26 July

Francesco Cossiga - Italy's 8th President

Political career overshadowed by Moro murder

Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga was born on this day in 1928 in the Sardinian city of Sassari.  Cossiga, a Christian Democrat who had briefly served as Prime Minister under his predecessor, Sandro Pertini, held the office for seven years from 1985 to 1992. His presidency was overshadowed by the murder of former prime minister, Aldo Moro, and it was during his time in office that another Italian political heavyweight, Giulio Andreotti, revealed the existence during the Cold War years of Gladio, a clandestine network sponsored by the American secret services and NATO that was set up amid fears that Italy would fall into the hands of Communists, either through military invasion or via the ballot box.  Cossiga, said to have been obsessed with espionage, admitted to having been involved with the creation of Gladio in the years immediately following the end of the Second World War.  Read more…

__________________________________

Constantino Brumidi - painter

Rome-born artist responsible for murals in US Capitol Building

Constantino Brumidi, an artist whose work provides the backcloth to the daily business of government in the United States Capitol Building in Washington, was born on this day in 1805 in Rome.  Brumidi’s major work is the allegorical fresco The Apotheosis of Washington, painted in 1865, which covers the interior of the dome in the Rotunda.  Encircling the base of the dome, below the windows, is the Frieze of American History, in which Brumidi painted scenes depicting significant events of American history, although the second half of the work had to be completed by another painter, Filippo Costaggini, after Brumidi died in 1880.  Previously, between 1855 and about 1870, Brumidi had decorated the walls of eight important rooms in the Capitol Building, including the Hall of the House of Representatives, the Senate Library and the President’s Room.  Read more… 

_____________________________________

Pope Paul II

Flamboyant pope who helped make books available to ordinary people

Pietro Barbo, who became Pope Paul II, died on this day in 1471 in Rome at the age of 54.  He is remembered for dressing up in sumptuous, ecclesiastical finery and having a papal tiara made for himself, which was studded with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, topaz, large pearls and many other precious gems.  Barbo was born in Venice and was a nephew of Pope Eugenius IV through his mother and a member of the noble Barbo family through his father.  He adopted a spiritual career after his uncle was elected as pope and made rapid progress. He became a cardinal in 1440 and promised that if he was elected pope one day he would buy each cardinal a villa to escape the summer heat. It was reported that Pope Pius II suggested he should have been called Maria Pietissima (Our Lady of Pity) as he would use tears to help him obtain things he wanted.  Read more…

____________________________________

Book of the Day: Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia, by Paul L Williams

Operation Gladio describes the secret alliance forged at the close of World War II between the CIA, the Sicilian and US mafias, and the Vatican to thwart the possibility of a communist invasion of Europe. Williams presents evidence suggesting the existence of "stay-behind" units in many European countries consisting of 5,000 to 15,000 military operatives. The author's research suggested that the initial funding for these guerilla armies came from the sale of large stocks of SS morphine that had been smuggled out of Germany and Italy and of bogus British bank notes produced in concentration camps by skilled counterfeiters. As the Cold War intensified, the units were used not only to ward off possible invaders, but also to thwart the rise of left-wing movements in South America and NATO-based countries by terror attacks.  Williams argues that Operation Gladio was linked to the toppling of governments, wholesale genocide, the formation of death squads, financial scandals on a grand scale, the creation of the mujahideen, an international narcotics network, and the ascendancy of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a cleric with strong ties to Operation Condor (an offshoot of Gladio in Argentina) as Pope Francis I.

Paul L Williams, PhD, is a journalist and the author of Crescent Moon Rising, The Day of Islam, Osama's Revenge, The Al Qaeda Connection and The Vatican Exposed, among other books. He has won three Keystone Press Awards for journalism.

Buy from Amazon

Home