Customer Reviews

To Kill the Pope : An Ecclesiastical Thriller

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

whether or not you are willing to go outside the book for information. Only scholars will have the knowledge to follow the precise, abundant and very dense historical detail that is the alleged cause of the attempt on the life of the Pope.

Had I confined myself to the contents of this book I would perhaps be writing a one or possibly two star review. Even now I could write my thoughts from a solitary star, or a five star quincunx. If the last word irritates this book may not be to your liking.

What is this book, fiction, historically based fiction, or the truth as far as it is possible to relate today. From the Afterword, "To Kill The Pope" is a work of fiction. And then later on the same page, "The fictional form was adopted for "To Kill The Pope" in order to honor commitments of discretion to my principal sources".

Mr. Tad Szulc is eminently qualified to write on the topic of the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II. He also is clearly a man who has an extensive historical grasp of the Catholic Church in it's present, ancient, and all of its forms contained therein.

As I reached the halfway point I was ready to put this aside for when I had nothing else on my reading list. Luckily the Internet intervened and with a bit of research the book came into good focus, and would only improve with more effort. I have some website addresses that I will be happy to share if the reader is interested. These sites allowed the identification of some individuals, living and dead, from the information the Author provided, as well as some understanding of the Histories and facts that you will be buried in if they have no familiarity to you.

A sampling of references; Council of Ephesus in 449AD, 16th Century Council of Trent, affirmation of Trent by St. Pius X in 1903, Vatican II, which amongst other actions did away with the Latin Tridentine Mass, as well as the direction the Priest faces when Celebrating the service.

You will go back to the Crusades, read debates pertaining to an "ius bellum" "just war", the Commandment of not murdering as opposed to not killing. The difference is as important as the latter version is wrong. Schisms and heresies, and the "integrists" that populate them, Cathars, Waldenses heretics, The Messalians of Armenia, Priscillians in 4th century Spain, Paulicians, Bogomils, and even Joan Of Arc are brought to bear on the reader.

This is a 317-page book that could have run to 1,000 pages. Your enjoyment of it will be directly related to the knowledge you bring with you, or search for along the way. There is material that will give offense to some Catholics, and Natives of at least one Country. The concept of "Comparative Fundamentalisms" can be taken lightly, or seriously, and that will determine who is taken aback by the ideas it contains.

This is a great piece of work. It is NOT a casual read, it is NOT light Historical Fiction of which there is much available, some of it excellent, some of it is wretched.

To get enough from this book to really enjoy what the Author has crafted requires information you already have, or are willing to hunt down. This book made me work, and I felt well rewarded. Mr. Szulc has displayed dozens of topics and historical figures that I look forward to reading more about.

If you give the Author his due by expending extra time on this work you will be pleased that you did. This is not lightweight, this is not mediocrity, it is what you make of it.

I heartily recommend you enter headfirst!

The book arrived on Monday; I finished it on Wednesday. It is definitely a page turner of the first order. Does it answer the question of Why a Turkish gangster member of a Fascist group called the Gray Wolves was almost successful in assassinating Pope John Paul II in 1981? Maybe, maybe not. One is tantalized by the author's afterword, when Szulc states that his plot is truth, albeit the protagonists are either fictional or composites "to protect his sources." Unfortunately, there is no "Freedom of Information Act" to compel disclosure of his basic source document, and the CIA copy of the Vatican's investigative report would be unavailable as well. Does one need a scholar's knowledge of Roman Catholic history to enjoy this book to the fullest? Not at all, since Szulc fills in the blanks with admirable succinctness, albeit he is overwrought with the details of the the Roman violent suppression of the Cathar heresy/schism: he repeats the dates/facts at least six times without embellishment. Knowledge that it was the CIA that spread the disinformation charging that the KGB used the Bulgarians to have a right wing Turk assassinate the Pope is not mentioned. This by itself indicates that Szulc was in debt to the CIA for the details of his plot. Since the CIA and the FBI are both heavily loaded with conservative Catholics of the Opus Dei cult, this leak to Szulc is unsurprising. I could not rate it with five stars, since the minor liet motif of a romance between a late vocation Jesuit and a most attractive nun just doesn't work. But perhaps, because it is true, this romance is banal. This summer is truly the season of fictional imaginings surrounding historical events of recent vintage. Consider "The Confirmation" which is derived from the appointment of Gates as head of the CIA, and of course, "American Rhapsody" which surrounds the graffitti of Monica Gate with imagined pop psychology stream of consciousness. Szulc has not marred this ecclesiastical thriller with such cheap imaginings. His years as a reporter for the NY Times give him a crisp, complete no nonsense style, which makes this "expose" eminently readible.

If this is as accurate in broad brush as Szulc claims, then one wonders about the reactions in Rome and Southern France. The timing of publication is exquisite: it obviously triggered the release of the Third Secret of Fatima, despite Szulc's omission of any mention of it. One hopes that the paperback edition will include annotations. This review refers to the hardback version.

It depends on how you feel towards the Catholic Church , it is obvious that some of the fiction may have mistakes , but who cares , the point is the factual plot to kill the pope , and the simple conclusion that it must come from someone that will benefit from it and is very displeased with the ongoing dramas ,mysteries and others surrounding the Catholic Church , in short , if you are a church follower , you do not want this written down, if you are not , go for it , a very interesting plot , and very real.... leave the fanatism aside.

An ordinarily boring and implausible plot is rendered even more absurd by the author's amateurish attempts to portray much of the story as factual. If the perpetrators of this "conspiracy" were the people alleged by Szulc, the Vatican would have released all of the details in a heartbeat.

Thankfully, this author's attempt to calumniate one of the most important prelates of the 20th century is mitigated by the plethora of factual errors rampant throughout the story.

Rubbish.

It must have been divine intervention that saved the life of Pope Gregory XVII. In 1981, an Islamic assassin Agca Circli fired three shots at close range hitting the beloved French Pope and leaving the St. Peter's Square crowd stunned that the popular Pontiff tragically died. One bullet came within a fraction of hitting the aorta, but just missed. The first foreign Pope in over four centuries lives.

Though he believes in the will of Yahweh, Gregory decides to learn who employed Aqca to kill him. He assigns Jesuit investigator and former CIA agent Tom Savage to uncover the mortal truth behind the attack. Tom knows his trail will be dangerous as he travels the world following leads that smack of an international conspiracy.

TO KILL THE POPE is a dramatized account of the actual assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. Tad Szulic claims he learned about the real conspiracy during his research for his well-written biography on Pope John Paul II, but he fictionalized it to protect his sources. That is where the problem lies as the story line never decides whether to be a journalistic account of events or a historical fictionalized thriller. Though an intriguing subject and at times very interesting, overall TO KILL THE POPE kills itself with indecision as to genre type.

First of all, the most rediculous fictional mystery plot ever. The protagonist's investigation is unbelievebly lucky each step of the way. Second of all, the statement by the author "that all events prior to 1950 are accurate", causes the book to present a horribly distorted view of history as truthful. Last, it totally slanders both the Society of St. Pius V and the late Archbishop Lefebvre. Whatever the society's faults, this is absurd. Also, to really make matters worse, the Society of St. Pius V is referred to as the Fraternity of St Pius V throughout the book. This way, the author can also condem the Fraternity of St. Peter at the same time. Total Garbage!!!

This book is virtually unreadable. The author's frequent factual mistakes cast doubt on his research. By page 80, the author had Blackhawk helicopters flying in the Vietnam War and Cardinal John O'Conner being discussed as Cardinal O'Conner in 1972 when he didn't become the Archbishop of New York until the mid eighties. Additionally, the premise of a French Pope attacked by a Polish assassin as the fictional treatment of the attempt on John Paul II completely lacked credibility. And the characterization was stereotypical and unbelieveable. I couldn't get beyond page 80.