anyone.
‘Petroni and the Vatican Bank have been up to their old murky dealings,’ Giovanni said. ‘Do you remember I told you that just before he was murdered, Pope John Paul sacked his Cardinal Secretary of State?’
‘And was about to sack Petroni and investigate the Vatican Bank,’ Allegra said. ‘I remember it well.’
‘At the time, the Head of the Freemasons Propaganda Two was one Giorgio Felici, a Sicilian thug operating as a Milanese banker. He’s now the Head of P2’s successor, P3, but he’s also been expanding his banking business. We used to have a very profitable small bank in the Veneto, the Banco del Sacerdozio.’
‘The Priests’ Bank?’
‘It was set up after the Second World War by a group of wealthy Catholic Venetian bankers to provide low interest loans to struggling workers in the vineyards and it also provided loans for centres for the handicapped and destitute in the Veneto. Banco del Sacerdozio was one of the best run and most profitable banks in Italy and it was protected from takeover by the Vatican owning 51 per cent of the shares. Last month the shares were sold to Giorgio Felici and he has foreclosed on all the loans.’
Anger flashed in Giovanni’s eyes as he remembered the meeting he had attended the month before in a little vineyard, one of dozens nestling in the southern foothills of the craggy, snow-capped peaks of the Dolomites. A meeting that revealed the desperation and hopelessness that the locals were feeling, faced with the prospect that their livelihood and support of their families would be callously ripped away from them by a faceless conglomerate.
‘Had I known, I could have gone to the Pope and had the sale postponed,’ Giovanni said.
‘Can’t you still go to him now?’ Allegra asked.
Giovanni shook his head. ‘Several years ago Petroni was instrumental in Giorgio Felici being appointed as the Pope’s financial adviser so I need proof. I’ve started my own internal investigation and when I have enough evidence I will go to the Pope and insist on a full-scale investigation of the Vatican Bank.’
‘The Pope may resist that,’ Allegra observed. ‘Especially if he’s being advised by Felici.’
‘Felici has strong connections to the Mafia and the Church should sever any dealings with him,’ Giovanni said, a hint of steel in his voice. ‘In the past the Church has owned companies that have manufactured bombs, bullets and tanks, as well as contraceptives. The only criteria for owning shares has been profitability and I suspect we’re at it again. If the Pope will not do what is necessary to clean out this cesspool in his own backyard I will call for a public inquiry.’
For Giovanni it would be a last resort, but Allegra knew he wouldn’t hesitate.
‘The Lord sometimes moves in strange ways,’ Giovanni said grimly. ‘And who knows, if an inquiry were to result in Petroni being removed we might even be able to quietly prise the copy of the Omega Scroll out of its hiding place in the Secret Archives. After what he did to you he deserves to be imprisoned. Bastard.’
It was the first time Allegra had ever heard Giovanni swear. ‘Well, you wouldn’t want to know what I had to say to God,’ she said.
‘I think he’s heard it all before,’ Giovanni said, his smile recovering some of its warmth. ‘It cost you your faith?’
Allegra nodded. ‘Although just lately I can’t help but think there is something quite powerful around me. It’s just not Catholic.’
Giovanni smiled. ‘You haven’t lost your faith, it comes in many different forms.’
Allegra looked at Giovanni quizzically. ‘That’s a very strange thing for a cardinal to say,’ she said, smiling. Suddenly it was like old times at La Pizzeria Milano and they began to relax into each other’s company.
‘Not really. I’ve changed a lot since we were in Milano. My time here in Jerusalem and the Middle East gave me time to think and has taught me a lot. I met people like Ahmed who made me realise that they hold their faiths just as dearly as Catholics hold theirs. I think our doctrine of the Catholic faith being the “only true path” has done a lot of damage. By the time I left here I came to the conclusion that there is more than one path to the Omega and Eternity, and the Bible is but one of the guides.’
The Spirit smiled.
‘I did a lot of thinking too after Professor Rosselli was shot,’ Allegra said. ‘He was a great loss, not only to Ca’ Granda. What did you think of his theory on the origin of DNA?’
‘On the scientific evidence it’s more than possible, it’s probable, but like many of the world’s truly great thinkers, Crick and Rosselli were way ahead of their time. Most people get so caught up in their own problems that it is difficult for them to imagine other parts of our own planet, let alone that there might be higher civilisations somewhere in the billions of other galaxies.’
‘Capable of delivering one or more vehicles to other planets in the cosmos in the hope of starting life,’ Allegra responded. ‘I agree with you, when people are pushed out of their comfort zone they feel threatened and their immediate reaction is to denounce it all as nonsense.’ Allegra leaned forward and lowered her voice. ‘When you realised you could never prove that there was a copy of the Omega Scroll in the Vatican, you said to me “the truth will always out”. When Professor Rosselli was murdered, the pursuit of that truth became a quest for me, and now there has been a small frustrating step forward. I know you will keep this to yourself, but David and I have found another Dead Sea Scroll.’
Giovanni listened as Allegra quietly brought him up to date on their discovery.
‘That’s wonderful news,’ Giovanni whispered. ‘Even though it is an inventory, the confirmation that more than one copy of the Omega Scroll exists is a wonderful find within itself.’
‘The problem is, Giovanni, even if we do find another copy of the Omega Scroll, the Vatican will fight tooth and nail to get hold of it. And if they do, they’ll bury it. At the very least there will be a furious campaign to dump it as a fraud, and a lot of people will believe them.’
‘They will, so let me make you and David an offer. If you find it I will be more than happy to be with you at the announcement, wherever that might be, and I will personally ensure it gets an open debate in the Church. Later, when the Vatican least expects it, if the copy in the Secret Archives can be found, the Vatican will be forced to debate the truth.’
Allegra felt a little stunned. It was the very thing she and David had talked about and she had been wondering how she might raise such a delicate issue. Giovanni had come straight out with it. If anything, she had underestimated the intellect of this man, and just fleetingly, Allegra gave David cause to be jealous.
‘Won’t the Petronis of this world prevent you doing that?’ she asked.
‘Not if I just do it. It is time for the Church to allow intellectual freedom, otherwise the real message of Christ will be lost for ever.’
As Giovanni and Allegra left the restaurant and headed for the Old City and a nightcap at Patrick O’Hara’s, they were followed a little while later by the well-dressed Arab.
A short distance away Tom Schweiker was about to do a cross for the mid-afternoon bulletin in New York. The Vatican was showing no signs of giving ground on either the Dead Sea Scrolls’ dating or access to those who might be able to prove the truth.
‘Ten seconds, Geraldine… and live…’
‘And we’re joined now by Tom Schweiker in Jerusalem. Pressure seems to be mounting on allowing more light on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Tom.’
‘On two fronts, Geraldine. First, the dating of the scrolls and secondly, access. Earlier this week I put those questions to one of the internationally recognised academics in the field, Monsignor Derek Lonergan.’
For such a pompous blowhard, Derek Lonergan had seemed oddly reluctant to give an interview, but Tom had persisted, subtly appealing to Lonergan’s ego and suggesting that it would be a great loss if only one side of the story was heard. Lonergan’s ego was an easy target.
‘Monsignor Lonergan, for many years now you’ve been resolutely defending the Vatican’s dating of these scrolls as being two hundred years before the time of Christ, but the basis for that consensus is now coming into question. Do you still stand by those dates?’
‘Not a shadow of a doubt, my man. These scrolls are most certainly from the second century before Christ. Not a shadow of doubt at all.’
‘One of the planks that you have used for dating is based on the coins that were found in the area of Qumran?’
‘Certainly.’ Lonergan raised his chin and sniffed patronisingly at the camera as if it was a question to which any fool would know the answer. For an instant, the angle of the bright camera lights exposed the purple welt of a
