The Last Pope?

Johnpauli_5

That sound you hear is the bottom of the Fiction Writers Think Tank being scraped for the last residue of an original idea. An author who came up short when he did the scraping was Portuguese author Luis Miguel Rocha, who had to rely instead on the old, discredited canard that Pope John Paul I was murdered before he could shovel out the stables of the Vatican Bank.

"Portuguese author and scriptwriter Luis Miguel Rocha said he based The Last Pope on documents he obtained through an undisclosed Vatican source, which he will make public when the novel is published in April.

"The novel puts the theory that John Paul I had become a threat because he was aware of money-laundering involving the Vatican Bank and also because of his plans to liberalise aspects of centuries-old church doctrine.

"’He wanted to be the last wealthy pope. John Paul I wanted to redistribute the riches of the church, open the church to women and authorise the use of contraceptives,’ said Rocha, 29, in a weekend interview.

"The novel depicts the assassination of John Paul I as the result of a conspiracy involving top financial officials, several European governments and a Mafia group that counted top officials of the Roman Curia, including the pontiff’s personal secretary, among its members."

GET THE STORY.

GET THE REAL STORY ON JPI’S DEATH.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once told the story of being approached by a young priest who demanded to know why the Church was so rich. Archbishop Sheen gave him the standard answer to this common question but the priest wasn’t satisfied. He kept pounding on the question until finally Sheen took him aside and asked him bluntly, "Father, how much have you stolen from the collection plate?" Sheen’s guess was on-target: The young priest was skimming from the parish funds and rationalizing his behavior by convincing himself that the Church was too rich anyway.

I’m no Archbishop Sheen, but my guess is that we can trace Luis Miguel Rocha’s dissatisfaction with the Church not to the alleged "murder" of Pope John Paul I, who Rocha claims would have liquidated the Church’s material assets, but instead to Rocha’s desire for women priests and contraceptives.

17 thoughts on “The Last Pope?”

  1. Michelle,
    Do you realize the kookery you’ve invited with this post? Oh, I can’t wait to hear what Realist and CatholicDefender have to say about this. Well, actually, I can wait and hope I will have to wait a very long time. 😉

  2. and authorise the use of contraceptives
    Surprise! Surprise!
    Some people have a daily devotion to the real presence of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.
    Some people have a daily devotion to the real presence of the Other Guy in the birth control pill.

  5. Note to combox conspiracy theorists:
    This post is not intended to be an invitation to conspiracy speculation on the death of John Paul I. An article to information on his death was linked. Conspiracy theory posts will be deleted (as they have been already). If such posts overwhelm my capacity to erase them, the comments on this post will be closed. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

  7. On my walk back to work from noontime Mass today, I had a thought, which I’m sure is far from original.
    In a sense, we should be glad that all of these attacks are being levied against the Catholic Church. It means that we’ve chosen our ecclesiastical affiliations wisely. The Devil knows who to attack.
    We must still fight tooth and nail to help save souls from falling victim to these attacks, however.

  8. What’s sad is that the true conspiracy theorist will see the deletion of his/her comments as even MORE evidence of an insidious and wide ranging cover-up of What Really Happened.
    God Rest Pope John Paul.

  9. I so badly want to make a comment regarding Fatima and Russia not being consecrated. 🙂 hee hee..
    Got to go to confession now.

  11. Cardinal Sodano said the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was done exactly as proscribed by Heaven.
    Do we have to believe him under penalty of sin ?

  12. “Conspiracy theory posts will be deleted.” Aw, Michelle! I was hoping to find out whether or not a duplicate key to the wardroom ice box really existed!

  13. “Ahh, but the strawberries that’s… that’s where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with… geometric logic… that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist!”.

  14. Of course, if JPI did intend to change Catholic teachings, maybe there was a 3-person conspiracy to remove him from power. Since those 3 persons have the same essence, it’s easy to keep it a secret.

  15. “What’s sad is that the true conspiracy theorist will see the deletion of his/her comments as even MORE evidence of an insidious and wide ranging cover-up of What Really Happened.”

    I agree, Tim, but decided to take that chance. If someone is really that paranoid, then whatever rebuttal fellow combox commenters might make would not convince him otherwise and the whole conversation would become a waste of time and energy.
    It’s fun knowing that I may now be considered by some a party to A Grand Conspiracy To Cover-Up Truth. 🙂

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