“If that’s what you want to call it,” said Father Jordan. “It was very brief. Pilate barely looked at him. In fact, he claimed not to be able to recall Jesus’ physical appearance. He merely jotted a note for his files and waved his hand, and the soldiers got on with it. Many other good Jews were executed that day. As far as Pilate was concerned, it was business as usual.”

“Was there a crowd present?”

“Heavens, no.”

“What was the charge against Jesus?”

“The only crime punishable by crucifixion.”

“Insurrection.”

“Of course.”

“Where did the incident take place?”

“The Royal Portico of the Temple.”

“And the arrest?”

The bells of Assisi tolled two o’clock before Father Jordan could answer. “I’ve told you too much already. Besides, you and your family have a plane to catch.” He rose and extended his hand. “God bless you, Mr. Allon. And safe travels.”

There were footfalls outside in the corridor. A moment later Chiara and the children appeared in the doorway, accompanied by the Benedictine monk.

“Perfect timing,” said Father Jordan. “Don Simon will show you out.”

THE MONK SAW THEM INTO the street and then quickly closed the gate. Gabriel stood there for a moment afterward, his hand hovering over the intercom, until Irene finally tugged at his sleeve and looked up at him with the face of his mother.

“What’s wrong, Abba? Why are you crying?”

“I was thinking about something sad, that’s all.”

“What?”

You, thought Gabriel. I was thinking about you.

He lifted the child into his arms and carried her through the Porta San Pietro to the parking garage where he had left the car. After buckling Raphael’s seat belt, he searched the undercarriage more carefully than usual before finally climbing behind the wheel.

“Try starting the engine,” said Chiara. “It helps.”

Gabriel’s hand shook as he pressed the button.

“Maybe I should drive.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure about that?”

He reversed out of the space and followed the ramp to the surface. The only road out of the city took them past the Porta San Pietro. Framed by the archway, like a figure in a Bellini, was a white-haired priest, an old leather satchel in his hand.

Gabriel slammed on the brakes and climbed out. Father Jordan offered him the bag as though it contained a bomb. “Be careful, Mr. Allon. Everything is at stake.”

Gabriel embraced the old priest and hurried back to the car. Chiara opened the satchel as they sped down the slopes of Monte Subasio. Inside was the last copy of the Gospel of Pilate.

“Can you read it?” he asked.

“I have a master’s degree in the history of the Roman Empire. I think I can handle a few lines of Latin.”

“What does it say?”

She read the first two sentences aloud. “Solus ego sum reus mortis ejus. Ego crimen oportet.”

“Translate it.”

“I alone am responsible for his death. I alone must bear the guilt.” She looked up. “Shall I keep going?”

“No,” he said. “That’s enough.”

Chiara returned the book to the satchel. “What do you suppose normal people do on vacation?”

“We are normal people.” Gabriel laughed. “We just have interesting friends.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

THE ORDER IS A WORK of entertainment and should be read as nothing more. The names, characters, places, and incidents portrayed in the story are the product of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Visitors to Munich will search in vain for the headquarters of a German conglomerate known as the Wolf Group, for no such company exists. Nor will one find a restaurant and jazz bar in the Beethovenplatz called Café Adagio. Thankfully, there is no far-right German political party known as the National Democrats, but there are several like it, including the Alternative for Germany, now the third-largest party in Germany, with ninety-four seats in the Bundestag. Bf V chief Hans-Georg Maassen faced calls for his resignation in 2018 over accusations that he harbored extremist political views himself and was quietly working to assist the Alternative for Germany’s rise to power.

There is no restricted section of the Vatican Secret Archives known as the collezione, at least not one I uncovered during my research. Deepest apologies to the prefetto for shutting down his power supply and security system, but I’m afraid there was no other way for Gabriel and Luigi Donati to enter the Manuscript Depository undetected. They could not have been given the first page of the Gospel of Pilate, because such a book does not exist. The other apocryphal gospels mentioned in The Order are accurately depicted, as are the words of early Church figures such as Origen, Tertullian, and Justin Martyr.

It was Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone who undertook an ambitious renovation of two apartments in the Palazzo San Carlo to create a 6,500-square-foot luxury flat with a rooftop terrace. But Bertone’s dwelling was a hovel compared to the palace in Limburg, Germany, that Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the so-called Bishop of Bling, renovated at a reported cost of $40 million. In May 2012, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was removed as president of the Vatican Bank in connection with the sex-and-money scandal that became known as Vati-Leaks. An internal Vatican dossier on the rampant corruption of senior Church officials reportedly influenced the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis. The Vatican Secretariat of State condemned the media’s pre-conclave reporting on the scandal as an attempt to interfere in the selection of the next supreme pontiff.

Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, DC, reportedly funneled more than $600,000 from a little-known archdiocese account to friends and benefactors at the Vatican, including popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The Washington Post found that several of the Vatican bureaucrats who received money were directly involved in assessing allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against McCarrick, which included accusations that he solicited sex while hearing confessions. An Episcopal Conference of Switzerland report released in July 2018 found a startling increase in new accusations of sexual abuse against Swiss priests. It is little wonder that Swiss Catholics, including my fictitious Christoph Bittel, have turned their backs on the Church in droves.

There is indeed a Catholic fraternity based in the Swiss village of Menzingen, but it is not the fictitious Order of St. Helena. It is the Society of St. Pius X, or SSPX, the reactionary, anti-Semitic order founded in 1970 by Bishop Marcel-François Lefebvre. Bishop Lefebvre was the son of a wealthy French factory owner who supported the restoration of France’s monarchy. During World War II, then–Father Lefebvre was an unapologetic supporter of the Vichy regime of Marshal Philippe Pétain, which collaborated with the SS in the destruction of France’s Jews. Paul Touvier, a senior officer in the notorious Vichy militia known as the Milice, found sanctuary at an SSPX priory in Nice after the war. Arrested in 1989, Touvier was the first Frenchman to be convicted of crimes against humanity.