The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II's Vatican: Amazon.co.uk: David A. Yallop: Books

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`An extraordinary book'

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`Extraordinary and revelatory book'

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4.8 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Investigative writing at its best, 8 Nov 2007

By

A Common Reader "Committed to reading" (Sussex, England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II's Vatican (Paperback)

This lengthy book is an account of the John-Paul II years, but with the rose-tinted glasses removed. David Yallop has assembled an incredible amount of material to present the behind the scenes story of what really went on in the Vatican, particularly focusing on the fall of communism, the scandals that beset the Vatican Bank, and the child-abuse scandal for which the Catholic Church has become a by-word in recent years. But the main focus is on John-Paul himself and the man behind the myth.

The book is biographical to a degree and demolishes quite a few myths about John-Paul, not least the story of his war-years when far from rescuing Jews from Nazism as the official story goes, he was closeted away in protected employment and had little to do with resistance or rescue operations. Although John-Paul abhorred the communist system as such, once he became Pope, he adopted the usual Vatican diplomacy line of working with communist states rather than trying to destroy them. The eventual fall of communism was far more to do with Russian President Gorbachev than the then Pope. John-Paul II had a blind spot about liberation theology and this prompted him to follow the Reagan line of supporting extreme right-wing governments in South America rather than working with his own priests to relieve the suffering of the poor.

Yallop is particularly strong on the Vatican Bank and Banco Ambrosiano scandals and it is depressing to see how the upper echelons of the Vatican were totally embroiled in money-laundering and cover-ups, with Pope John-Paul refusing to do anything to remove those indulging in blatantly criminal behaviour. But it is sections of Yallop's book which deal with the child abuse scandal which are the most depressing. The Pope stuck clearly to the line of "every family must have private rooms to discuss family matters", and he repeatedly put the attempt to preserve the reputation of the church before the rights to justice of those who had suffered at the hands of so many Catholic priests.

This is not a happy read, but for anyone who has an interest in the Catholic Church it is essential reading. Of course Pope John-Paul II will soon be made a Saint but the church he presided over, but no-one who has read this book will rejoice over this elevation. It is even more depressing that the current Pope is entirely of the same mould as John-Paul II and is pursuing much the same policies.

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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting insights, 25 Jun 2008

By

J. R. Skelton (Devon, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II's Vatican (Hardcover)

This book is undoubtedly an eye opener, and the amount of investigation and detailed evidence that Yallop proffers is astounding. As one of the apparently dying breed of British practising Catholics I was intrigued to read the book. I expected the 'anti-papist' sentiment one often gets in this sort of 'expose' book but in the circumstances I think the author made a good stab of simply offering the evidence (much of which was, sadly for me, damning)and allowing the reader to decide. There are without doubt huge issues of corruption and abuse within the church. I hope that books like this can shame the powers in the church into reverting to the Catholic Church's original ethos of caring and loving rather than allowing much of this nonsense to carry on. Well done the author.

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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Matter of History, 29 Dec 2007

By

Scott Montgomery, playwright (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II's Vatican (Paperback)

Murder in the Vatican: The CIA and the Bolshevik Pontiff

`The Power and the Glory' hangs this pope's dirty laundry out for all to see. His cover-up of pedophile priests, his policies driving a rich and poor society, his suppression of the uprisings of the poor in Latin America, his ban on contraception which drove poverty and disease in third world countries along with dozens of other items of his soiled underwear. I was surprised this book overlooks what may have been John Paul's greatest sin: he may have known of, if not been involved in, the conspiracy that led to the death of his predecessor; a hypothesis for which Lucien Gregoire's `Murder in the Vatican' (see link) presents much more than compelling evidence.

Yallop speaks of John Paul II's support of the ruthless juntas in Central America and his trip to these worn torn countries in which he told the people to stop supporting the revolutionaries who were struggling to bring them out of poverty - Marxism. Gregoire speaks of John Paul I - the 33 day pope - the great enemy of the ruling juntas -- a pope who was in the midst of evaluating the liquidation of Vatican treasures to support the revolutionaries in Central America. Had he lived, the United States was looking a half-dozen mini-Cubas in its backyard. No wonder the CIA got involved and replaced him with the pro-American Polish cardinal.

Yet, Yallop, again, is at the top of his game. `The Power and the Glory' is the other half of John Paul II's biography which has never been written. There are scores of `biographies' of John Paul II that show only his `good' side. In fact, most of them add things that never happened to embellish his `holy' image. Not a one of them hints at any of the things Yallop has to say; the shady side of the man; the facts. Things we know actually happened. Things his many biographers make believe never happened. On the other hand, the most complete biography ever written of the 33 day pope - Johh Paul I - is included in Gregoire's Murder in the Vatican: The CIA and the Bolshevik Pontiff

Most of his followers think of Yallop and Gregoire as an investigative reporters. I think of them as the true historians of the Roman Catholic Church.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A Warning to the Faithful
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Published 2 months ago by Miketang

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5.0 out of 5 stars informative book
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