"Laura Resnick - The Vatican Outfit" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Laura)

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The Vatican Outfit
by Laura Resnick
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Copyright (c)1993 Laura Resnick
First published in Alternate Warriors, Tor Books, September 1993

Fictionwise Contemporary
Alternate History


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_In September of 1978, Pope John Paul I died only thirty-three days
after his election to the papacy. At the time of his death, he had already
decided on startling changes which would affect the doctrine, hierarchy, and
finances of the Church. Too many powerful and ruthless men (including certain
underworld figures) had a great deal to lose under the papacy of John Paul I,
and it is widely believed that he was murdered._
****
Everyone needs friends. Hey, it's the way God made the world. A man without
friends had better start digging a six foot hole in a real peaceful spot, if
you catch my drift. And not just any friends, either. Special friends. When I
was a boy in Sicily, we called such friends men of respect, or men of honor.
Or, if we was being real careful, we called them the friends of the friends --
_gli amici degli amici_.
When Albino Luciani, His Holiness Pope John Paul I, took his place in
the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City in August of 1978, it didn't take no
genius to realize that he lacked the one thing that any man needs to survive
past sundown: the right kind of friends. Unfortunately, being a naive
polenta-eating priest from Venice, he just didn't understand these things. I
mean no disrespect to the Holy Father; it's just the way those northerners
are.
Well, we -- my associates and I -- watched the situation very closely
for about a month. Everyone we talked to had only kind things to say about
Papa Luciani. He was soft-spoken, intelligent, educated, modest, and even
celibate. But, everyone admitted, he possessed two unfortunate character
traits that were sure to get him into serious trouble, particularly in a joint
like the Vatican; he was honest and principled.
All right, all right, so maybe that's not _such_ a terrible thing.
Sure, you wonder how a guy like that becomes the Pope, the _capo di tutti