The Octopus at the Vatican

# 33 - the lion

January 1979 – the Vatican

Jimmy Carter paid a visit to John Paul II in January. He invited him to the United States for an official visit. The Polish pope accepted but said no to the American President for the rest. Carter had asked the IOR to stop laundering money from crime.

John Paul II turned a deaf ear and proclaimed, instead, his determination to bring the USSR down within ten years.

"The same way your President Kennedy set the target to go to the moon. My political target is that, and only that. If by chance the mafia's money was used to defeat the communist dictatorships, it wouldn't be used in such a bad way", he said bluntly.

Carter objected that the use of drugs wreaked havoc in the States. The pope retorted:

"If it's not provided by Europe, it will come from elsewhere, South America or Asia. The problem is drug consumption, not production. The solution is the same as with sexuality: abstinence."

He went on for a while.

"Mr. President, look what's just happened to my predecessor. The official story is natural death. But you know as well as I do, that's not the case. Those forces are too strong in Italy. I can't fight them upfront; I have to use them. Do you sail, Mr. President? One can't suppress the wind, but we can use it to go forward. I'm the first non-Italian pope since the 16th century. The Italian popes haven't managed to get rid of organized crime for half a millennium and it wasn't as widespread as today. How do you want a poor Polish pope to do it? Even with the help of the United States."

The Pope paused briefly to pour himself a glass of water, then continued:

"You have Secret Services, the 6th fleet and missiles to protect yourselves. I have but the Swiss Guard and their halberds, in 15th century costumes! Despite all your fantastic protection, they managed to kill President Kennedy. You can imagine the extreme physical weakness of a pope, head of a postage-stamp state! So please don't ask me to be stupidly heroic. I'm nothing and I think I'll have enough courage to face the risk. But not at a 99 to one risk of losing. On the other hand, I know all about the communist dictatorship. I can help to beat it. I have leverage there. Not in Sicily. If I tried, I would become a dead body. Fighting against the USSR also means a high risk of assassination. But in that fight, I have a chance to defeat them. It's four against one."

"Thank you, Your Holiness. Clear, logical but amoral. It's against the teaching of Christ to let money from crime be recycled under your very eyes. My Secret Services are clear about that. This is what's happening at the Vatican, and it has to stop."

"No lesson in morality, please Mr. President! What did you, the United States, do in 1943 and 1947? You woke the monster up again. Lucky Luciano, the Capo of all capi of the American mafia. You let him out of prison, you got rid of the devil in the States to send him to Naples . . . where he did more harm than before. And what has happened since? In Italy, your CIA backs up the most conservative forces, not to say neo-fascists; and it even tolerates the mafia to a certain extent. Same as us."

"I'm not like that", said Carter.

"I appreciate it", said the pope, "and respect you all the more for it. You have an ethical approach. Like the one to ban murders by your services during your mandate. It seems it's the first time an American President takes action against it."

Carter was flabbergasted: how on earth could that damned Pole be aware of a State Secret like this one? But he didn't react. Nor contested it, nor denied it.

"Yes, but you only get an election every four years and can only stay in post a maximum of eight years, said John Paul II. What's that compared to the powers we are facing? Your successors will change the political game like a compass gone crazy; it leads you nowhere, whatever your good faith as actual president. I'm only 58 years old and I have a lifetime to reach the goal I have set myself. If God gives me enough time, I might succeed. You're younger than me, but even if you live a hundred years, which I hope for your sake, you will only be the President of the United States at the most until 1984. It's very little time to alter the course of the world. Above all with someone as determined as me!"

And sure enough, two years later, Ronald Reagan replaced Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office. Reagan and John Paul II combined forces to bring down the USSR. In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.

Epilogue

A phone rang. It was answered. At the other end, you could hear "Why are you coughing?"

That was all. It hangs up.

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