Vatican Crime

When ex-MI5 operative Joe Mason is sent to Rome to guard an elderly professor and his daughter, he thinks he’s in for an easy ride. But on their first day in the Vatican secret archives, a masked assassin gains entry, shoots Joe’s client in cold blood and steals an ancient manuscript. Giving chase, Joe can’t imagine what could lie within those pages that would make someone willing to kill. The search for answers leads Joe and his comrades in a race against time, across continents and into treacherous mountains.

It is one of the most ancient, arcane, and to some, embarrassing rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Yet the number of priests in Italy trained as exorcists has risen tenfold over the past decade - and they are still unable to keep up with the skyrocketing demand for their services. Award-winning foreign correspondent Tracy Wilkinson reveals that "devil detox", as some call it, is a booming industry, complete with motivational speakers, international conventions, and plenty of controversy.

Already infamous for the arbitrary, paranoid persecution of its own citizens throughout much of the 20th century, the Soviet Union - as is revealed in John Koeher’s revelatory, eye-opening exposé - also waged a vicious espionage campaign against the Catholic Church and its followers. From the persecution of local priests to an assassination order against Pope John Paul II, the KGB viewed Catholicism as a threat to stability in Eastern Europe and treated the church as an enemy of the State. Lifetime journalist and former U.S. Army Intelligence Officer John Koehler has written the definitive book on this startling history.

Marty and Bo are back and flush with money thanks to their alluring new business partner, Natalya, and her powerful Russian oligarch backer. The two friends are in Italy to buy an art foundry and close a multi-million dollar licensing deal with the Vatican. But when they arrive, they discover the stakes are far higher than they imagined.

The enduring influence of the Catholic Church has many sources, but in the first half of the 19th century, the foundations upon which the church had rested were shaken. For many people, liberalism in the guise of liberty, equality, and fraternity was the quintessence of the evils that shook those foundations. At the Vatican Council of 1869-1870, the church made an effort to set things right by defining the doctrine of papal infallibility. Author John W. O'Malley draws us into the bitter controversies over papal infallibility that at one point seemed destined to rend the church in two.

When the papal apartments are burgled in 1901, Sherlock Holmes is summoned to Rome by Pope Leo XII. After learning from the pontiff that several priceless cameos that could prove compromising to the church, and perhaps determine the future of the newly unified Italy, have been stolen, Holmes is asked to recover them. In a parallel story, Michelangelo, the toast of Rome in 1501 after the unveiling of his Pieta, is commissioned by Pope Alexander VI, the last of the Borgia pontiffs, with creating the cameos that will bedevil Holmes and the papacy four centuries later.

With a round, open face and a penchant for tall tales, Matteo de Lorenzo resembled everyone's kindly uncle. But Uncle Marty, as he was known throughout the Genovese crime family, was one of the New York mob's top earners throughout the 1960s and '70s, the mastermind of a billion-dollar trade in stolen and counterfeit securities.

In the heart of the English countryside, a discovery is made that threatens to overturn centuries of Church history. When Father Michael Dominic uncovers a cryptic diary leading to a lost 1st century Gospel, he is thrust into a labyrinth of deceit, murder, and controversy. Alongside Hana Sinclair, a savvy journalist, Michael sets out to unravel a mystery buried deep within the Church's past. The Confessions of Pope Joan is a gripping tale of courage and faith, charting their quest against a powerful adversary seeking to keep the truth hidden.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), or Vatican II, is arguably the most significant event in the life of the Catholic Church since the Reformation. The Council initiated, intentionally or not, profound changes not simply within Catholic theology, but in the religious, social, and moral lives of the world's billion Catholics. It also reconfigured, intellectually and practically, the Church's engagements with those outside of it—most obviously with regard to other religions.

Struggling writer and nearly bankrupt Sean O'Shea is searching for the blockbuster story from which he can create a best seller. The goal is to regain his financial independence and self-esteem. When he learns of a horrific 1936 UFO crash in Germany's Black Forest, he chases the story to its origin. The discovery of insidious Nazi involvement peaks his interest and when he unearths secret assassinations of previous investigators, he is hooked. As his probe continues, witnesses are murdered and he becomes the target of deadly agents sent by the most powerful man in the Vatican.

La Iglesia católica habría querido que estos crímenes permanecieran ocultos o que se olvidasen. Pero en los suntuosos salones y frente al altar de la Basílica de San Pedro también se mintió, también se robó, también se mató.

Los cuervos del Vaticano revela una historia de mayordomos traidores, filtraciones de documentos, comisiones secretas de investigación, del servicio de espionaje y contraespionaje del Vaticano, de prelados que denuncian la corrupción y que son alejados de inmediato de San Pedro, lavado de dinero, altos miembros de la mafia siciliana, un complot para asesinar al papa, una adolescente desaparecida y supuestamente utilizada como esclava sexual, una guerra entre periodistas y directivos de la prensa católica, un presidente del IOR cesado y con miedo a ser asesinado.

La scomparsa di Emanuela Orlandi e il massacro delle guardie svizzere sono due tra i casi più bui e intricati della recente storia Vaticana. Da una parte una ragazzina di appena 15 anni che sparisce senza motivi e, soprattutto, senza lasciare la minima traccia, nel pieno di un'estate romana come tante altre; dall'altra un doppio omicidio e un suicidio (per lo meno questa è la versione ufficiale dei fatti) che rappresentano il più grave fatto di sangue avvenuto in Vaticano nel secolo scorso.

A tutt'oggi sono poche le certezze sul caso Orlandi, la ragazzina di 15 anni scomparsa nel nulla il 22 giugno 1983. Forse la sola certezza è che di lei non si è saputo più niente di concreto. In questa brutta storia entrano a più riprese e a vario titolo bande criminali, terroristi internazionali, il Vaticano e, forse, addirittura servizi segreti di diversi paesi.

Sono circa le nove di sera del 4 maggio 1998 quando una suora sente dei rumori di colpi di arma da fuoco provenire da un appartamento non lontano dal Palazzo Apostolico di Roma. La suora corre e trova la porta dell'appartamento aperta. Si affaccia all'interno e scopre così uno dei più gravi delitti mai compiuti all'interno della città del Vaticano: in un lago di sangue trova il corpo del neo comandante delle guardie svizzere Alois Estermann, di sua moglie Gladys Meza Romero e del vice caporale Cedric Tornay.