The Vatican: Poison Gossip

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Yallop offers no hard evidence to prove his poison plot. The motives ascribed to some of Yallop's "suspects" seem illogical, if not incredible. After his election, John Paul I reconfirmed all Vatican officials for five years, including Villot and Marcinkus. Sindona, who is serving a 25-year jail term in a New York prison for fraud, and Calvi, who was found hanging from a London bridge in 1982, had dire financial problems, but none that a papal murder would alleviate. News about Gelli's P-2 lodge did help topple the Italian government of Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani in 1981, but only because so many government officials belonged to the illegal organization; no Vatican prelate was ever proved to be a member.

Though the poisoning of a Pope may seem farfetched today, legend has it that at least one Pope—Alexander VI—died of poisoning, from a fatal potion that was intended for some Cardinals. That was in 1503, and the rumors have not let up yet. Veteran Vatican observers recall the stories of how Pope Pius X died of poisoning in 1914. Then there were the whispers about how poison killed Leo XIII in 1903, Pius VIII in 1830, and... ∎