read the sections about the paedophile cover ups? Highly recommended.

A Matter of History (8/8 people found this helpful)

Murder in the Vatican: The Revolutionary Life of John Paul and The CIA, Opus Dei and the 1978 Murders

`The Power and the Glory' hangs this pope's dirty laundry out for all to see. His cover-up of pedophile priests, his policies driving a rich and poor society, his suppression of the uprisings of the poor in Latin America, his ban on contraception which drove poverty and disease in third world countries along with dozens of other items of his soiled underwear. I was surprised this book overlooks what may have been John Paul's greatest sin: he may have known of, if not been involved in, the conspiracy that led to the death of his predecessor; a hypothesis for which Lucien Gregoire's `Murder in the Vatican' presents compelling evidence (JohnPaul1 org).

Yet, Yallop does not deal with compelling evidence and hypothesis. His world is facts. `The Power and the Glory' is the other half of this pope's biography which has never been written. There are scores of `biographies' of John Paul II that show only his `good' side. In fact, most of them add things that never happened to embellish his `holy' image. Not a one of them hints at any of the things Yallop has to say; the shady side of the man; the facts. Things we know actually happened. Things his many biographers make believe never happened.

Most of his followers think of David Yallop as an investigative reporter. I think of him as an historian.

Murder in the Vatican: The Revolutionary Life of John Paul and The CIA, Opus Dei and the 1978 Murders

Investigative writing at its best (1/1 people found this helpful)

This lengthy book is an account of the John-Paul II years, but with the rose-tinted glasses removed. David Yallop has assembled an incredible amount of material to present the behind the scenes story of what really went on in the Vatican, particularly focusing on the fall of communism, the scandals that beset the Vatican Bank, and the child-abuse scandal for which the Catholic Church has become a by-word in recent years. But the main focus is on John-Paul himself and the man behind the myth.

The book is biographical to a degree and demolishes quite a few myths about John-Paul, not least the story of his war-years when far from rescuing Jews from Nazism as the official story goes, he was closeted away in protected employment and had little to do with resistance or rescue operations. Although John-Paul abhorred the communist system as such, once he became Pope, he adopted the usual Vatican diplomacy line of working with communist states rather than trying to destroy them. The eventual fall of communism was far more to do with Russian President Gorbachev than the then Pope. John-Paul II had a blind spot about liberation theology and this prompted him to follow the Reagan line of supporting extreme right-wing governments in South America rather than working with his own priests to relieve the suffering of the poor.

Yallop is particularly strong on the Vatican Bank and Banco Ambrosiano scandals and it is depressing to see how the upper echelons of the Vatican were totally embroiled in money-laundering and cover-ups, with Pope John-Paul refusing to do anything to remove those indulging in blatantly criminal behaviour. But it is sections of Yallop's book which deal with the child abuse scandal which are the most depressing. The Pope stuck clearly to the line of "every family must have private rooms to discuss family matters", and he repeatedly put the attempt to preserve the reputation of the church before the rights to justice of those who had suffered at the hands of so many Catholic priests.

This is not a happy read, but for anyone who has an interest in the Catholic Church it is essential reading. Of course Pope John-Paul II will soon be made a Saint but the church he presided over, but no-one who has read this book will rejoice over this elevation. It is even more depressing that the current Pope is entirely of the same mould as John-Paul II and is pursuing much the same policies.

CLERICAL SHAME (2/3 people found this helpful)

AS A PRACTISING ROMAN CATHOLIC IAM ASHAMED & EMBARRASSED NOT ONLY BY THE BEHAVIOUR OF OUR CLERGY BUT ALSO THAT THE HIERARCHY HAVE ACTIVELY COVERED UP CRIMINAL ACTS AND HAVE TREATED THE FAITHFUL AS FOOLS. MR YALLOP HAS EXPOSED THESE SAD FACTS IN A CLEAR & CONCISE MANNER . THIS BOOK IS A DIFFICULT READ BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF REVELATIONS IT CONTAINS BUT IS WELL WORTH THE READ PARTICULARLY IF YOU HAVE READ "IN GOD'S NAME"

The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II's Vatican

David A. Yallop

Reader Reviews:

The REAL truth about the ' Man from a Far Country' (1/2 people found this helpful)

Fantastic Insight on the Vatican (1/1 people found this helpful)

A Matter of History (8/8 people found this helpful)

Investigative writing at its best (1/1 people found this helpful)

CLERICAL SHAME (2/3 people found this helpful)

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