Introduction

Inspired by true events, masterful storyteller Tom Grace delivers his most provocative novel yet. In The Secret Cardinal, ex-Navy SEAL Nolan Kilkenny returns in an adventure that races from the grandeur of the Vatican across the vastness of Asia, ultimately involving China, the Mafia, and the conclave of cardinals that will elect the next pope.

When Kilkenny is invited to Rome to consult on the functioning of the Vatican Library, he is still grieving the death of his wife and son and welcomes the distraction of the seemingly simple assignment. But Pope Leo XIV has a startlingly different task in mind for him. In a private audience, Kilkenny learns of an unreported atrocity committed against the underground Church in China and its link to Yin Daoming, the long-imprisoned Bishop of Shanghai who has served thirty years of a life sentence in a Chinese laogai for refusing to renounce the Church of Rome. The aging pope then reveals the dangerous truth about Bishop Yin, a secret that he has kept for over twenty years. Decades of diplomacy have failed to end China's persecution of the Catholics loyal to the pope, or to free Bishop Yin. The pope wants Yin free and asks Kilkenny to devise a plan to accomplish this seemingly impossible task.

With help from the U.S. president, American Special Forces, and the C.I.A., he assembles a team of ten men and one woman that will use some of the most advanced weapons, aircraft, and computer technology to execute this extraordinary mission.

Filled with fascinating detail about the history, politics, and people of China and the Roman Catholic Church, and the clever advanced technology and weaponry that have become hallmarks of a Tom Grace novel, The Secret Cardinal charges relentlessly toward an unexpected and unforgettable conclusion.

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Excerpt

Chapter 1

CHIFENG, CHINA
August 17
Do this in remembrance of me.
Yin Daoming tilted his head back slightly as he raised the sacramental cup toward heaven. It was only a drinking glass, but he held it as reverently as a golden chalice, and on its glossy surface he glimpsed his reflection—a serious young man with a solid, clean-shaven face. Many of the young women in the village near Shanghai where he was raised thought Yin would make a fine husband, only to be disappointed when he accepted his calling to the Catholic priesthood. A humble man, Yin likened himself to the glass he held high, a simple vessel of God’s grace, an instrument for serving God by serving His people. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

From the Author:

1. Is the Chinese government’s fear of religion justified?

2. Would a Chinese pope have a similar affect on China as a Polish pope did on Poland?

3. In China, the underground churches are struggling to practice their faith free from government interference. Is it more important to keep the state out of the church or the church out of the state?

4. Do you find it odd that in China, atheists are in charge of religion?

5. With party membership declining and religion on the rise in China, how long until the party becomes irrelevant and is abandoned?

6. When this stalemate is over, who will be left standing: Communist China or the Vatican?

Weblinks

»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Author Tom Grace's web site
»	The Secret Cardinal web site
»	Author Bio

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