My friend who traveled Across the Country with me, 35 years ago, is in town. We made last minute plans to see each other on Wednesday and she asked if I wanted to go to see a play at the Ahmanson Theater. It is called The Last Confession and stars David Suchet (who is best known as Hercule Poirot) as the lead character. Being we aired those shows with him back when KCET was part of PBS, I jumped at the chance.
The scope of the play is the time from shortly before the death of Pope Paul IV and the election of Pope John Paul I and then Pope John Paul II, just 33 days later. The play draws attention to the fact that there was never an autopsy to find out what caused the death of John Paul I. A heart attack was the stated cause, but the David Suchet character, believes it may have been foul play. No real cause was ever conclusively found and the mystery remains, to this day.
Pope John Paul I was a modern pope who wanted to bring about liberal change (very similar to what we are seeing today, with Pope Francis). Some Cardinals were not happy with this line of thought and so when they had to choose another Pope, just 33 days later, they went with someone more in line with traditional thinking...Pope John Paul II.
It was fascinating seeing something you have lived, placed in a very different light.
Magnificent job, Mr. Suchet.
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