Anonymous “Dictator Pope” author hunted by the Vatican

A few days ago wrote about the hard-hitting recently released on Kindle in Italian and in English.  The author wrote under a pen name.

Controversial Book about Pope Francis: “The Dictator Pope”

In Italian – US HERE – UK HERE
In English – US HERE – UK HERE

Need a Kindle (trick question – YES! You do.)
US HERE – UK HERE

The book is making waves.

I read now at the UK’s best Catholic weekly, the Catholic Herald, an article about the book and the author.

‘They will unmask me eventually,’ says author of ‘The Dictator Pope’

The pseudonymous ‘Marcantonio Colonna’ claims Pope Francis has seen a shortlist of six possible authors

Marcantonio Colonna, the pseudonymous author of The Dictator Pope, has said the Vatican is trying to discover his identity. The book was published as a Kindle edition last week and has caused consternation with its claims about Pope Francis’s reign.

Speaking to the Catholic Herald over email, Colonna claimed that the Pope had been given a list of possible names.

A person in England was misidentified as the author at one point and immediately received threatening telephone calls from Rome,” Colonna said. “I now hear that Vatican officials have laid before the Pope a shortlist of six people who they think may be the possible author. I suspect that it’s not for the purpose of awarding a literary prize.”

Asked whether he thought his anonymity would last, Colonna said: “Under the present Pope, the Vatican machine has taken espionage to a new level, and I have little doubt that they will unmask me eventually, perhaps after a few more false casts. But they will need to ask themselves whether it is at the cost of giving me more publicity.”

[…]

Read the rest there.

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20 Comments

  1. Uxixu says:

    Keeping in mind the martyrdom of St. Lucy today, perhaps best response would be for the author to willingly reveal himself rather than let someone else get penalized for it. Take the punishment, unjust or not, willingly and offer it up. [Easy for you to say.] Francis won’t be the pope forever.

  2. siculocatholic says:

    So, what could be so bad about this book that we if we read it, it is to our own peril? I am no fan of this pope to be sure and have to trust that the Holy Spirit will get us through this.

  3. David says:

    I’m curious as to what precisely the Vatican thinks it can do to him when and if it does discover the author. He is not living in the Papal States in 1555.

  4. gracie says:

    What’s needed is a contest to guess what will happen to the author once he is found out. Will he be:

    tarred and feathered
    run out of town on a rail
    put in stocks

    My best guess is that capital punishment will be the preferred choice of the Vatican – although they will think that death is letting Colonna off too lightly.

  5. ChrisP says:

    But they will need to ask themselves whether it is at the cost of giving me more publicity.

    BEST comment on this whole scene ever. The brood of vipers misjudge the attitude and abilities of the lay faithful. And the vast wide open spaces of left field.

  6. Aquinas Gal says:

    I’ve read the book and found it interesting and informative. Actually not that much of it is new, but the author has put together material we already know in a good way that shows a pattern. It’s written in a sober way, presenting the facts. The Vatican can’t deny those facts, which are well documented (like what went on at the two synods).

  7. Huber says:

    How deliciously wonderful that they are proving the book right by using the peronist tactics described in the book to hunt down and intimidate the author.

    We might soon see a re-introduction of excommunication by anathema! Bell, book and Kindle version!

    Fr. Z's Gold Star Award

  8. Geoffrey says:

    I am currently reading the eBook. It is both fascinating and sad at the same time. I think having an anonymous author publish an eBook hurts the credibility of the text, as anyone can do it. Knowing the author’s true identity could shed light on the authenticity of the arguments put forth. Nevertheless, I understand the reason to remain anonymous!

  9. Benedict Joseph says:

    “The book is making waves.”
    The waves are apparently are insufficient. Only a tsunami could clean up the debris of the past five years, let alone the last sixty.

  10. arga says:

    If it’s true that the Vatican is trying to track down the author, and doing so with the approval of the pope, they are simply confirming the argument of the book’s title. It’s what dictators do, isn’t it?

  11. majuscule says:

    Wouldn’t it be interesting if “Marcantonio Colonna” was more than one person?

  12. Pio Pio Pio says:

    I had no plans on reading this book… and then the Vatican began hunting the author. Why go after a liar? Colonna seems to have a struck a nerve. Ironically, the Holy Father is making the (inflammatory) title of the book look more and more accurate.

  13. Orlando says:

    I am currently reading this book and find it disturbing and illuminating at the same time. Oddly I find it comforting in that despite the confusing nature of the current pontificate, it’s brought to the forefront and out into the open all those who are working against the true Catholic faith. They can never again slink into the shadows and hide in the vast edifice of the Vatican doing harm to Holy Mother Church. The other thing I find conforting is that those that are doing the most harm are really , really old and soon will be asked to account for there evilness in this life.

  14. Adam Michael says:

    A return of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum?

  15. JonPatrick says:

    I just finished reading the book and found it difficult at times to believe the depths that the Vatican has sunk to. But as others have pointed out much of this was already known and is just being brought together in one book. The only new allegation (for me at least) was the one that the Vatican had financially supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign (allegedly using Peter’s Pence of all things). While this has not been proven it would not surprise me given the degree of Trump Derangement Syndrome present in the Vatican and the degree with which they go along with the conventional wisdom in the West that having hordes of “undocumented” immigrants mostly Muslim coming in is a Good Thing.

  16. OldProfK says:

    But they will need to ask themselves whether it is at the cost of giving me more publicity.

    “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

  17. e.e. says:

    I haven’t read the book. The hunt for the anonymous author only makes me more likely to read it, however.

  18. JesusFreak84 says:

    If the author has any kind of Orders, the paranoid nut in me fears those could be stripped. Or we could have a St. Joan of Arc-style excommunication that’s naturally overturned the second a new Pope is elevated. Beyond that, though, I don’t know what else the Pope CAN do; he wields no temporal power outside of Vatican City, and is he really going to convince some other government to jail the guy, especially over a book? Of course not.

  19. robtbrown says:

    The news of the Great Vatican Author Hunt comes as Abp Fernandez insisted that criticisms don’t bother Francis at all.

    Calling Dr Howard . . . Dr Fine . . . Dr Howard . . .

  20. Eric says:

    I started reading it yesterday, finished tonight. It is a good read. No earth shattering revelations, though it puts a lot of events together in a very readable way. I would recommend it to anyone who is still stuck in the media hype or does not follow the Catholic news. It’s scary at times and made me angry and frustrated.

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