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.John Paul II, together with Santos herself, seems tohave interpreted this as a reference to his own battle with com-munism, an interpretation doubtless strengthened by his brushwith a Soviet assassin s bullet.In a major Church event at theFatima shrine, he consecrated the world, but especially Russia,to the Virgin Mary.An obvious reading of the situation is thatevents had conspired to give the pope a near-messianic convic-tion that his anti-communist crusade was truly God s work.56Secret History Book 23/9/04 4:08 pm Page 57C ONSPI RACI ES, S ECRET S O CI ETI ES AND C ULTSIn this light, it seems reasonable to ask whether John PaulII s zeal to defeat communism meant that he was prepared tooverlook the less savoury aspects of right-wing organisationslike P2 and Opus Dei in return for their help.The evidencesuggests that he was.For instance, not long after his election,P2 member and Opus Dei ally Archbishop Marcinkus brokeredbig loans to the Polish ship-workers union, Solidarity, afavoured cause of John Paul II s.The efforts of Solidarity arelargely credited with ending communism in Poland.OpusDei is also suspected of having helped to shore up right-wing regimes against communist insurgency in countriesaround the world.Perhaps as a reward, John Paul II has fast-tracked the canonisation of Opus Dei s founder, José MaríaEscrivá, making him a saint in almost record time.What about the relationship between Opus Dei and P2?While the untimely death of John Paul I and the election ofJohn Paul II may have given P2 some breathing space, the raidon Gelli s villa and subsequent investigations revealing P2 slinks to financial misdeeds and organised crime meant that thesecret lodge was running out of time.In fact, according to oneparticularly involved conspiracy theory, Calvi s murder wasengineered by Opus Dei as part of a scheme to displace P2 asthe main right-wing power behind the Vatican throne.In this scenario, Opus Dei lured Calvi to London with the pro-mise of a loan to help him make good his thefts from the Mafiaand keep Banco Ambrosiano afloat, staving off further investi-gation by the authorities.Once he was there they betrayed himto Mafia enforcers who were after his blood, ensuring thatthe murder had Masonic hallmarks to indicate P2 involve-ment.With Calvi dead his bank collapsed and more details ofP2 s perfidy leaked out.The way was clear for Opus Dei toassert their dominance in the murky demi-monde of covertright-wing Catholic politics.57Secret History Book 23/9/04 4:08 pm Page 58S ECRET H I STORYA vast right-wing conspiracy?In conclusion, the Vatican and Opus Dei both claim that theconspiracy theories against them are simply lunatic, and thereare convincing alternatives to the conspiracy theory deaths offigures such as Aldo Moro and John Paul I.Calvi and his fellowvictims of the Ambrosiano fallout may simply have been vic-tims of the Mafia milieu in which they moved, while theChurch may have been largely in the dark about what was donewith its institutions and money.John Paul II could argue thatreforms of the Curia have been made since then.In otherwords there may be no over-arching conspiracies, except forthose concocted by anti-Catholic polemicists, and nothing forthe Vatican to worry about.Alternatively, John Paul II and Opus Dei may simply be thelatest in a long series of shadowy right-wing conspirators dat-ing back to the end of WWII, who operate above the law tooppose communism, further a self-serving right-wing agendaand cover up their tracks  murdering anyone who gets in theirway  from bankers and judges to prime ministers and popes.Even if the truth lies somewhere between the two, there aredisturbing implications.It would be hard to avoid the conclu-sion that powerful para-political groups have influenced andcontinue to influence international finance and politics at thehighest level, with the possible collusion of the CIA, the Italiansecret services, Latin American dictatorships and major con-temporary figures such as former FBI director Louis Freeh, USSupreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Italian premier andmedia magnate Silvio Berlusconi and even the pope.Who shot JFK? 1963The assassination of President John F Kennedy remains themost celebrated and debated suspected conspiracy of all time.Finding a definitive solution to the JFK murder will probably58Secret History Book 23/9/04 4:08 pm Page 59C ONSPI RACI ES, S ECRET S O CI ETI ES AND C ULTSnever be possible, but the murky tangle surrounding the assas-sination and the subsequent cover-up vividly illustrates theinfluence of the hidden hand in recent history.It is beyond the scope of this book to look at the assassina-tion in any depth or to review the full range of evidence andthe reams of witness statements in detail.The bare facts areknown to most people.On 22 November 1963, PresidentKennedy was travelling in a motorcade through Dallas.At 12 [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]