past.
‘Monsignor Garibaldi also told me that before he left, he took the precaution of photocopying some key documents which he will bring back from Peru.’
Petroni’s mouth opened but no sound came out.
‘Last night I also ordered the Swiss Guards to seal off the Secret Archives. I have ordered a thorough search and I am confident that the little known areas will turn up at least one copy of the Omega Scroll. It may also turn up a copy of the great Isaiah Scroll that was taken from the Hebrew University in an envelope marked with an Omega symbol. If it does, the Israeli police and the CIA will no doubt want to question you about any involvement you may have had in a double murder in Tel-Aviv. If such requests are made we will cooperate fully and you will be made available.’
Giovanni had thought long and hard about confronting Petroni with the rape of Allegra, but that was deniable and unless Allegra wanted to pursue it, he had decided that the other matters provided more than enough evidence for serious criminal charges to be laid.
‘I have also had a disturbing report from Bishop O’Hara. You are no doubt aware he is here in Rome?’ Giovanni raised one eyebrow slightly but there was no response. The Cardinal Secretary of State’s face was now ashen.
‘Father Lonergan, who you would also have known as Father Courtney, is being recalled to Rome and I have asked Bishop O’Hara to oversee an investigation into what involvement the Vatican might have had in his new identity and we will be cooperating fully with the FBI. I am promoting Bishop O’Hara to Cardinal and he will take over as Cardinal Secretary of State, effective immediately. You are dismissed from all your duties.’
Pope John XXIV stood up, moved to his desk and buzzed for Vittorio.
‘Until these investigations are complete, the Swiss Guard have been advised that you are under house arrest and you are not permitted to leave the Vatican. I suggest that for the good of the Holy Church you give serious consideration to resigning from the priesthood. If you don’t, regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges that will undoubtedly be laid against you, I will take steps to have you dismissed. May God have mercy on you for what you have done.’
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Roma
F ather Vittorio showed ‘the Israeli delegation’ in to Pope John XXIV’s private dining room and a short while later Giovanni arrived with the Papal Physician, Professor Vincenzo Martines.
‘Allegra!’ Throwing Papal protocol to the four winds, Giovanni kissed Allegra enthusiastically on both cheeks. ‘ Benvenuta di nuovo. Welcome again!’
‘David! Patrick! Tom!’ Giovanni gave each of his guests a very informal welcome before introducing them to Professor Martines. Vittorio smiled. If nothing else, this Papacy was going to be fun.
‘And you’ve set up the Omega Scroll,’ Giovanni said, moving over to where the document had been laid out on a long table to one side of the room. ‘That explains why I passed so many Swiss Guards in the corridors,’ he said, winking at Vittorio and accepting a glass of wine from one of the Sisters. ‘Though I guess it’s waited this long, it can wait until after lunch. To old times!’ Giovanni said, his smile filled with warmth now that the distasteful business of the morning was out of the way. ‘They spoil me here,’ he added. ‘From the little I’ve seen already, the wine is superb. And the food,’ Giovanni said, rubbing his stomach ruefully.
‘You’ve never put on an ounce of fat in all the years I’ve known you,’ Allegra chided.
‘Watch this space. This is a twenty kilo appointment!’ he said, winking at Patrick.
Patrick raised his eyes to the ceiling and shrugged. His smile said it all.
After lunch, the small group moved their chairs to the long table.
‘The Omega Scroll,’ David began, ‘was written by Mechalava, a Master from within the community of the Essenes at Qumran. He wrote it during the period 20 AD to 40 AD, and those dates are supported by Allegra’s carbon dating. The dates are very significant.’
Giovanni smiled. He knew what was coming. ‘Encompassing the years during which Jesus would have formed his own philosophy,’ he said, ‘as well as the period of his ministry and crucifixion?’
‘Correct, and as I think you’re already aware, Holiness, the Omega Scroll is in three parts: the Magdalene Numbers; the origin of DNA; and a dire warning for civilisation,’ David continued. ‘As we will see, all three contain connected messages. The Magdalene Numbers come from a literary device known as gematria. Because numbers in languages like Greek and Hebrew are represented by letters rather than figures, the authors of many ancient texts were able to embed hidden meanings that can be obtained only by adding the values of the letters to arrive at the sacred numbers.
‘The number that the Vatican fears most is 153, which has been encoded in the Omega Scroll. Although,’ David said, looking at Giovanni, ‘perhaps it would be more correct to say it is a number that used to be feared by the Vatican.’
‘So you found it,’ Giovanni said, smiling at Allegra. They both remembered Rosselli’s assignment and a little beach near Maratea.
‘The Omega Scroll records an odd phrase that is repeated in the Book of Revelation,’ David continued. ‘The passage translates as, “And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”.’
Giovanni nodded in response. ‘The New Jerusalem. Otherwise known as the Bride of Christ, a symbol of the new heaven and the new earth.’
‘The gematria for this phrase totals 1224,’ David said. ‘The gematria for Jesus is 8. When we divide 1224 by 8 we get 153. In other words, this strange phrase incorporating “Christ” and “the Bride of Christ” is represented by the numbers 8 and 153. When we examine the gematria for? M????????, “the Magdalene”, we find that the sum of the letters is 153.’
Tom whistled softly. ‘So Mary Magdalene really was the Bride of Christ.’
‘Yes,’ David agreed. ‘The clue was elegantly embedded in the Bible and the Book of Revelation.’
‘And just as elegantly in the Gospel of Luke,’ Giovanni added calmly. ‘When the disciples are having no luck fishing on the Sea of Tiberias, Christ tells them where to cast their net and Luke, in what seems an odd statement, records that when the net is hauled in, there are exactly 153 fish.’
‘The fish representing the harvest of humanity which, in the broader sense, is also the Bride of Christ,’ Allegra observed, recalling Professor Rosselli’s impish sense of humour and his remark that 153 was the number the Vatican feared most and that ‘it may have something to do with fishes and cities falling from the sky’. ‘Although this will be difficult for the Church,’ she added, wondering how Giovanni would handle the Omega Scroll, not as Giovanni but as Pope John XXIV.
Giovanni smiled at her, and as if reading her thoughts, picked up the discussion. ‘I am reminded of John XXIII’s remark when he instigated Vatican II and likened his aggiornamento – his renewal of the Church – to the opening of a window of St Peter’s. The Omega Scroll is like a great shaft of light, shining through the cupola and illuminating the darker areas of the Basilica. Regenerating the beauty of the Faith with the balance of the feminine,’ he added, his face energised with the possibilities. ‘I am not surprised to hear you say the three messages in the Omega Scroll are connected. We are at a critical time in history and I suspect the Omega Scroll is telling us to change course.’
‘For a lot of people, confirmation of the union of Christ and Mary Magdalene will not be earth shattering,’ Patrick observed shrewdly. ‘A lot of well-respected scholars have already reached that conclusion, but for hundreds of millions of Christians it will call into question everything they have been taught to believe and a lot of them simply won’t accept it.’
‘We shall have to bring them along gently,’ Giovanni said, looking meaningfully at Tom, ‘by focusing on what this means. The New Jerusalem – Christ and Mary Magdalene – represents a balance of the male and the female in Christianity that, when we look for it, is also reflected in other religions like the yin and yang of Taoism and the Shekinah, the feminine aspect of God in Judaism.’
Tom and Vincenzo were looking slightly bemused so Allegra took Giovanni’s point further. ‘What this means is
