Know by many as 'The Smiling Pope', it was widely believed that the Papacy of this humble, 65-year-old Italian would not be particularly noteworthy. How wrong could they have been! On the eve of his untimely death, Papa Luciani was not only preparing to slacken the Church's ruling on birth control, he was also about to embark on an investigation into corruption within the Vatican itself - corruption involving an illegal masonic lodge which had penetrated the Vatican walls in its search for power and wealth.

A Thief in the Night by John Cornwell is a truly excellent work of investigative journalism which examines the life of this wonderful man and guides us - quite objectively - through the events that led to his unnecessarily early death.

Unlike David Yallop in his book In God's Name, Cornwell does not force his opinions on the reader, but provides us, instead, with the known facts, and allows us to come to our own conclusions.

Although the truth will probably never be known, it is abundantly clear that certain high-ranking individuals from both inside and outside the Vatican had much to fear if John Paul I had remained alive.