Murder in the Vatican

by Lucien Gregoire

  Nevertheless, these were very different kinds of men, driven by very different kinds of Gods. Karol Wojtyla and Joseph Ratzinger—the ‘good guys’ of yesterday—striving to preserve the last bits of fascism the God of Moses had left behind and Albino Luciani—the ‘bad guy’ of yesterday—like Marx before him, striving to bring the reality of Jesus Christ into a modern world—striving to stamp out what Hitler stood for, once and for all.

  Call it communism. Call it what you may.

  The ecclesiastical record of popes

  Luciani Wojtyla

  Doctrine

  Moderate

  Conservative

  Contraception and Planned Parenthood

  yes

  no

  Contraception to prevent AIDS children yes no

  Liberation of the poor yes no

  Vow of poverty (all clergy) yes no

  Vow of celibacy (all clergy) yes yes

  Abortion embryonic development* yes no

  Abortion viable fetus no no

  Genetic Research yes no

  Ecumenism yes within Catholicism

  Election of the pope by bishops yes no

  Ordination of women yes no

  Ordination born-out-of-wedlock children yes no

  Homosexuality is God’s will yes yes**

  Love and commitment define marriage yes no

  Sanctification of remarriage yes no

  Black-white integration yes no

  Mysticism no yes

  Little boys are superior to little girls no yes

  * Sequence of creation and prevention: sperm → egg ← pill/condom → fertilized egg ← morning after pill → embryo → tissue ← 1st term abortion → heart beat → brain wave → viable fetus ← 3rd term abortion → ensoulment → birth.

  Luciani supported the ‘pill’ to prevent untimely conception and condoms to prevent disease. We know from his support of artificial insemination he supported destruction of diseased and impaired embryos. The orphanages he built to permit children to be born which otherwise would have been aborted testify he condemned abortion of a healthy viable fetus.

  ** Benedict XVI positions are similar to John Paul II except for homosexuality. John Paul II accepted the findings of medical science that homosexuality is a God-giving instinct. Benedict still considers it an “objective disorder.”

  1 It is estimated 6 million died in the Holocaust. Of this only 4.0 million have been identified by records of which 3.1 million died in Poland: Auschwitz 1,300,000 – Belzec 435,000 – Chelmno 152,000 – Sobibor 200,000 – Treblinka 870,000 – Warsaw 200,000 – other Poland 209,000. Overall, about 80% of casualties were in Poland. See list of concentration camps on Internet or in libraries.

  2 IG Farben Solvay Trial Wikipedia or in libraries

  3 Search Auschwitz Wikipedia or in libraries

  4 ‘The Man Who Would Be Pope’ John Voight

  5 Karol Wojtyla early life Wikipedia and auto-biography of John Paul II claim he was part of an underground theater which promoted anti-Hitler plays as if that were possible during the war. This claim is contradicted by the few photos that have survived show Nazi officers in the audience.

  6 The story ‘Little Lady in Disguise’ in the author’s book Let’s All Get Behind the Pope’ recounts Benedicts five year old encounter with the Archbishop.

  7 Search Obersalzberg Berghof on Internet or in libraries

  8 Search Leibstandarte or Obersalzberg on Internet or in libraries

  9 Search Kehlsteinhaus on Internet or in libraries

  10 Paraphrased from biographies of Benedict XVI. Hufschlag Traunstein is about 20 kilometers from Obersalzberg. The Austrian Legion was a Nazi terrorist organization which brutalized dissidents in the years leading up to the war. It was integrated into the German Army as a branch of the SS Guard in 1939 and used in espionage activities and rounding up dissidents for the concentration camps.

  11 Gandhi’s famous response to the missionary E. Stanley Jones 13 Jun 46

  12 Messaggero Mestre 1 Apr 46

  Photo 8 year old Karol Wojtyla - Laski Italfoto 1928

  Photo Auschwitz concentration camp - author

  Photo Karol Wojtyla acting - Malopolska Silesia 1943

  Photo Ratzinger/Hitler poster - author’s property

  Photo Joseph Ratzinger scout troop - German propaganda photo

  Photo Albino Luciani - Italian Resistance photo 1942

  Author’s note: the supposition Joseph Ratzinger’s father was either employed as a security officer at Eagle’s Nest or was in the SS Guard at Traunstein is based solely on the coincidence he had spent his life as a police officer and, for a reason history has not otherwise recorded, moved his family from their ancestral home all the way across the country to Traunstein where the SS Guard was headquartered and Eagle’s nest was built. There is no historical record to otherwise explain this remarkable event other than Benedict XVI’s claim his father hated the Nazis.

  Chapter 15

  His Papacy

  “What is important is not how many children are born, but that every child that is born has an equal opportunity at a good and healthy life.”1

  Albino Luciani

  The six mounds in the foreground represent Italian peaks for which he held the speed record when he became a bishop in 1958. The three stars stand for the attributes his father had built into him: compassion, courage and change. The lion represents his father Giovanni Paulo Luciani.

  In late summer 1978, Paul VI died. As the conclave approached, The Times of London published a list of the leading candidates for succession. In order of their promise were listed cardinals ‘Benelli, Siri, Hume, Pignedoli, Baggio, Suenens, Poletti, Lorscheider…’2

  The Patriarch of Venice was not on the list. It was no secret Paul had stacked the College of Cardinals heavily to the left toward his favorite son. Yet, this would have moved the vote toward most any other liberal, the most visible being Benelli and Suenens.

  Yet, Paul had not openly endorsed either of these; he had placed the papal stole solely on the shoulders of Albino Luciani. How was it possible the press had missed the boat?

  ‘They Have no Souls’

  The knocker knocked. It was the nun Vincenza. She handed him the morning newspaper. She looked at him in anguish, “They say, ‘they have no souls.’” She scuttled out of the room.

  He read the headline, ‘First Test-tube Baby Born in England.’

  He read it again, this time aloud as if he had to hear it to believe it, “First Test-tube Baby Born in England.”

  His eyes caught another headline, “Vatican City, ‘The aging Dean of the College of Cardinals, Carlo Confalonieri, condemned the English child born of artificial insemination. He supported the Vatican’s position with the quarter-century old decree of Pius XII prohibiting genetic experimentation of any kind. Rapid fire from palaces of cardinals from around the world, from Italy to Germany to Poland to Latin America to the United States backed him up; some suggesting such children are without souls and others stopping just short of labeling the newborn infant ‘a child of the devil.’”3

  He thought back to that dark dismal rainy afternoon in nineteen hundred twenty-three when he had climbed into the carriage that had taken him to the minor seminary at Feltre, his first stop on his long journey which would eventually take him to Rome.

  His atheist father, who had spent a lifetime trying to change the Church from the outside, decided it could only be changed from the inside. So it was he committed his son to the task.

  In his farewell, the revolutionary outcast of the Veneto country told him, “Albino, unlike those Hypocrites who prance about the Vatican palaces in magnificent robes of silk and satin with jeweled chalices and rings of diamonds and rubies and gold, you must promise me you will live your life in imitation of Christ, for Christ would not approve of this masquerade of His earthly representatives. “Play the game carefully; never risk your king to save a pawn.”

  So it was his papa, together with his little
brother Edoardo, with tears in their eyes, had waved goodbye, on that dreary autumn day, to this Pauper Who Would Be Pope.

  Only at the helm of the Church would he be able to establish the common dignity of all Christ’s children. Now he found himself faced with precisely what his father had warned of, the inevitable challenge of risking his king—the papacy—to save a pawn—this little girl. He reworked his father’s words over and over again in his mind as if he could somehow get around them, “Play the game carefully; never risk your king to save a pawn.”

  It was no secret he was the favorite son of Paul VI. Paul had made him Patriarch of Venice the most coveted pastoral spot in the Roman Catholic world and stepping stone to the papacy. It was also no secret Paul had stacked the voting conclave heavily in his favor.

  Paul was eighty and not well. If Paul were to die now the vote would be close. Surely if he spoke out in defense of this child, he would enrage those cardinals who had come out so strongly against her. He would risk losing those votes. He would risk all his father had done, and all he had done, and all John had done, and all Paul had done, to make possible his succession to the papacy.

  Once more, he thought back to that day he had climbed into the carriage. How could he possibly get around what his father had told him? “…never risk your king to save a pawn.”

  Suddenly, something else his father had said popped into his mind, “…Albino, you must promise me you will live your life in imitation of Christ…”

  “Hmmm?” the man in the red cap murmured to himself. “I wonder what Jesus would do in this case?”

  He pressed the intercom. It buzzed twice, “Vincenza, here.”

  “Have you seen Lorenzi?”

  “He’s here with me now,” the nun replied.

  “Good. Send him in.”

  Lorenzi strolled into the study.

  He was an angelic priest to say the least, as devout as they come. Being the cardinal’s secretary, he knew his manager’s mission; something that could only be accomplished if he were to rise to the papacy. He knew the vote for the papacy would be incredibly close. It had been one of his hobbies to keep track of it, both those voting cardinals in the field and those voting cardinals in the Vatican.

  The man in the red cap did not look up. He was busy scribbling a note on a scrap of stationary. He handed it to his visitor.

  “My dear Lorenzi, I want you to post this to the parents of the newborn child in England.”

  Lorenzi read the note,

  “My Dearest Lesley and John Brown,

  My very personal congratulations to you on the birth of your little girl. I want you to be assured there is reserved for you and your child a high place in Heaven.

  Albino Luciani, Patriarch of Venice”4

  The young priest smiled at his mentor. “Good, a private note. I was wondering how you would handle this one.”

  The Patriarch of Venice picked up another piece of stationary and scribbled again, “Here, my dear Lorenzi. I want you to issue this release to the world press. I want it to go out today. We have not a moment to lose.”

  Lorenzi read the note,

  “I have sent my most heartfelt congratulations to the English baby girl whose conception took place artificially. As far as her parents are concerned, I (the Church) have no right to condemn them. If they acted with honest intentions and in good faith, they will be deserving of merit before God for what they wanted and asked the doctors to carry out. Albino Luciani, Patriarch of Venice.”5

  Lorenzi looked at his boss as if he were about to jump off a tall building, “But, Paul is ill. He might not make it another day, let alone another week. A private message to the parents might make some sense. But this message to the world will enrage those in the conclave who have come out against her. It will cost you the p…”

  The man behind the desk cut him off. “A private message to this little girl’s parents will not end the rumor these children have no souls. When prejudice rears its ugly head, one must nip it in the bud. If it costs me the papacy in this world so be it. If it costs me my soul in the next world so be it. We have not a moment to lose. Carry it to the ends of the earth. Do it now!”

  Lorenzi shot the cardinal one last look of appeal but to no avail. He carefully stuffed the papers into his shirt pocket and hurried reluctantly out of the room.6

  The aftermath

  Pope Paul was in seclusion at Castel Gandolfo. A reporter asked him for his response to Luciani’s press release challenging the decree prohibiting artificial insemination, going so far as to reserve a place in heaven for both the make-believe child and her parents.

  Paul told the reporter, “The cardinal could not have been more right. There is reserved for these courageous parents and their little girl a high place in heaven. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for many of us who hold high places here on earth.”7

  Luciani was challenged test-tube babies would aggravate the orphan problem he, himself, had worked so hard to resolve. Artificial insemination would make it possible for sterile and homosexual couples to have their own children, robbing Italy of the largest population groups available to parent unparented children.

  He told the reporter, “My friend Einstein once told me he could not accept the existence of God because he could not accept God would play dice with His children. There is something horrific about how God goes about making children.

  “Millions of fertilized eggs are drowned in the sewer in everyday intercourse. Others are born physically and mentally impaired to live unbearable lives and die unspeakable deaths.

  “Here on the realization of this great event, it makes no sense for man to allow God to continue to have His way in this thing. Artificial insemination will eventually lead to man’s greatest achievement, the creation of a perfectly healthy child every time

  “What is important is not how many children are born, but that every child that is born has an equal opportunity at a good and healthy life. Genetic research will eventually take us there.”8

  Einstein had once said of him, “Luciani thinks of things today, as the rest of us will think of them in centuries to come.”9

  Regardless, his message to the parents of Louise Brown was viewed as the most defiant rebuttal of a papal decree by a ranking prelate of the Church since Martin Luther. In upstaging cardinals who otherwise would have voted for him, he had not only removed himself as a candidate for the papacy but rumors surfaced when his reconfirmation came due that year, it would not be forthcoming.

  Many think a cardinal, once appointed, is forever a cardinal. Not so. Cardinals are appointed for five-year terms and require the reconfirmation of the reigning pontiff when their terms lapse.

  Nevertheless, Paul died in the ensuing week.

  Astonishingly, when the white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel on August 28, 1978, it bore Luciani’s name. On the first ballot the count was seventy-five for Luciani; a marginal win, exactly the two-thirds majority plus one vote required to elect him.10

  On the recount—the traditional practice of making the election unanimous—fifteen others went his way. Twenty-one remained cast against him. In their loss, they were determined to send a message in their dissenting votes—the only pope in the thousand-year history in which cardinals have elected popes who failed to carry a unanimous vote on the recount. So bitter was the hatred of these men, some of whom would share the Vatican with him, they could not accept that Christ had spoken.10

  Just another man

  In accepting his pontificate Luciani took the name John Paul. History recorded he named himself in honor of his patrons—John XXIII who had made him a bishop and Paul VI who had made him a cardinal and had paved his way to the top. Yet, one can surmise he also had in mind his beloved father, Giovanni Paulo Luciani—John Paul Luciani—who had sheared his wool and groomed his mane.

  His installation took place before a makeshift altar in St. Peter’s Square. He refused to be crowned with the jeweled encrusted tiara which in the past had been the
focal point of papal coronations.11 Instead he allowed a pastoral stole—the symbol of a common priest—placed upon his shoulders. He did not intend to rule from the throne. He intended to walk among his people.

  Whereas both the rank-and-file and the hierarchy of the Church saw in the crown a symbol of royalty, John Paul saw something else. He saw in it the right to a good and healthy life for a thousand children who would otherwise starve to death.

  His refusal of the tiara hinted at what would become more and more apparent in the coming days; he would liquidate much of the Vatican treasures to annihilate poverty. His peers, the crown princes of the Church, felt much of their own regency endangered.

  In order to calm the fears of those who had refused to vote for him, he did something no other pope had ever done. He immediately confirmed appointments of all existing cardinals.

  Yet, he reduced in half the substantial bonus cardinals receive upon the election of a new pope, a forewarning to his eventually reducing salaries of Vatican cardinals, which at the time was the equivalent of what is today one hundred thousand pre-tax dollars.

  He refused to order the Fisherman’s Ring12 cast, the symbol of the majesty of the papacy. Nor did he ever extend his hand for the ceremonial kiss. He would have no one bow to him. Rather he would embrace his visitor, not in a ceremonial way, but in a real way.

  Luciani had never been a man of formalities. As a bishop, he had refused to be addressed as Your Excellency, the title reserved for bishops. As a cardinal he had refused to be addressed as Your Eminence, the title reserved for cardinals. As a pope, he refused to be addressed as Your Holiness. He asked everyone, from heads of state to little children, to address him by the nickname he had acquired as a child, Piccolo.

  In his twenty years as a bishop he said Mass every Wednesday morning. He would have recently ordained priests say Mass on Sundays. Dressed in a smock, he would serve as the priest’s acolyte. He carried this practice into the Vatican. He would have seminary graduates say Mass in his chapel; he serving as their acolyte.