A Pius Man_A Holy Thriller

by Declan Finn

  The Pope laughed, a loud, booming sound, like rolling thunder. “God in Heaven, XO must have enjoyed that.”

  The smaller priest nodded. “You could say that, Your Holiness. He had my father throw the Cardinal in and lock the room.”

  “And lose the key, one presumes?”

  “Something like that. I believe XO mentioned mourning the fact that we do not have any good dungeons to throw people in.”

  Pius nodded. “For the Cardinal, even I would consider an exception. But I am certain we have some reasonably uncomfortable places to put him.” He paused, then looked at the other priest intently. “How certain are we that Mikhailov is dead?”

  “Did you ever see The Wizard of Oz, Your Holiness?”

  “I have heard some things about it, yes.”

  “Sean Ryan did everything but conjure up a tornado and drop the hangar on him,” Father Williams told him. “It is a reasonable assumption to conclude that he is deceased. Even if they find parts of his body after the explosion, the parts themselves will be small enough to put into Tupperware. Sandwich-sized Tupperware.”

  “But we still have other members of his organization alive and not captured, correct?” the Pope asked.

  Father Williams nodded. “True. But from what Manana tells us, Ioseph Mikhailov was the moving factor behind the operation. Revenge and some profit were his motives. The others were interested in naught but money.”

  “Possible. In any event, I think we can keep Cardinal Cannella under arrest until the plot is brought up at the United Nations. The Italian government is quite put out about it, thus far.”

  “With the countries involved behind this, or with Sean Ryan?”

  The Pope gave a small cough. “According to the reports they received, everyone responsible for the destruction at the airport has been arrested.”

  Father Frank raised a brow. “Indeed?”

  “Of course. After all, if the assassins had not been there and resisted arrest, then none of the damage would have occurred, and therefore, they are responsible for it.”

  “Of course, Your Holiness… you do realize that this is the reason that ‘Jesuitical’ is sometimes regarded as having a negative connotation?”

  “Why, Father Williams, I am a Jesuit, after all.”

  “So Sean Ryan will not be deported.”

  “No. He will stay to finish training our priests. He thinks it’ll take another few weeks.” Pope Pius XIII smiled. “They should be interesting.”

  “Indeed. They certainly will not be dull.”

  Author's Notes

  Some of you may be wondering how much of this novel is true and how much is false. Unlike some books, I’m not going to say “everything with politics, the Roman Catholic Church, and Russia is true, except for the obvious,” and leave it there. That’s just an invitation for everything to go sideways.

  Many of the footnotes and texts quoted from in this book are found in the novel. Pinchas Lapide is a real author, and his book and his resume is painted in this book as accurately as I can manage. Concerning the references on Pius XII, it depends on which side of the fence you prefer. If you are interested in the case for Pius, you can also consult the works of Ronald Rychlak, Sister Margherita Marchione, Rabbi David Dalin, Robert Graham, Pierre Blet, Ralph McInerny, and Martin Gilbert. Most recently, there is Mark Riebling’s Church of Spies, where we discover that Pope Pius XII, in real life, put a hit out on Hitler more than twice. It’s been suggested that there have been five assassination attempts on Adolf that were all backed by Pope Pius XII. Yes, really. Eugenio Pacelli always stressed that he backed the assassination attempts as a private citizen, not under the auspices of the Papal Office, trying to distinguish between his actions as Pacelli as opposed to his actions as Pope Pius XII. To my knowledge, Pius XII never directly commissioned an assassination attempt, as I have presented with James Ryan. That part is completely fictional — as far as I know.

  The best modern work in this area may be Rychlak, if you’re seeking a general, overall look at the topic, though Riebling has made the Pope’s personal war into a great, readable work. For personal testimony, and reasons why Pius should be included at Yad Vashem, read Lapide. The cause for sainthood is well looked at by Marchione. Alan Bullock’s Hitler: A Study in Tyranny had nothing to do with the Pope — but you can find footnotes on plots to kill Adolf Hitler, where the Pope was an intermediary.

  The Vatican spy hunter, Robert A. Graham, SJ, had an amusing look at Nazi espionage against the Vatican during World War II titled Nothing Sacred — however, it is only amusing if one has a dark sense of humor. He had an entire chapter dedicated to Nazis attempting to infiltrate the Church, only to flunk out in the seminary. Also, the additional security precautions on behalf of the Vatican are mapped out there as well.

  The “anti-Pius” side could be summed up by Susan Zuccolti, John Cornwell, Rolf Hochhuth, Michael Phayer, James Carroll, and Gary Wills. I have noted only a few of the factual errors I have found inherent in each of these works spread throughout the novel. As George Orwell showed in 1984, the easiest way to rewrite history is to ignore the inconvenient parts, shoving them down the memory hole. Personal motivations attributed to the authors in this book are the opinions of the characters — who, it should be noted, all have heavy doses of paranoia as part of their jobs. If you take offense, well, Sean Ryan offends a lot of people, not just you.

  The history here is completely true, with the exception of Pope Pius XII personally sending assassins after Hitler and his upper echelon. Most of the arguments that have been presented in real life, for and against Pius XII, have been inserted into the book. The author of Hitler’s Pope, for example, really did backpedal about Pius, turning his attention towards Pope John Paul II not long after the Pope died in 2005. At least one source used false documents by a convicted forger, and yet other researchers have used real sources, leaving out data that exonerates Pius XII — some have argued deliberately.

  The discussion of the Soviets’ policy toward religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular is well documented. Rolf Hochhuth’s play, The Deputy, which first accused Pius XII of supporting the Nazis, really was supported by the USSR. Try The Sword and the Shield by Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrews for the history between Rome and Moscow. Andropov’s plan to separate the Church of Rome from the American Catholic Church is real — the details, obviously, are made up. The list of terrorist groups whom the Soviets had supported is real, and is longer than is portrayed in the novel. Additional material can be taken from the works of Robert A. Graham, SJ. The Mikhailov family is, to my knowledge, a complete fabrication, though the history around them isn’t.

  The idea of raising children to be assassins is not a new concept. Military training of children goes back as far as ancient Sparta, and continues today. On another note, there are children with black belts in various martial arts.

  Much of the situation in the Sudan is historically true; obviously, Joshua Cardinal Kutjok was not there. Any Lexis-Nexis search on the war in Sudan can footnote what has been mentioned.

  The Goyim Brigade, anything on a “new” Knights Templar, or Vatican Intelligence, is completely a product of my deluded imagination. I hope. Any and all similarities between the characters in the book and real people are completely miraculous. If any of them are real, I would like to meet none of them in a dark alley anytime soon. They’re probably hired as Vatican Ninjas.

  Everything political, and referred to in past tense, is true — about the Soviet Union, the United Nations and their resolution against Israel, legal action against the Church in the United States, etc. The analysis of those facts is purely that of my characters, who are, again, paranoid by profession.

  The technologies of the nonlethal weapons in this book are real, and not science fiction. See the Time Magazine article from July 21, 2002, “Beyond the Rubber Bullet.” How much of it is actually manufactured in reality is anyone’s guess — preferably, someone who can guess better t
han I do.

  Dear reader,

  Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I hope you loved it! Reviews like yours are the lifeblood of independent authors. Please take a moment to stop by Amazon.com and leave an honest review of this story. Even something as simple as, “I really loved it - 5 stars!” is a huge help. Even if you completely hated the story, please let us know!

  Declan Finn

  About Declan Finn

  Declan Finn lives in a part of New York City unreachable by bus or subway. Who’s Who has no record of him, his family, or his education. He has trained in hand to hand combat and weapons at the most elite schools in Long Island, and figured out nine ways to kill with a pen when he was only fifteen. He escaped a free man from a PhD program in history. He’s been on the run ever since. There was a brief incident where he was branded a terrorist, but only a court order can unseal those records. And really, why would you want to know? He is currently hard at work on the sequel to his vampire novel “Honor At Stake.” You can find his ramblings over at The Catholic Geeks and his rantings on writing at www.declanfinn.com. To hear him really rant and rave, check out his interview show at The Catholic Geek podcast, over at Blog Talk Radio. He is the author of The Pius Trilogy.

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Foreward

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue: A Pius Obsession

  Chapter I: A Pius Cop

  Chapter II: A Pius Mercenary

  Chapter III: A Pius Visitor

  Chapter IV: A Pius Mission

  Chapter V: A Pius Death

  Chapter VI: A Pius Spy

  Chapter VII: A Pius Interrogation

  Chapter VIII: The Days of Wine and Wafers

  Chapter IX: A Pius Operative

  Chapter X: The Men In Black

  Chapter XI: Stairway To Hell

  Chapter XII: A Pious Goy

  Chapter XIII: Cardinal Sins

  Chapter XIV: Bankrupt

  Chapter XV: Buried Bodies

  Chapter XVI: A Pius Beginning

  Chapter XVII: A Pius Man

  Chapter XVIII: A Pius Veteran

  Chapter XIX: A Pius Plan

  Chapter XX: A Pius Army

  Chapter XXI: An Impious Plan

  Chapter XXII: Final Destination

  Epilogue

  Author's Notes

  About Declan Finn

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