Murder in the Vatican

by Lucien Gregoire

  The hole in this theory is that anyone tampering with the vials would have no way of knowing Lorenzi would cover up the deed. Had he not covered up there would surely have been an autopsy.

  Regardless, in conclusion, we have no chance of natural death or suicide. Though there remains a remote possibility of accident and cover up, we know, with a reasonable degree of certainty, John Paul was murdered. There are no other ways one can die.

  Murder

  Yet, just how was he murdered? How does one kill a pope?

  To answer these questions, we must first clear up some loose ends—the time of death for example. Yes, let us take the time to close the door on that one.

  All the witnesses agree he retired shortly after nine o’clock.

  If one believes the doctor who declared him dead, the Pope died before midnight.1 If one believes the embalmers—the body was still warm—he died in the early morning hours.2

  At first, this discrepancy in testimony as to when the Pope had died—the doctor versus the undertakers—was widely reported in the press. Since it seemed immaterial the press dropped it as an issue.

  Today, we know the time of death is quite material as it answers many questions including the most puzzling of all. How could he be dressed in daytime clothes and still be reading at midnight? As we have said before, if one intends to read oneself to sleep, one will first don one’s bedclothes and climb in between the sheets.

  It would mean the Pope had risen at his usual time, of about four o’clock, turned off the alarm, completed his morning toilet, dressed for the day, and sat himself up in his bed reading while he waited for the coffee knock on the door—just as the nun had assumed.

  If the embalmers were right—embalmers have more experience than do doctors in examining recently expired corpses—this would mean the Pope may have died as late as four-thirty in the morning.

  In that the night had been chilly and the windows were open would further substantiate the embalmers claim the Pope could not have been dead for much more than an hour as the chilly air would have accelerated the body’s cooling.

  To fix the time of murder, one must consider motive. Would the embalmers have had any reason to lie? At least to this author, they would have had no reason to have lied. It is reasonable to believe influenced by John Paul II nine years later they changed their story for Cornwell that they had arrived after dawn and not before dawn—a story contradicted by the Vatican motor pool records.21

  Yet, would the doctor have had motive to lie? Would Cardinal Villot, who issued the press release the Pope died before midnight, have had motive to lie? The answer is a resounding “Yes.”

  There would be nothing unusual about embalming eight hours after death because Italian law which prohibited embalming earlier than twenty-four hours after death did not apply in the Vatican.

  But, it would be highly unusual to have embalmed immediately after death—particularly, to have roused the embalmers at five in the morning when the body would not lie in state until noon.

  It makes all the sense in the world that Villot and the doctor lied about the time of death to place considerable time between death and the embalming to avoid suspicion of poisoning. Yet, Villot erred by including in the release he had performed the last rites, when it was known no priest would do such a thing over a cold corpse.

  The Vatican implied time of death unimportant, “It is immaterial when the Pope died; all that matters is he was found dead.”3

  The Vatican made this statement because it knew the time of death was material to the possibility of foul play.

  Had the Pope died before midnight, as the doctor claimed, foul play was unlikely; but, if he had died early in the morning, as the embalmers claimed, the likelihood of foul play was almost certain.

  It may be Villot knew the Pope had died before midnight. Either Lorenzi or Vincenza or someone else involved in an accident had confided in him. Or could Villot have been involved in a conspiracy to murder his boss? We will examine these things as we go along.

  “Light…by the grace of God”

  “…The light was on …”1 tells us much more.

  The police in the square had taken note of John Paul’s practice to leave his windows open as his first few evenings in the palace were hot and uncomfortable. Paul, before him, on hot nights would have the windows closed—he slept in air conditioning. John Paul was a fresh air fiend—he preferred to sleep with the windows open.

  So much so, they had a pool going—with the nights growing colder as to when the Pope was going to close his windows. They were certain the Pope’s light was not on at three in the morning as it was at that time the changing of police in the square took place and they would check the windows to see if anyone had won the pool.17

  The press took his open windows as symbolic of his papacy. “He will open the windows of the Church and let in the ‘free’ air.”16

  Regardless, had the Pope’s light been on all night it would have surely been reported in the news. There were times Paul’s light had not gone off until after 2 o’clock in the morning—always reported in the newspapers the next day. Also, hundreds of tourists roam the square at night and the papal bedroom is a focal point not only from the square but from the surrounding district as well.

  There was no notice in any newspaper the Pope’s light was on all night. On the other hand, several newspapers reported the next day the Pope’s light came on at about its usual time. 17

  ‘Its usual time,’ had been so unusual it had become a topic of conversation. For fifteen years during the reign of Paul VI and for five years during the reign of John XXIII and for nineteen years during the reign of Pius XII the light would go on about six o’clock.

  On the day following Luciani’s election the light came on at four o’clock. Even for a man-of-the-cloth, he was an early riser. That he was on-the-job at four o’clock was widely reported in newspapers.18

  We know from the police in the square the light was not on at three in the morning. Early-rising Romans who habitually checked the Pope’s windows testified his light came on at its usual time. So we have the fact, the light was not on all night. Either the Pope or someone else turned it on at about 4 o’clock in the morning.

  That the light was not on all night does not destroy the ‘Lorenzi’ scenario as a possibility, as he would have turned it off before midnight. He would have done this because he knew that when the police in the square noticed the light on all night they would surely notify the Swiss Guard in the Vatican to investigate.

  This would have been true of anyone who may have killed the Pope before midnight—they would have turned the light off and returned before dawn to turn it back on as to not arouse suspicions. It is also true of anyone who may have killed him before four o’clock in the morning—they would have turned it on at its usual time as not to arouse suspicion. Sufficient light to commit the deed would have come through the drape-less windows.

  The great weight of evidence, the testimony of the embalmers and that the light came on at 4 o’clock in the morning tells us John Paul was murdered sometime before 4 o’clock in the morning—with a reasonable degree of confidence between 3:30AM and 4:00AM.

  To this day, the official position of the Vatican remains, the Pope died before midnight and the light was on all night—by chance the police and the crowds who roam the square at night and those who lived in surrounding buildings had not noticed it had been on all night. Perhaps, too, “by the grace of God.”

  Now, let us consider the possible instruments of murder.

  Poison

  There is the supposition John Paul was poisoned at dinner. In the alphabet of poisons from A to Z one can conceal in food or drink, there is not one which allows the victim to go unscathed for hours and suddenly result in instant death. This includes everything from cyanide to the deadly Barbados nut.19

  We can eliminate slow-arsenic poisoning as, as in Paul’s case, he would have been too ill to continue his office for weeks.


  We have already eliminated the digitalis-Effortil myth.

  Creatures

  A killer can kill in one of two ways. He either performs the deed himself or he employs another person or creature to carry out the deed. Let us first eliminate the possibility of a creature.

  Other than poison, animals leave physical signs of destruction.

  There are snakes which incisors are so fine they might not have been detected by the embalmers. The puff adder has incisors so fine that unless the victim actually sees the snake strike, he may not be aware he has been bitten. It has venom so powerful it results in near instant paralysis which could be consistent with how the body was found. Yet, being a large snake, it is easily detected under covers.

  Yet, there exists no creature so poisonous it kills instantly. All of them allow, at the very least, a few minutes to seek help.

  An exception is the giant golden scorpion. The pale yellow scorpion kills more people on a per-capita basis than does any other creature on earth because it lives in the desert where few people live. Yet, it injects very little venom which allows one time to seek help. On the other hand, a mutation of the pale yellow species, the giant golden scorpion injects enough venom to kill ten men on the spot.

  In 1973, Bishop Casaroli was one of two dozen survivors on a French Caravelle jet which crashed in the Moroccan Mountains killing over a hundred passengers. While awaiting rescue crews, two of the survivors were killed by this predator.

  Because of this coincidence, in earlier editions of Murder in the Vatican, I examined the possibility John Paul may have been killed by a scorpion. Many came away with the conviction a scorpion had killed the Pope. So, I am guilty of creating a few myths myself.

  My success in creating such a myth was made possible partially because scorpions kept by Casaroli in the miniature desert in the gardens at the Castle Gandolfo disappeared shortly after John Paul’s death. Yet, it is likely the bishop removed them to avoid rumors arising than it was they had actually been involved in the deed.

  If one considers the remote possibility someone came from the roof of the adjoining buildings and threw something down into the open window, of creatures, a scorpion would make the most sense as scorpions are instinctively attracted to human body temperature—the reason desert campers are warned never to sleep on the ground.

  Yet, there is a more compelling reason to exclude creatures.

  It would be a poor choice of other available methods.

  It involves chance and would require removal of the creature after the deed. If one was talking fiction, it would be a good choice. But, in the case of a real life murder, particularly one involving a head-of-state, it does not pass the test of common sense.

  Guns, knives, smothering with pillows

  In the covert murder of a pope, one does not resort to poisons, creatures, or, for that matter, knives, guns or blunt instruments. Since the eleventh century all popes have lay-in-state on an open catafalque. One must take care not to damage the face or hands. If a pope lay in state in a closed casket it would rile up more than rumor.

  Two things suggest how John Paul was murdered. The position the body was found and the embalmers did not detect violence.

  We have explained the position of the body. We have examined every possible way he could have died and none of them would have left the body in the position it was found. So we have a third fact, someone sat him up in bed in his daytime clothes with his glasses on reading papers held upright in his hands with the light on.

  Cornwell’s A Thief in the Night offers an interesting hypothesis to explain the position he was found which would be consistent with his having died of natural causes: “Magee noticed light coming from beneath the bedroom door at about eleven o’clock at night and entered to investigate. He found the Pope dead on the floor. He roused Lorenzi and the two spent the night reminiscing about the Pope. They dressed him in his daytime clothes reading for the nun to find in the morning.”12 Lorenzi and Magee deny this in his book.

  Yet, if the pope had died of natural causes, foul play or any other cause we know this to be a fact, someone sat him up in bed in his daytime clothes with his glasses on reading papers held upright in his hands with the light on. For none of these could have left him in the position he was found. We know this for another reason, John Paul, himself, would have never placed the glasses on his nose.

  Cornwell, seals his case John Paul died of ‘pulmonary embolism’ with Magee’s testimony the Pope spent two hours walking in the salon that afternoon to help his swollen feet—a condition mentioned in the Vatican release which we know today he did not suffer from.15 Even if he did suffer from swollen feet, it does not take a doctor to tell one the worst thing for swollen feet is to walk on them.

  In his testimony to Cornwell, the newly appointed bishop Magee not only claims the Pope walked for two hours the afternoon before his death, but on every afternoon of his papacy, “Every day, through those thirty-three days, he walked on the roof for two hours.”12

  Dr. Da Ros would confirm this in his interview with Andrea Tornelli many years later. Because the Vatican was more confined than Venice, he had advised the Pope in addition to his morning exercises to walk a couple of hours at a brisk pace each day.15

  Two hours, at a normal walking pace, or a moderate exercise pace, is eight miles a day. How many people walk eight miles a day and suddenly succumb instantly to a sudden circulatory condition?

  After nine years of silence, Lorenzi would add ‘chess pain’ to the soup. Magee would verify the Vatican’s claim of ‘swollenfeet.’ Lina Petri would shout ‘pulmonary embolism.’ 1, 2, 3, case closed!

  Regardless, concerning the embalmers did not detect physical signs of violence—there are limited methods which would not leave visible evidence: asphyxiation, gas and lethal injection.

  One might imagine a methanol, ethanol, chloroform or other chemical saturated gauze or sponge held over the face. Although these chemicals can be fatal, there is not one among them which does not leave a lingering odor for hours particularly in bedclothes.

  There are some odorless deadly gases like nerve gas. Yet, there is not one of these deadly chemicals if applied in this fashion that would not kill everyone within the room not wearing a gasmask.

  Finally, one could imagine an odorless lethal gas seeping into the room. Someone could had come from another building and thrown a gas grenade down into his window from the roof above. Yet, his two cockatiels remained alive in their cage in the corner of the room.

  Who killed the Pope and how?

  How the Pope was killed tells us who killed the Pope and vice versa. For example, if digitalis or other ingested poison was involved one knows an amateur killed the Pope. Conversely, if professional killers had been employed, it tells us how the Pope was killed.

  It may seem more sinister and sell many more books to think of disgruntled old men of the Curia spiking the Pope’s soup. Yet, this is not how popes are murdered in a modern era.

  When one considers the murder of a head of state—in this case a controversial and dangerous man in the eyes of his enemies—there is no sensible alternative other than to engage professional killers.

  David Yallop’s bestseller In God’s Name concludes ‘Whoever killed Albino Luciani was no amateur.’ We take no exception to his conclusion. John Paul was murdered by professional hit men. This narrows the instrument of death to lethal injection.

  This also narrows the search for the killers, something we will talk about in what is yet to come. Of Gladio, Condor, the Mafia and all the other killer organizations operating in Italy at the time, only one had a physical presence in the Vatican in the fall of 1978—P2

  Regardless, when ‘no trace of foul play’ is a necessary ingredient in the recipe for murder, this is the choice of professional killers.

  The perpetrators would have no room for error. Lethal injection requires someone from the medical or scientific communities and/or professional killers. It requires professional expertis
e.

  One has to employ a toxin which will stop the heart instantly to avoid struggle. Such toxins are not readily available. One has to know how much of the toxin to inject. One has to know where to inject it. For example, 10ccs of potassium cyanide injected directly into the Vargas Nerve will result in instant paralysis and death.

  One would avoid a toxin having the properties of an element which would assay of foul play as one could not guarantee autopsy would be performed. Canon law clearly allows for autopsy of a pope or cardinal when murder is suspected.20

  Insofar as elements can assay of foul play centuries after death, practiced killers would have surely avoided employing one. If John Paul’s tomb was opened today it may not yield evidence of foul play. On the other hand, as we shall prove, if one were to exhume Paul Vl’s tomb today, it would wobble the Vatican Empire.

  Lethal injection is the only method of murder consistent with the known facts of the case. A needle leaves a tiny mark. If wiped of the tinge of blood, it would not have been noticed by the embalmers.

  Lina Petri told Cornwell “his sleeves were all torn.”12 The extent of the damage made clear by her use of the word ‘all.’

  Few popes go about in ragged clothes. He may have gotten away with it as a bishop and as a priest—but not as a pope.

  It suggests a struggle took place possibly while he was wearing his daytime clothes—those he was found in. Although I do not agree with Lina’s ‘opinion’ as to the cause of her uncle’s death, I don’t believe she lied. She would have had no reason to have lied.

  If he had struggled, an injection could have left more than a tinge of blood—more than could be swiped with an inch square cotton pad a killer would bring along. The killer may have reached down by the side of the bed and picked up one of the white slipper-socks to clean excess blood, he would have been a fool to leave the other behind.

  Sleeping?

  We have already determined the position he was found—sitting up in his daytime clothes with his glasses on reading with papers still upright in his hands—was staged by the killers.