In God's Name

This book, product of more than three years' intensive investigation, unfolds a story so powerful in its revelations, so persuasively argued, so shocking in its inescapable conclusions that it is certain to make a stunned world take note. For, in this detailed and meticulously researched document, published simultaneously in 8 languages, the world will learn that on September 28, 1978, a murder was committed "in God's name"--The murder of Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul I. Not long after he became the 263rd Pope, John Paul I threw open the windows and shutters in the papal apartments and decreed that they should stay open. It was an act that seemed to symbolize the papacy of the man the press called the "smiling Pope." He was the world's pastor, not its prince. When he died suddenly just thirty-three days after his reign had begun, he had written no encyclicals, given no major speeches, .and made no important appointments. There simply had not been enough time. Or had there been? As David Yallop reveals, Pope John Paul I had, by the evening of September 28, 1978, decided on startling changes that would affect the doctrine, finances and hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. These changes would be opposed by many, among them six powerful men who knew that the Pope's decisions could mean the end of their careers if not their lives. Unless, of course, they acted first. Early on the morning of September 29, Albino Luciani was found dead. No official death certificate has ever been issued. No autopsy was performed. The cause of death, referred to by the Vatican in vague terms, in fact remains unknown. When, at 7:27 a.m. on that fateful September day, Vatican Radio announced that John Paul I had succumbed to a heart attack sometime the previous evening, the cover-up of the true circumstances surrounding his death had already been underway for crucial hours--while a vow of silence was imposed on members of the Papal household, and critical evidence disappeared. Now, in this fully documented minute-by-minute account of John Paul I's last hours and the events that followed, David Yallop reveals how the intricate web of Vatican lies was fabricated and explores the motives and opportunities of the six powerful men who stood at the center of a deadly conspiracy.--Adapted from dust jacket.