At first, the whispers drifting through Rome sounded like every other piece of Vatican gossip — vague, implausible, and easy to dismiss. Nothing in the Holy City stays quiet for long, but most rumors die before they even reach the gates of St. Peter’s. This one didn’t. By the time morning mass bells rang across the cobblestones, the tone inside the Vatican had shifted. Something old, hidden, and heavy had been disturbed. Officials walked faster in the corridors. Doors were shut more firmly. The small city-state pulsed with a tension no one wanted to name. The discovery hadn’t happened in...
Continues…