The Omega Scroll by Adrian D'Hagé Read Free Book Online Page A

Kaufmann’s analysis of the codes in the Dead Sea Scrolls had gone a lot further than DNA. Had the final countdown begun? Rosselli had been convinced it had.
    Giovanni’s thoughts went back to the time when he had studied under the great mind, a time when he and Allegra Bassetti, the stunning young nun from southern Italy, had been students together. A time when Rosselli’s theories had prompted passionate arguments over pasta and cheap red wine in La Pizzeria Milano. It had been over twenty-five years since they had been assigned to Milano’s Università but it seemed like only yesterday. If it hadn’t been for the extraordinary series of events in 1978, they might never have met and the proposal for them both to study at a secular university would have remained buried in the Vatican’s archives.

BOOK TWO
    1978 – 1979

CHAPTER NINE
    Roma
    A rchbishop Lorenzo Petroni, Sostituto for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State, was the most influential archbishop in the Vatican. Following the death of Pope Paul VI and the election of Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice as Pope John Paul I, Petroni had continued in the appointment as the new Pope’s Chief of Staff, retaining control of the vast finances of the Vatican Bank. Nothing went in or out of the Pope’s office without Petroni seeing it, or so he had thought, but today, less than a month after the new Pope’s election, Lorenzo Petroni was a very worried man. Cardinal Luciani had been elected as someone the Curial Cardinals thought they could control but the quiet cardinal from Venice had turned out to be quite the opposite. The very careers of both Archbishop Petroni and the French Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Jean Villot, were now seriously threatened.
    Archbishop Petroni frowned as he read the memo from Father Giovanni Donelli, private secretary to His Holiness.
His Holiness has expressed a wish that a small number of priests and nuns be given the opportunity to study at a secular university. The aim is to promote an exchange of experiences to enable the Holy Catholic Church to better respond to changes in the wider world and to become acquainted with the thinking of the next generation.
His Holiness would be grateful for advice.
    ‘Exchange of experiences!’ Angry at having to even consider such a proposal when other events were spiralling beyond his control, Petroni screwed the memo up and threw it into the bin, wondering who or what might have prompted the Holy Father to even contemplate such a move. A move fraught with danger, even if the right people could be found. His thoughts were interrupted by the quiet buzzing of the intercom.
    ‘Petroni!’
    ‘His Holiness would like to see you, Excellency.’
    ‘Subject!’
    ‘I think it might be about the university proposal,’ Father Donelli replied calmly. He was getting used to the Chief of Staff’s irascibility.
    ‘It would make life easier if we were sure,’ Petroni snapped, switching off the intercom, relieved that the summons had not been the one he was dreading. He quickly composed himself and focused his thoughts on how he might best head the university proposal off at the pass.
    ‘ S’accomodi !’
    ‘You wished to see me, Holiness?’
    ‘Have a seat, Lorenzo.’ Luciani’s demeanour was polite but uncharacteristically cool, something that was not lost on Petroni.
    ‘This university proposal. You’ve had a chance to look at it?’
    ‘Not in much detail, Holiness, but I will.’
    ‘It has some merit, non è vero ?’
    ‘Certainly, Holiness. Although I think there are some pitfalls that should be examined before we go ahead.’
    ‘Oh?’
    ‘It will be important to select the right people, and of course the right university. The course content will also be crucial. With all that in mind I think it would be prudent to establish an interdepartmental committee that should be asked to report on these and some of the other issues.’ Lorenzo Petroni had learned early the value of