FTR-98 Update on Vatican Power Politics, the P-2 Lodge and Licio Gelli (Two 30-minute segments) $8.50
This program updates a long-running investigation into events in and around the shadowy P-2 Lodge, a Masonic lodge which served as a crypto-fascist government that secretly ran Italy for much of the post- World War II period. (Interested listeners should check out numerous Archive Programs, such as RFA#’s 17-21, RFA# 34, M19, M21, M49 and M61 as well as numerous 30-minute segments. All of these are available from Spitfire.) The P-2 was founded by Grand Master Licio Gelli, a former Waffen SS officer and ardent supporter of Italian Fascist dictator Mussolini. Convicted and/or deeply implicated in numerous heinous crimes, Gelli embarrassed Italian authorities by escaping from Italy in May of 1998. The program covers his escape and recent activities. In addition, the broadcast discusses the murder of Alois Estermann, the head of the Swiss Guards, who’ve served for centuries as the Pope’s bodyguards. A member of an arch-reactionary Vatican order known as Opus Dei, Estermann shielded the John Paul II from further bullets during the attempt on his life in May of 1981. The conclusion of the program details an ongoing cover-up by various intelligence agencies of the truth concerning the attempt on the Pope’s life. In addition to discussing indications that various Western intelligence agencies generated the now- discredited Bulgarian thesis, the program sets forth information concerning continued threats to the Pope’s life from the Grey Wolves (a Turkish fascist organization, to which convicted would-be papal assassin Mehmet Ali Agca belonged.) Please note that the aforementioned P-2 Lodge is connected to the attempt on the Pope’s life. (Recorded in June of 1998.) (See also: FTR #’s 2, 3, 5, 42, 43, 53, 59, 59, 64, 103)