To Kill The Pope: An Ecclesiastical Thriller - Softcover

Szulc, Tad

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1476774773 ISBN 13: 9781476774770

Publisher: Scribner, 2013

Synopsis

From the author of Pope John Paul II: A Biography comes a chillingly authentic conspiracy thriller based on actual, never-before-revealed facts surrounding the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II.

“One moment, the white-clad figure, holding on to the iron bar at the back seat of the white Jeep with the left hand, was blessing the faithful in a slow, circular motion of the right hand as the vehicle advanced gently through the human mass filling St. Peter's Square in the Vatican under the azure-blue sky of the May afternoon. The next moment, the figure in white was slumped, seemingly lifeless, in a pool of crimson blood sloshing in the rear of the Jeep...”

In May 1981, in the middle of the slow tour among pilgrims on St. Peter's Square, Gregory XVII, the beloved but often controversial French pope, is shot at close range. The would-be assassin is quickly caught and identifies himself as Agca Circlic, a Turk belonging to a terrorist group. But the recovering Gregory XVII—who has both deep faith and a philosophical turn of mind—is not satisfied with Circlic's arrest and sets out to discover who really wants him dead. He arranges to recruit Tim Savage, an American Jesuit and former CIA case officer, who soon discovers that the plot to kill the Pope originated not in the Middle East but very close to home.

To Kill the Pope is a fictional treatment of the real-life assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. In the course of researching his acclaimed biography of the Pope, Tad Szulc uncovered the truth about the conspiracy. The fictional format was chosen because, out of deference to his top-level sources, he could not reveal real names or disclose specific details. This information—including actual CIA testimony before United States Senate committees, the Agency's internal reports, French Secret Service involvements, and findings by Italian courts and Interpol—forms the basis for a shocking thriller that sheds new light on a key event in recent history.

About this title

Review:

Tad Szulc, a veteran foreign and diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times--as well as the author of a critically praised biography of John Paul--has better credentials than most thriller writers to decipher the truth behind the 1981 attempt by a Turkish national to assassinate Pope John Paul II. In To Kill the Pope, Szulc draws a veil of fiction over the actual investigation into the assassination attempt, which was instigated by the Vatican after the Italian government and worldwide intelligence services dropped their inquiries. While the author stipulates that the characters in the book are composites of actual persons, he also says that many are pure invention, which confuses any reader who might attempt to separate fact from fiction. Some of Szulc's fictional trappings are minor quibbles, like renaming Pope John Paul II "Pope Gregory" and making him a Frenchman rather than a Pole. But readers may be left wondering whether the blame the author affixes to a band of right-wing French Catholics, disturbed by the increasingly liberal tone of the Holy See after Vatican II, is an accurate appraisal of what really happened in 1981.

Szulc's protagonist is an American Jesuit scholar named Tim Savage, whose wartime CIA service in Vietnam prior to his vows makes him a logical choice to carry out the investigation. Already based in Rome, Savage is an expert on Muslim history and theology. Since speculation about the actual assassination attempt indicated the possible involvement of Muslim fanatics, Savage is doubly blessed with the right stuff for the mission. Although he receives his assignment directly from the Pope's private secretary, his investigation leads him to suspect that Monsignor de Sainte-Ange was deeply involved in the first attempt on the Pope's life, and is ready to try again. Savage's meeting with the excommunicated French archbishop, whose followers seek the destruction of the Mother Church, is the raison d'être for a fascinating excursion into the role of heresies in the Catholic religion. But the growing affection he feels for the nun assigned as his control, and the ensuing affair between them, is a less interesting diversion. Szulc is in command of his facts; one wishes he'd told this story in a more straightforward way, without the clumsy artifices apparently required to protect his sources in the church hierarchy. --Jane Adams

About the Author:

The late Tad Szulc was a foreign and Washington correspondent for The New York Times who covered major news stories on four continents and was the author of eighteen books, including the landmark Fidel, a biography of Castro; Then and Now: How the World Has Changed Since World War II; and The Illusion of Peace, all of which have won Overseas Press Club Awards for the Best Book on Foreign Affairs. He was Knight of the French Order of the Legion of Honor and a recipient of Columbia University's Maria Moors Cabot Gold Medal. He died in 2001.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1476774773
• ISBN 13: 9781476774770
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320