Authors: David Yallop
In God's Name (2 page)
13 Gelli waiting to be received by Pope Paul VI
14 President Nixon, Pope Paul VI and Monsignor Macchi
15 Michele Sindona as ‘Man of The Year’
16 President Johnson meets Pope Paul VI, with Paul Marcinkus acting as interpreter.
17 Important P2 members in President Leone’s entourage
18 Gelli with Prime Minister Andreotti
25 The Pope receives the simple woollen pallium
26–7 The response of young and old
28 The Pope, Monsignor Martin and Father Diego Lorenzi
29 Luciani meets Mayor Argan of Rome
30 The Pope with members of the Curia
31 Marcinkus arrives at the Vatican
37 Licio Gelli stood to lose most from Luciani’s reforms
39 Luciani with Cardinal Sin of the Philippines
44 Prime Minister Andreotti prays by the body
45 The new Pope with Cardinal Benelli
46 The murder of Vittorio Occorsio
47–8 The murder of Emilio Alessandrini
49 The murder of Mino Pecorelli
50 Mario Sarcinelli, falsely imprisoned
51–2 The murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli
53 Boris Giuliano, murdered and laid to rest
54 The Milan headquarters of Roberto Calvi
55 Bologna railway station after the bomb explosion
56–7 Roberto Rosone and his assailant
60 Graziella Corrocher ‘suicided’
61 Marcinkus still at the centre
PICTURE CREDITS
The author and publishers wish to thank the following for permission to reproduce black and white photographs: Agenzia Ansa,
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Introduction to this Edition
This book was first published in June 1984 and appeared simultaneously in many countries. To date it has been translated into thirty languages and the various editions have sold over six million copies. I have received many thousands of letters from readers; just seven letters were critical, the remainder were kind enough to praise the book and, more importantly, record the writers’ belief that Albino Luciani was in their view murdered and that the case has been powerfully proved.
Vatican response was swift. Within days of publication
and before any of these spokesmen had read the book
the reaction that I had predicted in the first edition was there for all to hear.‘Taking fantastic speculation to new levels of absurdity.’ An Article of the Apostolic Constitution specifically ruled out post mortems on Popes.’ As this book demonstrates, that particular Vatican lie had served them well in 1978.
The lies about the life and death of ‘The Smiling Pope’ began on the day his body was discovered. They have continued down the years to the present day. In June 1985 when the British paperback edition was first published I decided to make the Vatican’s task childishly simple:
‘If the Vatican can prove me wrong on just two simple questions of fact – if they can prove that my account of who found the dead body of Albino Luciani is incorrect and can prove that my account of the papers he was holding in his hands is incorrect, then I will donate every penny of my royalties from the sales of this book to cancer research.’ The Vatican account of who found the body was their first
lie. The papers that Albino Luciani was clutching were the smoking gun.
In the light of the Vatican’s initial statements that this book was ‘Infamous rubbish’ and ‘Absurd fantasies’ the Vatican should have been able to demonstrate how incorrect my evidence and conclusions were within hours of reading my offer. That challenge was the subject of worldwide media comment.
Nearly twenty-two years later I am still waiting for the Vatican to respond. In the light of subsequent revelations the continuing failure within the Vatican City State to take up that challenge was a wise decision.
Nothing has come to light from any quarter since 1984 to cause me to alter the conclusions I had arrived during the research and writing of this book. Indeed the additional evidence that has come to hand which is examined in a postscript to this edition further confirms those original conclusions.
David A. Yallop
January 27th 2007
Preface
This book, the product of nearly three years’ intensive research, would not exist without the active help and co-operation of many people and many organizations. Very many of these only agreed to help on the strict understanding that they remained publicly unidentified. As with previous books I have written under similar conditions I respect their wishes. On this occasion there is an even greater need to protect their identity. As will become clear to the reader, murder is a frequent accompaniment to the events recorded here. A considerable number of those murders remain officially unsolved. No one should doubt that the individuals responsible for those deaths have the capacity to murder again. To reveal the names of men and women who provided me with crucial help and who are now at risk would be an act of criminal irresponsibility. To them I owe a particular debt. Their reasons for divulging a wide range of information were many and varied but again and again I heard the remark, ‘The truth must be told. If you are prepared to tell it, then so be it.’ I am deeply grateful to all of them and to the following, who with the greatest respect I classify as the tip of the iceberg:
Professor Amedeo Alexandre, Professor Leonardo Ancona, William Aronwald, Linda Attwell, Josephine Ayres, Alan Bailey, Dr Shamus Banim, Dr Derek Barrowcliff, Pia Basso, Father Aldo Belli, Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, Marco Borsa, Vittore Branca, David Buckley, Father Roberto Busa, Dr Renato Buzzonetti, Roberto Calvi, Emilio Cavaterra, Cardinal Mario Ciappi, Brother Clemente, Joseph Coffey, Annaloa Copps, Rupert Cornwall, Monsignor Ausilio Da Rif, Dr Guiseppe Da Ros, Maurizio De Luca, Danielle Doglio, Monsignor Mafeo Ducoli,
Father François Evain, Cardinal Pericle Felici, Father Mario Ferrarese, Professor Luigi Fontana, Mario di Francesco, Dr Carlo Frizziero, Professor Piero Fucci, Father Giovanni Gennari, Monsignor Mario Ghizzo, Father Carlo Gonzalez, Father Andrew Greeley, Diane Hall, Doctor John Henry, Father Thomas Hunt, William Jackson, John J. Kenney, Peter Lemos, Dr David Levison, Father Diego Lorenzi, Edoardo Luciani, William Lynch, Ann McDiarmid, Father John Magee, Sandro Magister, Alexander Manson, Professor Vincenzo Masini, Father Francis Murphy, Monsignor Giulio Nicolini, Anna Nogara, Father Gerry O’Collins, Father Romeo Panciroli, Father Gianni Pastro, Lena Petri, Nina Petri, Professor Pier Luigi Prati, Professor Giovanni Rama, Roberto Rosone, Professor Fausto Rovelli, Professor Vincenzo Rulli, Ann Ellen Rutherford, Monsignor Tiziano Scalzotto, Monsignor Mario Senigaglia, Arnaldo Signoracci, Ernesto Signoracci, Father Bartolomeo Sorges, Lorana Sullivan, Father Francesco Taffarel, Sister Vincenza, Professor Thomas Whitehead, Phillip Willan. I am also grateful to the following organizations: the Augustinian Residence, Rome, Banco San Marco, the Bank of England, the Bank of International Settlements, Basle, the Bank of Italy, Catholic Central Library, Catholic Truth Society, City of London Police, the Department of Trade, Statistics and Market Intelligence Library, the English College, Rome, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Gregorian University, Rome, New Cross Hospital Poisons Unit, Opus Dei, the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the Tribunal of the Ward of Luxembourg, US Department of State, US District Court Southern District of New York, Vatican Press Office, and Vatican Radio.