The Order (Gabriel Allon #20) - Daniel Silva Page 0,118

of unfettered capitalism, called for action on climate change, defended the rights of immigrants, and warned of the dangers posed by the rise of the European far right, which regards him as a mortal enemy. If only a prelate like Francis had been wearing the Ring of the Fisherman in 1939. The history of the Jews, and the Roman Catholic Church, might well have been written differently.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO MY wife, Jamie Gangel, who served as my sounding board while I worked out the details and structure of a complex plot involving the murder of a pope, the discovery of a long-suppressed gospel, and a conspiracy by the European far right to seize control of the Roman Catholic Church. When I finished my first draft, she made three crucial suggestions and then skillfully edited my final typescript, all while covering the impeachment of a president for CNN and caring for our family during a global pandemic. I share many traits with my protagonist, Gabriel Allon, including the fact we are both married to perfect women. My debt to Jamie is immeasurable, as is my love.

I had hoped to finish The Order in Rome but was forced to cancel my travel plans when the coronavirus ravaged Italy. Having written two previous Vatican thrillers, and several others with scenes set in or around the Vatican, I have formed many cherished friendships with men and women who work behind the walls of the world’s smallest country. I have stood in the lobby of the Swiss Guard barracks, shopped in the Vatican pharmacy and supermarket, visited the conservation labs of the Vatican Museums, opened the door of the stove in the Sistine Chapel, and attended a Mass celebrated by the Holy Father. I wish to express my gratitude to Father Mark Haydu, who was an invaluable resource throughout the writing process, and to the matchless John L. Allen, who literally wrote the book on how a conclave works. For the record, neither influenced my depiction of the anti-Jewish nature of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death.

I am forever indebted to David Bull and Patrick Matthiesen for their advice on restoration and art history, and for their friendship. Louis Toscano, my dear friend and longtime editor, made countless improvements to the novel, as did Kathy Crosby, my eagle-eyed personal copy editor. Any typographical errors that slipped through their formidable gauntlet are my responsibility, not theirs.

I consulted hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles while writing The Order, along with dozens of books. I would be remiss if I did not mention the following: Ann Wroe, Pontius Pilate; James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews; Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity; Paula Fredriksen, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity and From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Jesus; John Dominic Crossan, Who Killed Jesus?: Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus; Reza Aslan, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth; Bart D. Ehrman, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee; Bart D. Ehrman and Zlatko Pleše, The Apocryphal Gospels: Text and Translations; Robert S. Wistrich, Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred; Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair and Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust; John Cornwell, Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII and A Thief in the Night: Life and Death in the Vatican; Michael Phayer, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930–1965 and Pius XII, the Holocaust, and the Cold War; Susan Zuccotti, Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy; David I. Kertzer, The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism; Uki Goñi, The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón’s Argentina; John Follain, City of Secrets: The Truth Behind the Murders at the Vatican; Carl Bernstein and Marco Politi, His Holiness: John Paul II and the History of Our Time; John L. Allen Jr., Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election; Thomas J. Reese, Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church; Frederic J. Baumgartner, Behind Locked Doors: A History of Papal Elections; and Gianluigi Nuzzi, Merchants in the Temple: Inside Pope Francis’s Secret Battle Against Corruption in the Vatican.

We are blessed with family and friends who fill our