City of Secrets: The Startling Truth Behind the Vatican Murders

Front Cover
Harper Collins, Oct 13, 2009 - Biography & Autobiography - 336 pages

On the night of Monday, May 4, 1998, in Vatican territory, the bodies of the commander of the Swiss Guard, his wife, and a young lance corporal were found in the barracks of the picturesque force entrusted with protecting the pope. It was the worst bloodbath to take place in more than a century in the heart of the supreme authority of the world's one billion Catholics. Four hours later, the Vatican announced that the lance corporal, twenty-three-year-old Cédric Tornay, had shot the couple, then committed suicide in "a fit of madness" brought on by frustration with the unit's discipline -- a conclusion it reaffirmed after a nine-month internal inquiry.

But as John Follain's hard-hitting exposé shows, the official report was a travesty, a tissue of suppositions, contradictions, and omissions. Based on an exhaustive three-year investigation, City of Secrets reveals how the Vatican, the oldest and most secretive autocracy in the world, staged an elaborate plot to obstruct justice -- and hide the scandals it dared not confess.

From inside the book

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
12
Section 3
26
Section 4
37
Section 5
56
Section 6
72
Section 7
85
Section 8
114
Section 15
201
Section 16
206
Section 17
216
Section 18
228
Section 19
233
Section 20
244
Section 21
254
Section 22
261

Section 9
121
Section 10
132
Section 11
138
Section 12
165
Section 13
186
Section 14
190
Section 23
271
Section 24
281
Section 25
293
Section 26
302
Section 27
307
Copyright

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Page 11 - Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; fear rather
Page 12 - Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church,
Page 21 - To you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Page 108 - able to find out how the pope was, and who he saw from day to day. It would be privy to quite a few secrets about the cardinals, their health, that kind of thing. And among the cardinals is John Paul's successor. Never forget that for Opus
Page 10 - work as if everything depends on you, and pray as if everything depends on God.
Page 230 - will faithfully, loyally, and honorably serve the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II and his legitimate successors, and also
Page 184 - in those days men did not bedeck themselves in gold, and those you see painted there were never very rich. They were holy men who despised
Page 84 - All these precautions are useless. As soon as I go out, dressed in white from head to foot, I'ma target they can't possibly miss.
Page 108 - knowledge is power. It would be able to get anyone into the Vatican; the guards wouldn't breathe a word. You have access, you have freedom.
Page 4 - will faithfully, loyally, and honorably serve the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II and his legitimate successors,

About the author (2009)

John Follain is an investigative journalist and author. He was a correspondent for Reuters in Paris from 1993 to 1997, where he researched and wrote the Carlos story. He is now bureau chief of the Associated Press in Rome.

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