»Aren’t you worried about that?« Sophia asked.
»Absolutely,« the Pope confessed, »but we’re running out of time. Sheik Abdullah and Chaim Kaplan demand that I send a clear signal to prove my credibility.«
»And what should that be?« Sophia asked.
»Africa,« the Pope replied. »Africa will decide the credibility of the Church. If we want to renew the Church, the path leads through Africa.«
»What about the Evangelical and Orthodox Churches?« the other lunch guest joined in the conversation, glad that it gave him a pretense to leave this awful German »Kraut« on his plate.
»The other churches will follow suit as soon as Islam and Judaism join forces with us. I am absolutely sure of that. What do you think, Sophia?«
Sophia nodded tactfully, not wanting to cut the Italian short.
»Why aren’t you eating, Don Luigi?« the Pope called out. »Eat your sauerkraut. It has lots of vitamin C.«
Don Luigi made a face. The Pope grinned.
»Well, my friends! How would you feel about a little walk through the rose garden?«
XXX
May 12, 2011, Carmelite Convent, Via dei Baglioni, Rome
The Carmelite nuns did not ask many questions. The presence of Don Luigi seemed to obviate the need for explanations. The abbess treated the Padre with utter respect and led the three into a plain parlor. Despite the nocturnal disturbance, they were served tea and some panini. Peter realized how hungry he was. Hungry and tired, dead on his feet.
»You should try to get some sleep, Peter.«
»No time. What did you find out about the documents?«
»Various things. First I did some research on this symbol on the amulet. Nothing. Not even a single hint. But then I had an idea.«
Don Luigi pulled a book from his jacket pocket and handed it to Peter. Peter recognized it immediately.
Mystic Symbols of Man – Origins and Meanings by Franz Laurenz.
»Of course! Damn, why didn’t I think of that?«
»I asked myself the same question. Laurenz describes the symbol. Look, it’s right here: it first appeared in the 11th century as an alchemical symbol for copper. But it also stands for Venus and for light. The most interesting fact, though, is that the symbol is apparently much older than that. According to Laurenz, it appeared in a rock engraving from the Early Stone Age.«
Peter was at a loss. »Copper, Venus, light,« he repeated turning the amulet in his hands, »not overly fruitful. What were the results of the material sample?«
»Unfortunately, I haven’t heard back from the lab. I assume they need more time. But I found something out about Thoth. Thoth was considered to be the god of intelligence and as a lunar deity he represented eternal change and time. He was also a god of the Realm of the Dead, where he served as a clerk who recorded whether the deceased were worthy of entering the Realm of Return. In Greek mythology he was equated with Hermes. Which brings us back to Hermes Trismegistus. And to Manetho or Manethon, an Egyptian priest who was regarded as a personification of Thoth. I had hoped to find an answer in the documents but, as you know, that agent stole them from me. The few text passages that I could translate mention again and again the word light.«
Don Luigi showed Peter a note that he had written by hand.
»This is my first attempt at a translation.«
The soul and the mind that conceive themselves in their full completeness are absolutely free of corporeality and errors, invisible to the passions of the body, consisting as themselves in themselves: comprising everything and supporting everything while radiating goodness and truth, the primordial light and the origin of all souls.
Peter sighed in annoyance. »What a load of bollocks!«
»Well, as I said, I could not decipher all of the script. In any case, the word light is mentioned very often.«
Peter’s thoughts returned, once again, to Loretta. How she had looked at him during those last moments of her life, her eyes filled with so much fear. He thought about those numbers that she had scrawled on the floor in her blood. But it seemed as if Don Luigi didn’t know what to make of the digits either.
»306 or 3 by 6. Very mysterious. It is of course possible that it’s a hint at the number 666, the number of the Whore of Babylon from the Book of Revelation. But this would raise the question of why she didn’t write three sixes in the first place. I would think that she meant 306. As a number.«
»And what would this number stand for?«
»Well, perhaps it serves as a password. The digit sum of 306 is nine. And? Does this ring a bell with you?«
»Not in the least.«
»Nine was the number and the secret password of the Knights Templars.«
»Hold on for a second,« Peter called out, »why are we suddenly talking about the Templars? What the hell have they got to do with all this? Or did I miss something?«
Don Luigi raised his index finger. »Just wait!« he urged him. »What were your colleague Loretta’s last words? Would you repeat them for me?«
Peter remembered word for word what she had said. He could even hear Loretta’s voice saying it.
»›Prophetia de summis pontificibus.‹ And: ›The list, it exists.‹ And: ›Apocalypse.‹«
»Exactly!« Don Luigi shouted triumphantly. »The list!«
»Which list, for God’s sake?«
»The list of Malachy. Or the Prophetia de summis pontificibus – Saint Malachy’s Prophecy of the Pope. Haven’t you ever heard about it?«
This was a rhetorical question. Of course, Peter had heard about the Prophecies of Saint Malachy. All of a sudden it became clear to him that the Padre was right.
»Malachy was an Irish bishop from the 12th century,« he began, »later he was canonized. He wrote a list of one hundred and twelve short-phrased prophecies about the popes, beginning with Celestine II and ending in our times.«
»Exactly. Over the centuries, there has been a lot of speculation about that list. The second to last pope on the list is John Paul III. About him, Malachy writes: De manu mercurii, from Mercury’s hand. What it means remains a mystery. According to Malachy, there will only be one more pope after John Paul III. This last pope will be Roman and he will call himself Peter. With him, the Church and the City of Rome will perish and the world will come to an end. By the way, that’s why no pope has ever called himself Peter. It is regarded as a bad omen.«
Don Luigi took a sip of his tea and a hearty bite from a panino. Peter saw that it would take him a while to chew and swallow and he resisted the impulse to rush him.
»The whole world knows about this list«, Don Luigi mumbled with his mouth full. »Some sources denounced it as a 16th century forgery, even though the similarities between the prophecy and the popes are remarkable. But be that as it may, the fact is that this list is only the short version. There have always been rumors that there is another list, and I found something in the Secret Archives that suggests that this might be true. Apparently, Malachy had visions his whole life, and they tormented him terribly. He had the habit of writing them down meticulously, and he confided them to a close friend, a Cistercian abbot by the name of Bernard of Clairvaux.«
»The Bernard of Clairvaux?«
»Exactly. The intellectual and spiritual father, promoter and developer of the Order of the Temple. The preacher of the Second Crusade. Bernard of Clairvaux defined the fundamental moral values of the Templars and used his influence with the French King to make the Templars a dominant force. Ecco – there we have another connection with the Templars! Malachy or Máel Máedóc Ua Morgair, which was his real name, was on his way from Ireland to Rome when he stopped at Clairvaux Abbey and died, all of a sudden. Bernard of Clairvaux later wrote Malachy’s biography so that Malachy could become canonized. So he must have known about his friend’s prophecies. He even confirmed Malachy’s clairvoyant abilities. However, Bernard doesn’t mention the list, not once. Strange, don’t you think?«
»Well, what do you make of it?«
»It’s hard to say. It’s possible that the complete prophecy contained a danger to the Church and, therefore, had to disappear. Together with the prophet.«
»You think Bernard of Clairvaux might have murdered his friend Malachy?«
Don Luigi shrugged his shoulders. »Times were rough back then. In any case, immediately after his friend’s death, Bernard de Clairvaux began to do everything in his power to found the Knights Templar and to convince the French King of the necessity of a second crusade. What was it that Bernard’s Knights of the Temple were looking for in the Holy Land? Something that has a connection with the real prophecy?«
Peter thought about Loretta’s words. »Then it could be that Loretta found a hint that the original of the prophecy does still exist somewhere.«
»That’s exactly what I think. It isn’t much, but my instincts are telling me that we have a lead.«
Peter had been so engaged in his conversation with the Jesuit that he hadn’t noticed Maria leaving the room. He found her praying in the monastery chapel. For a few moments, he stood silently and used the time to observe her, to really see her. She seemed calm and rapt in prayer. The same woman who had assisted him in breaking into the Pope’s apartment; the same woman who had, not even an hour earlier, only narrowly escaped a horrific death. And now she was kneeling in the front pew praying to her God, in whom Peter no longer believed. Nonetheless, he suddenly envied the peace that she found in prayer.
All of a sudden, she interrupted her prayer and turned around to him. She didn’t look scared or upset. She looked calm and had a glow on her face that made her even more beautiful.
»I didn’t want to disturb you,« Peter apologized.
»You aren’t disturbing me.« She remained seated in the pew and continued to look at him with intent eyes, as if she were expecting something from him. Peter approached her and sat down next to her.
»Did you want to pray?« she asked him.
Peter shook his head. »I don’t believe in prayers.«
»And what do you believe in?«
The question took Peter by surprise.
»In nothing,« he replied and felt like a school kid in an exam who had just given the dumbest of all possible answers.
»I see.« She turned back towards the altar. »If that’s so, why did you come here?«
»I need to go to Clairvaux. Don Luigi has a lead.«
She looked at him again. With serious and piercing eyes.
»Peter, did you kill that woman?«
Peter sighed. »I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. I have no idea what happened during those four hours. But if I want to prove my innocence or just that I am not crazy, I need to find out what is behind all this.«
»They’re searching everywhere for you.«
»I know.«
She thought for a while. Then suddenly, she reached out with her hand and gently touched his cheek. It was a light, almost fleeting touch. Yet it burned like fire on Peter’s skin.
»You saved my life.«
»Yes, and you saved mine.«
»You won’t be able to do this alone. I will come with you.«
Peter looked at her in surprise. »That’s not a good idea. You’ll be much safer here.«
»No,« she disagreed, »there’s one thing I understood when that man pressed the blade against my throat: that he will never give up. He will carry on hunting me down and he will kill me. Until we know what’s happening here, I am no safer in Rome than you are.«
»Maria, I…«.
»This is not a request.« She interrupted him angrily. »Whether I want it or not, we are tied to each other. I will come with you.«
And again, there was this glow on her face, a glow of peace and firm determination. Peter smiled at her and nodded.
»The only question is,« he then continued, »how can a nun and a man who is suspected of murder and terrorism get from Rome to Clairvaux?«
Now she smiled, too, and Peter asked the God of this chapel that she might never stop smiling the way she smiled now.
»With God’s help,« she said.
XXXI
ONE YEAR EARLIER …
May 8, 2010, Vatican City
John Paul III and Don Luigi continued their conversation in private in the personal library of the Pope. John Paul III opened the window overlooking the courtyard and pushed an ashtray onto the table for his guest. Even though smoking was strictly prohibited within the confines of the Vatican, the Jesuit lit an MS, a morto sicuro – certain death, as the national cigarette brand was called in popular parlance. John Paul III himself didn’t smoke, but he knew his chief exorcist well, his special envoy, whom he had sent all over the world on the most precarious missions.
»I need you, Don Luigi,« he said, as the Jesuit stood by the window taking his first puffs. »Throughout these years, you have always been of great support to me. But soon I will need even more from you. Possibly so much that it will push you to the brink.«
»I am all yours, Your Holiness,« said Don Luigi and glanced at the Pope, who looked as if something weighed heavily on his soul.
»I won’t sugarcoat it, Don Luigi. What I will soon expect from you might endanger your life.«
»My life belongs to the Church, Holy Father. I am not afraid.«
John Paul III looked intently at his chief exorcist. »No, Don Luigi, you really aren’t afraid. I admire you for that.«
»I feel honored, Holy Father,« the Jesuit replied, »but with all due respect, it would be helpful for the success of my mission if you gave me more information about the danger you are talking about.«
»Not just now. You will get to know everything – when the time has come.«
Don Luigi nodded but he seemed dissatisfied.
»Please, Padre. Trust me. … Do you have the list?«
Don Luigi pushed a folded piece of paper over the table and John Paul III glanced through it.
»Are these all the names?«
»No. According to the information I have, there are still some missing. I fly to New York tomorrow to investigate a new case.«
»Weird symbols appeared on his body?«
Don Luigi nodded. John Paul III gave a sigh and held the list with the names over the flame of a candle on the table. He watched absentmindedly as it turned into ashes on a pewter plate. Then he looked with serious eyes at his guest.
»You once said that Satan does not stop at anything, not even at the gates of the Vatican.«
»This was not addressed at you, Holy Father.«
»Do you think that I’m a nutcase, Don Luigi?«
»No,« the Padre replied without any hesitation, »and I know a whole bunch of nutcases within these walls. You, Holy Father, are most definitely not one of them.«
Pope John Paul III nodded. »Then listen to me now. It won’t be much and I will only say it once. But you should at least know enough to understand what it is that might cost you your life. I am the second to last Pope. After me, chaos will rule.«
»With all due respect, Your Holiness, but the Prophecy of Saint Malachy – it’s nothing but a forgery!«
The Pope stopped him with a wave of his hand. »I am not talking about the list, and I am not talking about the Secrets of Fátima. We are near the end of time.«
John Paul III made a gesture with his hands that included the room, the Palace and the entire Vatican. He seemed serious and determined. Don Luigi could even see hints of wistfulness and grief in his eyes.
»This Church is my life. But as Pope I am also the keeper of a terrible secret. Of a secret so ancient and immense that I don’t even know its full extent myself. I am just a sort of guardian who has to make sure that what lies hidden underneath these walls will never see the light of day. But unfortunately, the signs of the time speak a different language. The apocalypse is near; we are running out of time. And you, Padre Luigi, you need to be my early warning system.«
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Apocalypsis 1.03 Thoth Page 4
