"Goldberg nodded. "Ah, sorry, it didn't process for a moment. Then again, there's been so much fuss made in the U.S. over 'Pius XIII'...ever since he took the name, lord..." She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "The news coverage...depending on who you believe, the last pope to take the name either did nothing about the Holocaust, said nothing about the Holocaust, or was actively responsible for the Holocaust...
"...All of the historians were just as enraged that, not only had Joshua Kutjok picked the name Pius, but the Sudanese Archbishop had given two reasons for picking the name: "Like my predecessor, I, too, have a mission to save lives from a mechanism of death, which seeks to 'purify' a country through murder. Like Pope Pius XII, I will put all of my energies toward ending the murder and slavery in Sudan--North and South--as he did to save the Jews of Europe during the dark years of the Nazi infestation. To commemorate this mission, I will start the proceedings to canonize Pope Pius Xii..."
"Like some of his predecessors, Pius XIII was on a mission from God..."
~~~
A Pius Man:
A Holy Thriller
By Declan Finn
Wow! If I hadn't already read this book, I'd think it was a story with a group of super-heroes! Don't think I've seen another book other than comics that had such great and talented characters all working for good! When I saw "a holy thriller" I thought of the old Fr.Dowling mysteries, which both I and the author faithfully enjoyed. But Finn's thriller is not just two main characters solving the crime! The Pope's desire to not only take the name Pius XIII, but to canonize Pius XII, had become a major issue and everybody's interested... Interpol, Mossad, the BND (German Foreign Intelligence), the U.S., Egypt, and many more are all involved in this novel which, for me, must be placed in my
top 5 favorites for 2013...
Many years ago, once in awhile, I would read small brochures from a preacher in our family about the atrocities in the Catholic Church. We were told to never date a catholic boy, of course... Sometime later, probably through something I read, I learned that during Hitler's reign, the Pope forbid getting involved to save the Jewish people... which was unbelievable for me...
I applaud the author for helping ensure that this disinformation is corrected.. In his foreword, his author's notes at the end and via supplemental references on his blog.. Finn takes us into the Vatican where this is all taking place. The Pope has already assumed his duties and readers are met by Giovanni Figlia, head of security...
This week, history was made as the Roman Catholic church's conclave ended with the election of the first African Pope.
Long criticized as an organization of old white men, the move was heralded by some as “inspired by the recent election of Barack Obama,” the first black President of the United States.
“We thought nothing of the kind,” one Irish Cardinal, James McFee, said. “He was simply the best qualified for the position, considering all of his policies and his history. The other possibilities were good choices, but at the end of the day, the two-thirds vote was relatively easy.”
Cardinal-Archbishop Kutjok has long been a floating Cardinal. Due to his speeches against genocide in the Sudan city of Darfur, he had been long exiled in Uganda, Sudan's next door neighbor. (APiusMan.blogspot.com for this and other info.)
But Figlia didn't realize what he was getting into...
By the time he was back, trying to get settled in, they learned that the deceased was David Gerrity, and he had just visited the Vatican's records!
Outside, on the streets, Manana Shushurin and Scott Murphy were spys trying to gather information. Shushurin represented Germany while Murphy represented Mossad, interestingly as a group of individuals from other countries who wanted to support the efforts there...Murphy was from Ireland...Shushurin was a beautiful woman who had been trained since early childhood, while Murphy had few fighting skills. Yet they turned out to create a partnership that became a focal point in the case!
Now our main character, if there is one, is Sean Ryan. Among other things, Sean is a mercenary and has a world-wide reputation for his security activities. The Pope had hired him to come and do some basic training in arms use for all non-guard employees, so that, in case of a crisis, everybody could work to protect themselves and hopefully others. Of course, as soon as it was known that visitors to the Vatican's records were being targeted--other murders occurred, including the Vatican librarian, who had worked there for most of his life--Sean became one of the group that was investigating. Yet, when they identified one of the researchers as Ashid Yousef, whose brother had in the past made plans for killing Pope John Paul II, they realized that this might also be an assassination attempt for the new Pope!
One of the murders had taken place elsewhere, but when they learned he was on his way to the Vatican, Interpol sent a charming but deadly operative who used her body as her weapons... Whew, you'll enjoy the moves she makes!
 |
"I want to show you off. Meet Hashim Abasi,
Egyptian police, and Ville Goldberg, U.S.
Secret Service."
"The shorter man nodded and shook hands
with each. "Charmed. Sean Ryan...
Wilhelmina...cocked her head and closed
one eye, studying him a moment before it
occurred to her. "Oh, crap."
"Sean Aloysius Patricus Ryan chuckled.
"Yup, you've heard of me. Normally, I
would say don't believe anything you hear,
but one of my employees is ex-Secret
Service, so in your case, I would think you
can pretty well believe everything..."
"Hollywood stuntman." Goldberg's hazel
eyes almost popped out of her head. Sean
Ryan laughed. "Now, you know why they
got me--I was trained how to hurt people
without really hurting them, something the
Fathers and Sisters need to learn..."
~~~ |
Another official, Hashim Abasi, there on a routine visit was an Egyptian cop, who also immediately became part of the investigation team. One other individual must be mentioned--
Father Frank Williams was under suspicion by the others most of the time. For one thing, they'd seen him fight and knew he was more than a priest. He also seemed to be everywhere, just at the time something was happening...and he was seen talking to someone on the phone while making sure he could not be heard by the others. Even after the end of the book, I still was unsure exactly what his job was...LOL... but perhaps the Vatican wanted it that way...
In any event, in addition to having received threats on the life of the new pope because of his background, he was also moving ahead immediately to present his "Pius" predecessor, Pope Pius XII, for canonization. It was fairly easy to prove or assume that all of the deaths were related to this latter goal since the researchers had followed the works of Pius during the war...But who would be so concerned about whether or not the Pope had helped Jews escape from Hitler's hatred and danger?
Then there was Yusef...the Pope was the target???
Now, in addition to a lot of historical data to help confirm what was really the activities of Pope Pius XII in relation to Hitler's position on the Jewish people, readers are going to see more action with more players than you will see in many action adventure novels or movies, including car chases through the city--ah, notice if you will, there's a jeep coming down those steps, driven by Sean, fights
 |
"In Sudan...since the 1980s, the Arab, Islamic north has
killed or enslavaed any black African Christians they can
get. In 1983, they instituted sharia law--theft punished by
amputation, armed crimes were capital offenses, and
adultery punishable by stoning. What did the great and
powerful United Nations do? They put Sudan onto the
Human Rights Commission!"
"Goldberg saw how the Pope seemed to change color as the
intensity of the delivery increased. "I'm sorry to say this,
sir...but even "white" slavery has been ignored, and they
sell sex slaves to Saudi Arabia and Japan. What makes
sharia any different?...
~~~ |
Action so fast-paced you can barely keep track, information that may allow you to rethink your own personal knowledge of the role that the Catholic Church once played to save as many Jewish people as possible...
And most of all, the merge of representatives of many organizations from different countries, to fight evil!
Historical fiction lovers...a must-read for you. And thriller lovers, if you don't mind being bogged down a little in research, you'll find these characters know more about fighting, security, and ways to ferret out the truth and ensure everybody knows it, than most characters you've met in your action favorites.
I loved this story, mainly for the characters, but for also clearing up a misconception I'd learned from my past reading... Really, check this out! Soon!
GABixlerReviews
Declan Finn lives in a part of New York City unreachable by bus or subway. Who's Who has no record of him, his family, or his education. He has been trained in hand to hand combat and weapons at the most elite schools in Long Island, and figured out nine ways to kill with a pen when he was only fifteen. He escaped a free man from Fordham University's PhD program, and has been on the run ever since. There was a brief incident where he was branded a terrorist, but only a court order can unseal those records, and really, why would you want to know?
He is currently hard at work on the sequel to "A Pius Man."
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