Apocalypsis 1.01 Demons

by Mario Giordano

  Finally, Don Luigi came to a conclusion and broke the silence. »My friend,« he said, »in my opinion, you are not possessed.«

  Peter looked at him in bewilderment. »Thank you, that’s very comforting,« he mumbled in a sarcastic tone. »And what is your explanation?«

  »You had a vision, very simple. There is a huge difference. What you saw and heard in your dream was a vision. A pretty terrifying and very specific vision, I have to admit.«

  »Are you trying to tell me that the Vatican will really blow up in seven – no, actually now in six days?«

  Don Luigi raised his hands. »This is something that only God knows. A vision does not represent an inevitable fact.«

  »But?«

  »A probability. One of several possible paths fate can take. Or as Leibnitz would put it, just one of all possible worlds. When God grants somebody a vision, he is asking them to do something. To change fate. To warn the world.«

  »Do you mean to tell me that I should take my dream to the media and ring the alarm bells? Hey, folks, listen up! I dreamed that the Vatican is going to blow up. You’d better get out of harm’s way and start searching for the bomb!«

  Again, Maria sighed disapprovingly. Don Luigi smiled at her before turning back to Peter.

  »It is normal for a prophet to be deemed crazy. That’s an occupational hazard.«

  »No thanks, I pass. I don’t believe that I had a vision. There has to be an explanation. Some form of mass suggestion or hypnosis, something like that.«

  Forget it! You know better.

  »Think about it, Peter. You know better than that.«

  Peter let out a groan.

  »You are familiar with the Fátima Prophecies, aren’t you?« Don Luigi asked him.

  »Yes I am. An alleged incident in Fátima, Portugal, in 1917, when the Virgin Mary appeared to three children and gave them three prophecies. The first was interpreted as a vision of hell, the second as the prediction of World War II, and the third, which was withheld by the Vatican until the year 2000, contains crude apocalyptic revelations about a world filled with destruction, in which the Pope gets assassinated. The third prophecy has been linked to the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981, which occurred on the anniversary of the first Fátima apparition.«

  »Very good,« Don Luigi exclaimed. »but did you know that there is a fourth prophecy?«

  Peter looked aghast at Don Luigi; and Maria, too, stared at the old exorcist, dumbfounded. Don Luigi seemed to enjoy their amazement.

  »It is still hidden in the Vatican Secret Archives,« he told them cheerfully. »Only a very limited number of people actually know that it exists. But it does exist and should be highly revealing now. Would you like to read it? I have a copy.«

  »Whaaat???« slipped out of Maria’s mouth before she could stop it.

  »Don’t worry,« Don Luigi reassured her, »nobody knows about it. Besides, it’s in my safe.«

  Don Luigi disappeared into his living room and returned shortly afterwards with a clear plastic folder containing a photocopied sheet of paper. He handed Peter the document.

  »I was granted the honor of studying the prophecy.«

  »And used the opportunity to make a quick copy.«

  »Trust me, my friend, Pope John Paul II had visions, too. Go ahead, read it!«

  Peter stared helplessly at the paper. The photocopy showed a handwritten and barely legible Portuguese text, which had apparently been written down by Francisco Marto, one of the three children of Fátima.

  »The translation is on the back.«

  Peter turned the plastic folder over and began to read the typewritten Italian translation of the Portuguese text, which was stiff and clumsy, clearly suggesting that a child had written it.

  After the third part, Our Lady showed us the end of the world. The Blessed Virgin Mary pointed at the church of Saint Peter and above the church stood an army of angels in golden armor and with golden swords. The angels were singing loudly and their singing was like the roar of the ocean. We saw thousands of people on the square in front of the church, and they were singing with the angels. The Blessed Virgin called the name of the Lamb of God, and Saint Peter began to rise from the church and over the dome and into heaven. Filled with pain and worry, he called upon the angels to fight Satan. But the angels hesitated. So Peter turned away from them and sank back to earth. He took as many people by his hand as he could and led them away. There were twenty-one. The angels wanted to stop him but they were bound to heaven with chains made from crystal. And then the church began to tremble under claps of thunder and a huge light scorched the sky. The church caught fire and the priests and all the other people ran away in panic. And our kind Heavenly Mother said, »See, this is what happens to those who turn away!« She cried tears of the martyrs’ blood and they turned into torrential streams. She pointed at the sky. A demon was falling out of heaven, from high above, a demon made of iron and light. He was terribly ugly. His light scorched the people who were fleeing from him, all of them. He raged above the church of Saint Peter and destroyed it and everything around it. There was fire and thunder and the church collapsed. Its debris was flying around the earth. The demon was riding the fire and underneath him the land was scorched and the oceans evaporated. Wherever he flew, the land turned into a desert, and the people lamented and they cursed the Blessed Virgin and Her only begotten son. And then, finally, the angels stood up and they also began to lament. »Who is this demon?« they asked the Blessed Virgin. »What is his name?« And Our Lady answered: »His name is the beginning and the end. He is the first man and the last Pope. His name is Peter and Adam.«

  This is what the Holy Mother of God has revealed to us and if there are things that I can no longer recall, then they were not important.

  »You’ve got to be kidding me,« Peter yelled and threw the plastic folder onto the table. Maria took the photocopy and read it for herself.

  Don Luigi stayed calm. »Of course,« he said, »there are thousands of people who have the same name as you, Peter. But after what we witnessed today, I believe that it is indeed you who is mentioned in the prophecy.«

  »So a hysterical Neapolitan lad and the childish stammering of a Portuguese peasant boy have convinced you that I will blow up the Vatican?« Peter shouted angrily.

  »No, Peter. What I believe is that the fate of the church has been placed in your hands. Annihilator or savior – it lies in your hands.«

  Maria had finished reading the text and was staring at Peter. Her face was pale. For a brief moment, Peter wondered why she was still sitting with him at the same table. Rage began to grow inside him. It was rage against the Church and his dark dreams, rage against Don Luigi, Maria, the Pope, and rage against himself, who made it so easy for other people to upset him.

  »Perhaps it would be best if I surrendered immediately to the police,« he said with clenched teeth. »Then there wouldn’t be any danger.«

  »I don’t think so,« Maria said, finally contributing to the conversation. »Don Luigi is right. You can’t simply resign yourself to your fate.«

  »But look, what do you think I should be doing?«

  Don Luigi poured him some more grappa. »We are experiencing perhaps the biggest crisis in the history of the church and of the world. The world is in danger, Peter. Perhaps you are a chosen one.«

  A chosen one.

  Peter was deeply dismayed by these words. Because they could not be true. It was impossible that they were true. He did not believe in God, not in any god. Every human being was alone in the world! His entire self-understanding was based on this conviction. Alone in the world and responsible for his own actions. This was why he had chosen the Catholic Church as an opponent when he was a young journalist, to prove that the Church was lying and manipulating people. Ellen had often reproached him for his attitude, claiming that his missionary atheism was basically as bad as the religious bigotry of the people he opposed.

  Peter moaned. »I gratefully decline – do
you hear me? I decline! This is not my church! I have no reason to annihilate this church, nor do I have a reason to save it.«

  Don Luigi disregarded his words, once again with a hand gesture. »I know. You believe that you are an atheist, but trust me, I know better. If this were true, you would not have written about us so passionately. No, Peter. You are not an atheist, you are just a doubter. That’s good.«

  Peter wanted to object but his shock kept him quiet.

  A chosen one! You always knew it!

  Don Luigi was unperturbed. »The Pope has resigned,« he continued, »and knowing him, I am convinced that he had very good reasons to resign. Do you know that Monsignore Duncker, his private secretary, was murdered on the day of the Pope’s abdication?«

  »I thought he died in a helicopter accident.«

  »That’s the official version. The truth is that he was literally chopped to pieces with a machete. Terrible things are happening, Peter. The Pope’s chauffeur was also murdered.«

  »What about Sophia Eichner?«

  Don Luigi ignored the question. »Pope John Paul III still owned an apartment on Via Palermo. He bought it under the name of his driver and used it for certain unofficial meetings.«

  »You mean as a love nest?«

  »No, that’s not what I mean!« Suddenly Don Luigi’s voice was thundering through the room. »Even from you I expect a little respect for the highest office in the Church. Or is this asking too much?«

  »I’m sorry, Padre. What are you trying to tell me?«

  »Some power is attacking the Church. If you don’t prevent it from happening, the entire Vatican will explode, six days from today.«

  Peter groaned again and then he tried to think.

  »I need to speak to Laurenz,« he said finally. He showed Don Luigi and Maria the spiral symbol and told them in brief what Loretta had found out. However, neither the Padre nor Maria could come up with a possible connection between the symbol, the three fatalities and the resignation of the Pope.

  »Anyway,« Peter said, his voice firmer now. »I have to find Laurenz. Will you help me, Don Luigi?«

  XIII

  May 9, 2011, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City

  The former Cardinal Secretary of State Menendez had his hands full. As Dean of the College of Cardinals, he had to prepare the conclave, and he was determined to fill the power vacuum that Franz Laurenz had left behind. He wanted to become the next pope, the first member of Opus Dei to become pope. Not an easy task in this crisis, which unnerved the voting Cardinals and filled them with suspicion.

  Menendez was still convinced that the former Pope had a personal agenda and that his resignation and his disappearance were part of his plan to split the Church. Menendez had sent out specially trained Opus Dei numeraries to search for Laurenz and he was in constant contact with representatives of different governments and secret-service agencies. So far to no avail. But this only strengthened Menendez’s determination to track Laurenz down and neutralize him for good. How he would do so remained to be seen.

  During the last few days, the first Cardinals had begun to arrive for the conclave. Most of them stayed in comfortable guesthouses or – befitting their social status – at the luxurious Hotel Columbus on Via della Conciliazione. Every day at noon, Menendez invited the new arrivals for a welcome lunch at the Apostolic Palace, in part to get to know them, but mainly to give them immediate and unapologetic insight into his personal views on the most pressing issues of the Church in this time of crisis. In other words, he was campaigning.

  On this particular day, he had held a reception for the Cardinals of Toronto, Seville, Vilnius, Dublin, Maputo, Detroit and Paraná. None of them was considered a favorite in the upcoming conclave, so it was even more important to win their hearts and their votes. This process included little promises as well as the subtle instilling of fear that they might make »wrong decisions« for their diocese. Menendez wanted to demonstrate his leadership skills and he had no scruples whatsoever about bringing Opus Dei into play. Founded in 1928 as an organization of laypeople by the Spaniard Josemaría Escrivá, who had been canonized in the meantime, the Work of God now had almost ninety thousand members and had developed into an intimidating power within the Catholic Church with enormous financial resources. This was due not least to the huge number of »supernumeraries« that accounted for about seventy per cent of the total membership. These laypeople, who were allowed to marry and made regularly »voluntary« financial contributions, held top positions in politics, industry, finance and the media. The Opus Dei was a network of power and Menendez was still far away from where he wanted to be.

  However, before he could get there he had to neutralize Laurenz, at all costs.

  Menendez had ordered the commander of the Swiss Guards into his luxurious office for a report. While the Cardinal himself remained seated behind his massive mahogany desk, he forced the brawny Swiss to stand the whole time.

  Bühler presented Menendez with a scanned copy of Peter’s passport. »Padre Luigi had a visitor this morning, a journalist.«

  Menendez cast a brief glance at the photo and the name and then he looked at Bühler with cold eyes. »How is it possible that a journalist who is not accredited can just stroll into the Vatican without prior notice to the Guard?«

  »My apologies, Your Eminence. We only learned that he is a journalist when we checked him out. It seemed to be a private visit.«

  »An exorcism?«

  »Possible. But the person stayed much longer than usual at Don Luigi’s and when he left, one of the Sisters accompanied him to the Petrine Gate.«

  »Is that all?«

  »No, Your Eminence. Approximately thirty minutes ago, Don Luigi went into the Secret Archives.«

  Menendez noticed that his left eye began to twitch. »What the hell is he doing there?«

  The Archivum Secretum Vaticanum was located in the Cortile della Pigna adjacent to the Vatican Library. The name was actually deceptive. The word »secret« only indicated that the archives had originally been the Pope’s private archives. The documents, manuscripts, protocols, contracts and papal judicial decisions filled almost 52 miles of shelving and covered an uninterrupted period of more than eight hundred years of history.

  The archives had two reading rooms, which were used by about one thousand five hundred scholars each year, an internal library, laboratories for preservation, restoration and digital reproduction, a data-processing center and a computer room. Hardly anything was really secret there, not any more.

  However, access to the archives was reserved for researchers from renowned universities, who had to abide by strict rules. For instance, if they needed to take notes it had to be done with graphite pencils.

  Despite all that, the concrete bunker deep under the Cortile della Pigna still contained quite a number of explosive documents that the Curia kept under wraps for good reason.

  Menendez knew that Don Luigi had access to all sections of the Archives. A high honor bestowed by the Pope and an act that had always made Menendez suspicious. But the Cardinal was in general suspicious of Don Luigi. In his opinion, the chief exorcist was one of the most dangerous men in the Vatican.

  He spotted Don Luigi in a corner of the restored old reading room where he was sitting at one of the tables, bent over ancient documents. He was writing notes with a lead pencil. As Menendez stepped in front of the Padre, he could see that the documents were 19th century writings about symbolism.

  »Since when have you been interested in symbolism, Don Luigi?«

  The Padre looked up. He didn’t seem the least surprised. »Whoever wants to expose the works of Satan has no other choice but to study his symbols, Cardinal.«

  Menendez sat on a chair in front of Don Luigi and made sure he kept his voice low. They were not alone in the room.

  »Could there be any connection between your search and the journalist who visited you today?«

  Don Luigi looked at the Spanish Cardinal like a researcher who looks at a very ra
re and interesting insect.

  »What did the man want from you?« Menendez asked, annoyed by the Padre’s silence.

  »What they all want from me: relief from their torments.«

  »Don’t play your little games with me, Padre!« Menendez hissed, struggling to suppress his rage. »We have an agreement.«

  »We do not have an agreement,« Don Luigi replied in a distant tone.

  »I am warning you, Padre! Do I have to remind you of your little secret?«

  Don Luigi didn’t say a word. He just continued to look at the Cardinal. Menendez stood up brusquely.

  »Just hurry up and bring me Laurenz.«

  XIV

  May 9, 2011, Rome

  He was finding it hard to focus. And the few grappas at Don Luigi’s were not the reason. Not even his experiences with the possessed teenager or the fourth secret of Fátima were the reason. Instead, it was a face with soft features and green eyes and a dark strand of hair under a coif. This was even more irritating, as this face did not remind him in any way of Ellen.

  Stop it! She’s a nun! Focus!

  But Maria’s face would not leave his mind. It ingrained itself into his thoughts, even managing to make the bewildering incident at Don Luigi’s fade into the background. Her calm during the exorcism had impressed him. That expression of imperturbably and kindness on her face. An almost palpable confidence that you wanted to touch and hold, hold forever. Several times during the exorcism he resisted the impulse to reach out and take her hand. He imagined what it might be like to take her hand in his. What it might be like to kiss her.

  Peter hissed with annoyance. He forced himself to rid his mind of all thoughts of the young nun and to refocus on the spiral symbol. Thus far he had not gotten anywhere with his research. Spiral symbols dating from the Neolithic Age to the present day had been found all over the world. Just about every culture had left behind caves and stonewalls that were covered with spiral symbols. As of yet, the only thing that he thought might be a vague lead was the triskelion, a motif consisting of three interlocked spirals. Apparently, it had been especially characteristic of Celtic culture, and could be found on the official flag of Sicily. It seemed to be an early symbol for Cultic Trinity – past, present and future – birth, life and death – body, mind and soul – and later modified versions were also used by the churches.