The Mole of Vatican Council II - the true story of 'Xavier Rynne'

This is a historic novel telling the story of Redemptorist priest Francis Xavier Murphy's involvement with the Second Vatican Council. Murphy was at the Council as an assistant to one of the American bishops present, but unbeknown to the bishop - or to almost anyone else - Murphy was writing articles for the New Yorker magazine about the confidential sessions of the Council and the attempts of powerful curial officials to thwart the intentions of Popes St John XXIII and St Paul VI in holding it. It is closely based on Murphy's published articles, diaries and personal letters, interviews with Columbia University's Oral History Research Project and files kept secretly on Murphy and given to author Richard A Zmuda by anonymous sources.

Murphy is described as having 'an uncanny, and not coincidental, knack for befriending those with influence - political, social, and certainly religious, the latter often overlapping with the previous two. He relished gossip; he loved conflict; he was unwavering in his convictions.'

On the strength of this description, I took an initial strong dislike to the man. Too many of us have suffered too much from people who love conflict. I love peace! However, as the story unfolded, I came to like him. He revealed to the world what he was supposed to keep confidential because he saw that Vatican officials were at odds with the vast majority of the world's bishops, and with the Pope himself - first John XXIII, then Paul VI - who wanted to make changes in the Church guided by the Holy Spirit rather than by unwavering devotion to precedent.

To protect himself, Murphy wrote under a pseudonym - his middle name followed by his mother's maiden name. It took his curial opponents a long time to work out who he was - and by that time, it was too late. His expose of the plot to undermine what the Pope and the world's bishops wanted had strengthened the Council Fathers' will to follow what they believed the Holy Spirit was asking of them.

I was utterly gripped by this book. My only disappointment was that two of the characters who helped maintain the suspense, both of whom I liked a lot, turned out to be entirely fictional. I felt as if I had lost a couple of friends. But it was worth it for the excitement!

The Mole of Vatican Council II: the true story of "Xavier Rynne", by Richard A Zmuda, is published by ACTA Publications www.actapublications.com, Paperback, 308 pages, ISBN 978-0-87946-732-6, $19.95, Published 2024