City of Secrets: The Startling Truth Behind the Vatican MurdersOn 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
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... Church to the Galilean fisherman Peter, the apostle whose legitimate descendants they consider themselves to be. In the form of a cross, the ring was given to the pope after his election, and its loss, albeit short-lived—it was soon ...
... ,with paradise and the inferno. The 264th Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles,Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church,is left alone to pray. SHORTLY BEFORE NOON on the day after the deaths at.
... Church had prompted so many different interpretations in so short a time. Outside the press office, television crews jostled for position to book the best view of St. Peter's Square, while in the austere lobby, journalists who were not ...
... Church in the early 1960s. There were still a few minutes to go before the start of the news conference, so from the front desk I picked up a copy of the Vatican's first pronouncement on the previous night. The statement was in slightly ...
... Church, and carries himself accordingly. Smooth of appearance and of manner, with the rugged good looks of a Castilian nobleman, he has attracted the interest of several of the women journalists accredited to the Vatican. But he has ...
Contents
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 |
Other editions - View all
City of Secrets: The Startling Truth Behind the Vatican Murders John Follain No preview available - 2009 |