(I've corrected the link to Jesús López Sáez's There Will Be a Reckoning)
This takes a while to load, but it is utterly moving and heartbreaking in so many ways.
This takes a while to load, but it is utterly moving and heartbreaking in so many ways.
I've posted it only for the first 3 minutes of Luciani's last audience, which reveal a holy man of great compassion who was imbued with a deep melancholy and profound humility during his last hours. After that, the video recounts the now official Vatican version of his death, which I don't believe is trustworthy, and that distrust includes the testimony of his secretary, Father Diego Lorenzi, who was most likely doing his best here (under who knows what pressure) to present an acceptable account that protects the image of the Church, but who comes across to this drama teacher as quite nervous and deceptive. Every time I have prayed at the tomb of Pope John Paul I in St. Peter's, I have always come away with the deep interior sense that there was something 'terribly wrong' about his death. What has always astonished me about this spiritual intuition is the profound sense of peace that has always accompanied it. A natural death brought on by exhaustion, heartache and stress is a perfectly plausible scenario, made even more plausible if it was precipitated by a heated discussion with Cardinal Vilot before retiring. Nonetheless, for thirty years I have lived with the deep, interior sense that Luciani's death was not at all a natural one, and this intuition feels like both a gift and a burden. There is nothing I can do to remove it. I have read all of the convoluted conspiracy theories (including the best of the lot, Spanish priest, Jesús López Sáez's There Will Be a Reckoning) and the best of the rebuttals (On Pilgrimage), yet the intuition in prayer before the Sacrament remains that Pope John Paul I died a martyr to reform of the Church. If have one clear conviction concerning the 'facts' in this tragic affair, it is that those closest to Luciani, including Cardinal Vilot, Monsignor Magee and Father Lorenzi, themselves suspected the possibility of foul play and did their utmost to counter this suspicion with a plausible alternative scenario. However, it's not my wish to get embroiled in conspiracy theories on this blog. I would simply refer the interested viewer to the interview given by Luciani's personal physician, Dr. Antonio Da Ross, to Il Giornale, September 27, 2003.
"The suspicion remains in our heart like a bitter shade, like a question that has not been given an answer"
Cardinal Aloisio Lorscheider
The testimony of Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul I, is a shining light of our time that is to be placed on a candlestick, not under a kettle, although that light may reveal the chips and cracks of the house. Everything that, at the time of his death, was intended to be buried with his body is showing up in different ways before the conscience of the Church and the world. God speaks in many ways. If justice is not redressed to John Paul I, we believe there will be a reckoning.
Jesús López SáezAll your material is important for History and for the purification of the Church.
Endorsement of Jesus Lopez Saez by Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga of Sao Felix, Matto Grosso, Brazil
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