Whoa! I just finished reading Steve Berry's The Third Secret yesterday. Basically, the plot of the novel surrounds the Third Secret of Fatima, mentioning other Marian apparitions, and also centered on the Vatican, the papacy, most especially. It tells the story of what happens during the papacy, the Vatican that the world is not aware of. It also shows the human side of the Servants of the Lord, not as the regal being Catholics admire. It revealed to readers both fact and fiction and it would be really difficult distinguishing between the two (on my part, yes, it was difficult).
Alright, now I'm going to do some story telling. The main character of the novel is Colin Michener, the papal secretary to the pope Clement XV (real name: Jakob Volkner, and of course, this is fiction). This novel also tells about the papacy of Clement XV and the ambitions of Cardinal Alberto Valendrea to become pope, which in the novel happens, taking on the name Pope Peter II. Clement XV is really troubled concerning on matters regarding the Third Secret of Fatima, an apparition of the Virgin Mary to three children in Fatima, Portugal. The apparitions happened every 13th of the Month beginning from May 1917 and ending in October of the same year. In these apparitions, three secrets were revealed, the most controversial of these is the Third Secret. Because of this, the pope ordered his secretary, Michener, to go to Romania and have a dialogue with Father Tibor, the supposed translator of the Portuguese account of Lucia dos Santos to Italian. However, Clement is not the only one interested in the secret. There is also Cardinal Valendrea, who is much concerned how this secret will affect the Church. This man will do everything to achieve his goal. Valendrea has his most trusted ally, Paolo Ambrosi, to carry out their plans and he is pretty much the dirty worker. They enlisted the help of Katerina Lew, a reporter and the former lover of priest Colin Michener, to help them find out what Clement is up to.
Michener's trip to Romania can be said was accomplished by having Tibor abide by the request of Clement. But that will be last to be seen of Father Tibor as he is murdered by Valendrea because of his knowledge regarding the truth of the Third Secret.
Back at the Vatican, the readers will be seeing the death of Clement through suicide, the pope having induced eternal sleep through overdose of medication, the first in the Catholic history (this is fiction again). A pope's burial will also be witnessed as well as the conclave, how the College of Cardinals choose the next pope. I can say that the readers are introduced into the world of cardinals and their road to the papacy. This also gave us a backstage pass into what a conclave is all about, from the preparations being done, the rituals being followed during the conclave, choosing the next pope, and finally, after a new pope is chosen, the traditions being followed for the reign of the new pope.
In this story, Valendrea was chosen as the new pope after Ngovi, his strongest challenger, withdrew from the papacy. Valendrea then chose the name Peter II, the name significant since there is one and only Peter in the history of the Church, one of the apostles, the first pope.
For Michener, his adventure does not end in Romania. As a last request from Clement, he went to Medjugorje, Bosnia to learn the tenth secret of the Medjugorje Marian apparitions. There, he met one of the seers named Jasna and learned from her what he needs.
On the return to the Vatican, Michener was summoned by the new pope regarding the missing document in the Vatican archives. Michener said that he has no knowledge regarding it, but instead showed the tenth secret. The pope was enraged upon reading it and ordered Michener to bring the missing document on Fatima to him the following day, thinking that they might be in Clement's belongings.
Michener, upon returning to his apartment, gone through Clement's belongings. With the belongings he left, there were letters of communication between him and Irma Rahn. Upon reading the letters, Michener found out that he and Clement had the same experience, that they both broke their vow of celibacy, that they both have a relationship with a woman. On reading the letters, Michener came to a realization and decided to come to Bamberg, Germany along with Katerina Lew. He is to meet with Irma and if his assumption is correct, he is to find the missing Fatima document with her. And he was right. Clement sent the document to her, but he won't be able to retrieve it without any challenge, one that is posed by Ambrosi.
The two men met again in Bamberg, with Ambrosi demanding the document, threatening Michener if he does not otherwise. Michener was able to read the Third Fatima secret and was surprised that the same message was in the Tenth Medjugorje message. He then realized that he will be instrumental in a change, and that he will need to rely on faith alone. A plan was carried out in order to corner Ambrosi into telling the truth. This plan was successful, and with the help of Ngovi, Ambrosi was trapped and had to tell what he knows. The next day, Michener and Ngovi returned to the Vatican and confronted Peter II about the truth they have learned. They demanded that Peter act the same way as Clement did and take his life or else, the actions he had made including the murder of Father Tibor will be revealed to the Sacred College. The two left, leaving the pope, demanding an answer by tomorrow; the answer revealed to be that Peter took his life over shame.
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After reading the novel, I was not really satisfied with the ending. Through its course, the author was able to bring suspense, even bringing it until the end. However, I think it was cut short in the ending, it having ended not telling what have happened to the characters beyond the pope's burial. Although there were predictions of what will they be doing a few pages before the back cover. The closing paragraphs really did not satisfy me, hoping that it would be otherwise.
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