“John Paul died before midnight last evening of myocardial infarction to the heart. He was discovered by his secretary at six-thirty this morning who went to look for him when he failed to show up for his morning chapel service. The light was on. He was sitting up in bed in his daytime clothes wearing his spectacles reading the 'Imitation of Christ' which book was held upright in his hands.”

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                  Contradictions and rumors

The Italian Medical Society did not delay a day: “It is irresponsible for a doctor to infer heart attack without autopsy in the unwitnessed death of a man who is known to be in good health and has had no history either himself or family of heart disease.”

To make matters worse, the embalmers told Italy’s most reliable wire service—ANSA—in his hands were notes written on the stationary of Vittorio Veneto. They also said they were picked up by a Vatican van shortly after five-thirty—an hour before the release said the body was found. In addition, they were told by Swiss Guards a nun had discovered the body.

Too, it was their opinion John Paul had not been dead for more than an hour or two. It was a cold morning and the windows were open and the body was warm.

    The clock that should have rung and did not ring

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The nun who had discovered him was interviewed.

    Vincenza routinely delivered coffee at four-thirty each morning. When she first knocked there was no answer. She waited a minute or so and knocked again, this time a bit louder. It was obvious to her that the Pope was still in the bathroom.  

    Though he normally woke at about four o’clock, it was his custom to set his alarm clock for a few minutes before four-thirty in the event he overslept. If he was sleeping, the alarm would have been ringing loud enough to wake the dead. At least, that is what she thought. This meant to her he had risen at his usual time of four o’clock and had completed his first task of each day—turned off the alarm.

   She opened the door and entered the room intending to leave the tray on his nightstand. The light was on. He was sitting up in bed in his daytime clothes reading papers held upright in his hands.

   She greeted him, “Good morning.” He resembled a mime deeply engrossed in reading. It was not unusual for him once dressed for the day to be sitting up in bed reading when she delivered coffee.

   Vincenza who had served him for twenty years had come to know this man as a jovial one, always smiling, sometimes laughing and often joking. At first she thought it was a joke. After all, he was smiling.

   Actually she knew it was a joke. He was wearing his glasses. Though nearsighted and required them to walk across the room, he did not require them to read. That is, to read in private.  Yet, someone not close to him would think he required them to read because he always wore them when reading from the pulpit to allow him to view his audience.

  The practice is to read beyond the frame or employ bifocals. He employed bifocals with a clear reading segment distinctly visible in this photo taken a few hours before he was found dead.

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Nevertheless, disturbed by the prank she approached the bed, “Please don’t joke with me in this way, Albino.” As she placed the tray on the nightstand she realized something was wrong.

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Her testimony confirmed that of the embalmers: he was holding papers and not a book in his hands. More importantly, he had been discovered shortly after four-thirty and not at six-thirty. 

    That the clock should have rung and did not ring raised the eyebrows of the mystery buff. Either John Paul had turned it off or someone else who knew his practice had turned it off. If not it would have been ringing when the nun was at the door. 

                           The bell cord

Most questionable of all was something killed him so suddenly he was unable to reach for the bell cord which hung a whisker from his right shoulder. This would have summoned in an instant the guard at the entrance to the corridor leading to his chambers. Too, he was not afforded time to press one of the service buttons on the intercom just to his left which would have brought to his side any of five people who resided elsewhere in the palace that night.

   He also had the option of pressing an emergency button on the bedside console which would have brought the guard to his room in a few seconds. 

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                               The time of death

The time of death is critical to the supposition the Pope died of natural causes. It is also critical to the supposition he was murdered.

   If he had died before midnight—as the Vatican claimed—he could have died of natural causes. Yet, if he had died in the morning hours—as the embalmers claimed—the case for murder is nearly certain.

    If he died before midnight his light would have been on all night. Both the nun and the Vatican release were explicit the light was on. This is consistent with he would not be reading in the dark.

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At the upper right corner of the palace building the papal bedroom—the highest point on the Vatican outer perimeter—overlooks St. Peter’s Square.

     Its windows are in full open view of hundreds of hotels and apartment houses in the surrounding baroque district of Rome not to count thousands of tourists who roam the vicinity of the Vatican into the wee hours of the morning. What’s more, a small battalion of police guard the square round the clock.

    Those that hang their hat on the supposition John Paul died before midnight depend on the chance not a single person noticed the light was on all night.

   That the light was not on all night was reported in the press in the days following the Pope’s death. We know the Pope’s light was not on all night for more definitive reasons will we discuss later in this book. 

     Too, if the Pope had died just before midnight the previous day, why would he be dressed in his daytime clothes? If one intends to read oneself to sleep one would first don one’s bedtime clothes.

We know from those who shared his last dinner, he had been preoccupied with his new watch. He kept fumbling with it to determine if it was waterproof as it was not his custom to remove it for sleeping or showering. Vincenza remarked:"It looked like it had come out of the film 'Dr. No.'"

   It had come in the morning mail and would have come from someone he would have accepted it from.

    Caught in a avalanche of lies on October 10, 1978 Vatican Radio issued a corrected bulletin...

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“We wish to correct our statement it was the Pope’s secretary who discovered the body. The Pope was discovered by the nun who delivered his coffee at the usual time. When she sensed something was wrong she summoned Magee... We wish to correct our statement His Holiness was reading the ‘Imitation of Christ.’ This was a communications error. He was reviewing some notes. That he retained them upright in his hands in the midst of a massive heart attack is due to the grace of God..."

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