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Pontiff
A behind-the-scenes view of the Vatican offers a revealing look at the lives of Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II, the attempted assassination, the Vatican's financial dealings, and its undisclosed relationship with Solidarity
557 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1983
37 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Gordon Thomas
119 books197 followersGordon Thomas (born 1933) is a Welsh author who has written more than fifty books.
Thomas was born in Wales, in a cemetery keeper's cottage where his grandmother lived. He had his first story published at nine years old in a Boy's Own Paper competition. With his father in the RAF, he traveled widely and was educated at the Cairo High School, the Maritz Brothers (in Port Elizabeth, South Africa) and, lastly, at Bedford Modern School. His first book, completed at the age of seventeen, is the story of a British spy in Russia during World War II, titled Descent Into Danger. He refused the offer of a job at a university in order to accompany a traveling fair for a year: he used those experiences for his novel, Bed of Nails. Since then his books have been published worldwide. He has been a foreign correspondent beginning with the Suez Crisis and ending with the first Gulf War. He was a BBC writer/producer for three flagship BBC programmes: Man Alive, Tomorrow's World and Horizon.
He is a regular contributor to Facta, the respected monthly Japanese news magazine, and he lectures widely on the secret world of intelligence. He also provides expert analysis on intelligence for US and European television and radio programs.His book Gideon's Spies: Mossad's Secret Warriors became a major documentary for Channel Four that he wrote and narrated: The Spy Machine. It followed three years of research during which he was given unprecedented access to Mossad’s main personnel. The documentary was co-produced by Open Media and Israfilm.
Gideon's Spies: Mossad's Secret Warriors has so far been published in 16 languages. A source for this book was Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli intelligence agent, and legendary Israeli spy Rafi Eitan. According to Charles Foster in Contemporary Review: "Writers who know their place are few and far between: fortunately Mr Thomas is one of them. By keeping to his place as a tremendous storyteller without a preacher's pretensions, he has put his book amongst the important chronicles of the state of Israel."
Thomas was born in Wales, in a cemetery keeper's cottage where his grandmother lived. He had his first story published at nine years old in a Boy's Own Paper competition. With his father in the RAF, he traveled widely and was educated at the Cairo High School, the Maritz Brothers (in Port Elizabeth, South Africa) and, lastly, at Bedford Modern School. His first book, completed at the age of seventeen, is the story of a British spy in Russia during World War II, titled Descent Into Danger. He refused the offer of a job at a university in order to accompany a traveling fair for a year: he used those experiences for his novel, Bed of Nails. Since then his books have been published worldwide. He has been a foreign correspondent beginning with the Suez Crisis and ending with the first Gulf War. He was a BBC writer/producer for three flagship BBC programmes: Man Alive, Tomorrow's World and Horizon.
He is a regular contributor to Facta, the respected monthly Japanese news magazine, and he lectures widely on the secret world of intelligence. He also provides expert analysis on intelligence for US and European television and radio programs.His book Gideon's Spies: Mossad's Secret Warriors became a major documentary for Channel Four that he wrote and narrated: The Spy Machine. It followed three years of research during which he was given unprecedented access to Mossad’s main personnel. The documentary was co-produced by Open Media and Israfilm.
Gideon's Spies: Mossad's Secret Warriors has so far been published in 16 languages. A source for this book was Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli intelligence agent, and legendary Israeli spy Rafi Eitan. According to Charles Foster in Contemporary Review: "Writers who know their place are few and far between: fortunately Mr Thomas is one of them. By keeping to his place as a tremendous storyteller without a preacher's pretensions, he has put his book amongst the important chronicles of the state of Israel."
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 25, 2019
Great information
Fascinating read about the year 1978 when the Catholic Church had 3 popes and 2 conclaves. Added to this is the attempted murder on Pope John Paul II in 1982. Ideology aside, and if you enjoy history, this is a great book to get introduced to the world of the Vatican and the church. A lot of detailed information about the personal lives of the popes and the politics within the Catholic Church. Well written and researched although my copy had a lot of typos. Very annoying.
Fascinating read about the year 1978 when the Catholic Church had 3 popes and 2 conclaves. Added to this is the attempted murder on Pope John Paul II in 1982. Ideology aside, and if you enjoy history, this is a great book to get introduced to the world of the Vatican and the church. A lot of detailed information about the personal lives of the popes and the politics within the Catholic Church. Well written and researched although my copy had a lot of typos. Very annoying.
July 3, 2024
Story of the 1981 murder attempt on John Paul II, in a revised version, with lots of attention to the preceding conclave in which John Paul II was elected. Very speculative, didn't like it.
July 21, 2022
A fairly thick paperback with some bombastic copy on the back, detailing a lot of events I had no (or only the least) idea about. While the factuality may be in question, especially for something written so close to the events it covers, it is certainly written engagingly. This book covers a brief span of time that saw the upheaval of Catholic Church as it dealt with the modern era, its internal problems, and a host of other issues, all of which culminated in the still-much-venerated Pope John Paul II.
Though it took me a while to grind through due to the usual busy business of early summer, I found myself coming back to read this quite eagerly. There was a lot of material and detail.
I have no background in Catholicism, merely a sprinkling of knowledge, and none of the papacy/Vatican at all, so there was a lot to learn. Plus there’s some great characters, even if the reader has to decide how accurate some of the depictions are. For my part I gave the writers the benefit of the doubt most often.
There’s a good amount of intrigue, twists and turns (that, for the uninitiated, are pretty good even if the cover of the book spoils it), and swell depictions of Church problems, the situation in Italy in the late 70s, and snapshots of the world at the time. Plus a pope will get shot.
Definitely has the ring of something that would make for a decent miniseries. If it were written these days I’d suspect the authors had an aim besides simply telling the story. It's a solid book, and a decent read if you suspect you'd be interested.
Though it took me a while to grind through due to the usual busy business of early summer, I found myself coming back to read this quite eagerly. There was a lot of material and detail.
I have no background in Catholicism, merely a sprinkling of knowledge, and none of the papacy/Vatican at all, so there was a lot to learn. Plus there’s some great characters, even if the reader has to decide how accurate some of the depictions are. For my part I gave the writers the benefit of the doubt most often.
There’s a good amount of intrigue, twists and turns (that, for the uninitiated, are pretty good even if the cover of the book spoils it), and swell depictions of Church problems, the situation in Italy in the late 70s, and snapshots of the world at the time. Plus a pope will get shot.
Definitely has the ring of something that would make for a decent miniseries. If it were written these days I’d suspect the authors had an aim besides simply telling the story. It's a solid book, and a decent read if you suspect you'd be interested.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2023
Intrigued by the title and then looking through the book quickly, decided to start reading this and could not put it down, literally! It starts out slowly with Pope Paul VI as he is getting old, then to his successor John Paul I who died after some 33 days as Pope, and then to Pope John Paul II and his papacy, the attempted assassination of him and the role of the KGB in that, the story of how Poland survived under communism and the workings of the Vatican. Most intriguing were the dialogues during conclave, which are supposed to be secret, but the authors managed to get inside information and without naming their sources. The Vatican is always an intriguing and mysterious topic and the authors (Thomas and Morgan-Witts) do not disappoint, interweaving the Vatican and Papal history along with that of the story of the would-be assassin Agca and the role of terrorism around the world. A must read for anyone interested in religion, or terrorism, or the KGB. Very well written.
July 17, 2020
Muy buen libro! su contenido es de alto valor descriptivo y preciso en sus referencias metodológicas del cónclave, así como de los muñequeos políticos que suceden alrededor y dentro del mismo. He llegado a citar este libro en trabaos académicos y por eso sé que la versión en español que tengo, no es fácil de conseguir.
February 24, 2015
Pontiff is the story of three Popes, Paul VI, John Paul I, & John Paul II, including the deaths of the first two and the conclaves (and electioneering) of the second and third. As the frontispiece states, this is ‘a portrait and day to day account of the lives, personalities and relationships…’ of these three Popes…written when the third was still VERY ACTIVE.
The reader learns of the humanity, liberalism, and leadership abilities of Pope John Paul I, who died 33 days after his coronation in 1978, leaving the way for Carol Wojtyla to become the first non-Italian Pope. John Paul II’s visits and hardline messag Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Ireland, the United States and the Philippines. His involvement in world politics, including Northern Ireland, and Poland prior to the breakdown of the Soviet Union, is very clear. Because the book was published in 1983, the reader is introduced to Marcinkus, head of the Vatican Bank and involved in financial scandals for years, but we do not get see the longer term issues that arose…nor the cleaning up in 2014, finally, by Pope Francis. This is a surprising book for a couple of reasons, including:
* the authors are good storytellers, keeping this reader engaged in some of the smallest details of the Vatican schedule, conclave, politics, and organization.
* multiple references to the growth of terrorism…remember this was published in 1983. The seeds of today are seen in these discussions…with terrorist training camps, run by a former CIA man in Libya, for multiple countries.
* strong evidence that the KGB did, indeed, support and drive Pope JPII’s assailant who shot and almost killed him.
the secrets of the conclaves that the authors seem to get…and information about how they got them.
These are writers who specialize in investigative reporting and secret intelligence 'type' books who write beautifully in this investigative report. I enjoyed their attention to some details and their ability to bring the reader with them in their discussion of those details, whether it was what the Pope's study looked like or the policemen in the open air below the Pope's apartment. I also looked at the research and do not feel they overstretched their discussion. They have good resources and references. I DO think the marketing of the book being about 'murder', the KGB, and the Vatican is stretching it. This was a story of three pontiffs, with emphasis on the political intrigue both within and outside of the Vatican walls. The weakest part of the story was about Akbar, ‘the Jackal’.
The reader learns of the humanity, liberalism, and leadership abilities of Pope John Paul I, who died 33 days after his coronation in 1978, leaving the way for Carol Wojtyla to become the first non-Italian Pope. John Paul II’s visits and hardline messag Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Ireland, the United States and the Philippines. His involvement in world politics, including Northern Ireland, and Poland prior to the breakdown of the Soviet Union, is very clear. Because the book was published in 1983, the reader is introduced to Marcinkus, head of the Vatican Bank and involved in financial scandals for years, but we do not get see the longer term issues that arose…nor the cleaning up in 2014, finally, by Pope Francis. This is a surprising book for a couple of reasons, including:
* the authors are good storytellers, keeping this reader engaged in some of the smallest details of the Vatican schedule, conclave, politics, and organization.
* multiple references to the growth of terrorism…remember this was published in 1983. The seeds of today are seen in these discussions…with terrorist training camps, run by a former CIA man in Libya, for multiple countries.
* strong evidence that the KGB did, indeed, support and drive Pope JPII’s assailant who shot and almost killed him.
the secrets of the conclaves that the authors seem to get…and information about how they got them.
These are writers who specialize in investigative reporting and secret intelligence 'type' books who write beautifully in this investigative report. I enjoyed their attention to some details and their ability to bring the reader with them in their discussion of those details, whether it was what the Pope's study looked like or the policemen in the open air below the Pope's apartment. I also looked at the research and do not feel they overstretched their discussion. They have good resources and references. I DO think the marketing of the book being about 'murder', the KGB, and the Vatican is stretching it. This was a story of three pontiffs, with emphasis on the political intrigue both within and outside of the Vatican walls. The weakest part of the story was about Akbar, ‘the Jackal’.
January 17, 2015
This book covers the final years of the pontificate of Paul VI through the attempted assassination of John-Paul II. Comprising biographies of those two popes as well the short reign of John-Paul I it serves as an introduction to the modern Vatican and its history until 1982.
I am no expert on the institutions of the Catholic Church, but I have read a general history of the papacy and a biography of John-Paul I previously. As regards the latter, this book, while admitting to the scandalous activities of the Vatican Bank, does not jump to the assumption that he was assassinated, despite the admitted fact that his successor protected both the head of the bank and his colleague, John Cody, Archbishop of Chicago. The authors trace the origins of such rumors, but do not give them much credence. Indeed, there is no firm evidence.
Running throughout the book is the story of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who unsuccessfully attempted to kill John-Paul II, and his supposed colleagues among the Turkish far right and the Bulgarian communists. There are even purported KGB and CIA connections assigned to this hapless criminal. Here I am certainly not qualified to judge, but the book's treatment of such an unlikely coalescence motivates me to look for additional information on the failed conspiracy.
This is not an objective history. It's too close to the events it closes with to be that. Its lack of an index was often irksome. Still, it is a fast-paced, well-written popular history which will serve as an introduction to the period and persons it covers.
I am no expert on the institutions of the Catholic Church, but I have read a general history of the papacy and a biography of John-Paul I previously. As regards the latter, this book, while admitting to the scandalous activities of the Vatican Bank, does not jump to the assumption that he was assassinated, despite the admitted fact that his successor protected both the head of the bank and his colleague, John Cody, Archbishop of Chicago. The authors trace the origins of such rumors, but do not give them much credence. Indeed, there is no firm evidence.
Running throughout the book is the story of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who unsuccessfully attempted to kill John-Paul II, and his supposed colleagues among the Turkish far right and the Bulgarian communists. There are even purported KGB and CIA connections assigned to this hapless criminal. Here I am certainly not qualified to judge, but the book's treatment of such an unlikely coalescence motivates me to look for additional information on the failed conspiracy.
This is not an objective history. It's too close to the events it closes with to be that. Its lack of an index was often irksome. Still, it is a fast-paced, well-written popular history which will serve as an introduction to the period and persons it covers.
December 12, 2016
Found a few typos, and a few misnomers, otherwise it seems from the notes, that the authors conducted some extensive interviews and research.
December 13, 2016
Quite a few typographical errors, and some misnomers. With the amount of research and interviews, the misnomers could have been avoided.
July 3, 2013
A good book to educate yourself on the events of the Popes from Paul VI to JP to JPII. It may be a history book but the writing, analysing the events, and the placement of events within the book make it a definite worth the purchase and read.
May 23, 2012
A good examination of the events from the death of Paul VI through the assassination attempt on John Paul II.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews