Vatican Crime

‘This 5-star thriller is a non-stop action-packed adventure… Reads like the latest blockbuster film… I was left breathless, my heart pounding as I turned the last page’ NetGalley review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ You’ve cracked the Da Vinci code, now uncover the Vatican secret… The deepest...

Father Michael Dominic is mere weeks from his wedding to Hana Sinclair when an art restorer dies inside the Vatican's Borgia Apartments, and a sealed niche behind Pinturicchio's frescoes surrenders a five-hundred-year-old secret. A ledger, a founding charter, and a reliquary pendant cataloging one hundred and eleven objects spirited out of Rome in the dying hours of Alexander VI's pontificate. The documents name a trafficking confraternity—the Sisters of the Sacred Vigil—chartered to move Borgia assets into the shadows and never disband. They never did.

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.

Father Michael Dominic, prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives in Rome, is entrusted with the mission of transporting the original 17th century trial documents of Galileo to Loyola Law School in Chicago. The stage is set for a modern historical mock trial of Galileo’s original heresy charges, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the legendary event.

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.

"Officially" the Vatican has no espionage service; but does no one carry out intelligence operations on its behalf? During the Second World War and Cold War, Rome was teeming with spies. A band of undercover monsignors and priests hunted for Vatican "moles," led clandestine diplomacy, investigated assassinations of priests and other scandals threatening the Church, and conducted high-risk missions behind the Iron Curtain.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.