Popes for Dopes - The Fisherman's Tomb

Book Review:  The Fisherman’s Tomb, by John O’Neill

A Modern Take on “Popes for Dopes”

By Gregory Turley, Class of 1987

Washington and Lee Alumni from the last 50 years will fondly recall the late Professor J.D. Futch III’s spring term history class  The Papacy Since the Schism, also known as “Popes for Dopes”.  Were this class to continue today, the Good Doctor would definitely approve of adding the book The Fisherman’s Tomb by John O’Neill to the required reading list.  It’s a story of international intrigue, a string of 20^th Century popes, a Texas oilman, and the search for the actual grave of St. Peter, one of the twelve disciples.

For nearly 2,000 years, legend was that St. Peter, the first head of the Church was buried underneath St. Peter’s Basilica in what is now Vatican City.  But no one knew for sure.  In 1939 tombs were found underneath.  Pope Pius XII wanted to investigate but was lacking in money as well as political will.  If the search were a failure, it would raise more questions than answers about the beginning of the Church in Rome.  A search needed to be secret, and it needed to be paid for secretly.

George Strake, Sr.  made his millions in the Conroe, Texas oil field.   A devout Catholic, he financed many special projects of the Catholic Church over the years.  When Pope Pius XII sent his emissary to Houston in 1940 to request the financial support for this secret archaeological excavation to find St. Peter’s tomb, Strake basically agreed to an unlimited budget with the requirement that his participation be kept a secret.

Ten years later, in 1950, Pope Pius XII announced the results of the search.    But yet, the bones found were nearly forgotten again for years.  In 1958, a new leader emerged named Margarita Guarducci to decipher ancient inscriptions and clues and the search continued for years longer.   A bitter internal struggle inside the Vatican walls ensued and it was not until 2013 that Pope Francis announces the formal conclusion. 

Now, the Scavi Tour of the Vatican Necropolis is a popular tourist attraction.  The book is a fast paced story of the search itself and more importantly, the result of the search.  Indiana Jones himself would be proud to tell such a story.

John O’Neill is the also the  author of  the 2004 bestseller, Unfit for Command:  Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.  A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he is a Vietnam Veteran and longtime attorney in Houston.   He credits his legal research skill in helping to get the bottom of this Da Vinci Code-like mystery.

Professor J.D Futch III taught History at Washington and Lee University from 1962 to his retirement in 2011.   Before his death in 2017, he once quipped “Were I elected to the Holy Office, I would take the name of Pius.”  A story involving not only his 20^th century “namesake” Pius XII, but continuing for nearly a century to  Paul, John Paul , Benedict and Francis certainly makes the classic history lectures come alive once more.

Gregory Turley is an attorney in McAllen, Texas and author of the books Always Patty and Hideaway.  While he did not take the “Popes” class in the 1980s, he does aspire to teach it one day.

Turley2.0@gmail.com